New children’s book teaches 5-year-olds abortion is a ‘superpower’

"Abortion Is Everything," reads the marketing material for the juvenile nonfiction book, "introduces the concept of abortion in a way that empowers parents and kids to begin rewriting our cultural scripts about abortion at the most foundational level."

How to talk to children about abortion has been on the mind of abortion proponents for some time. In 2022, NPR fielded a question from a parent who said her 9-year-old was confused about where the baby goes after an abortion and who takes care of them.

NPR responded that the parent should use "terminology about the pregnancy and not refer so much around the baby, even though that can be where children go." Parents magazine suggested that the conversation must be around "consent, control over one's own body, and respect and dignity." This new book "Abortion is Everything" appears to be the first to frame it as a "superpower," though the Satanic Temple has created an abortion ritual about self-empowerment.

No, no one asked for this and no, abortion is not a practice that should be normalized for children. Yet that's exactly what "Abortion is Everything" seeks to do. "Using accessible, inclusive language, 'Abortion is Everything' frames abortion as the actualization of a uniquely human superpower: our capacity to imagine the future and make choices that lead us toward the life we envision."

"Abortion is a tool that allows human beings to shape our destinies, and which has shaped the entire world around us," says Shout Your Abortion in marketing the book. "Parents, caregivers, and educators who work with children have long been searching for a tool to talk with kids about abortion, especially given the volume of political noise currently surrounding the issue."

The book was written by Rachel Kessler, described as an "artist and educator," and Shout Your Abortion co-founder Amelia Bonow. "Abortion Is Everything," they say, "introduces the concept of abortion in a way that empowers parents and kids to begin rewriting our cultural scripts about abortion at the most foundational level."

Shout Your Abortion claims "Abortion access is a community responsibility. Abortion pills forever. Abortion is normal." Abortion has been reframed by activists as "reproductive health," "healthcare," and "life saving."

Author Lindy West and Kimberly Morrison joined Bonow in starting the Shout Your Abortion organization in 2015. The idea was that women who'd had abortions should speak out about how great it was that they did so. Celebrity actresses did begin to speak openly about having had abortions, such as Michelle Williams who praised her abortion during her Golden Globes speech in 2020.

Men primarily stayed silent and did not speak about the freedoms they were able to have because the women they impregnated terminated those pregnancies. Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks came clean about her abortion and said she would not have had artistic success had she not sacrificed her unborn child on the altar of fame and fortune.

Bonow has spoken out about her own abortion and posted a video in 2019 called "Kids meet someone who's had an abortion." The video shows her speaking to children about her abortion and pushing back on their concerns that she'd killed her own child.

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She also downplayed adoption, saying do we want people to just have all those babies? No, so what do we do with them, put them up for adoption? I feel like if I am forced to create life i have lost the right to my own life."

She told the children that her boyfriend, the father of her now-deceased baby, did not wear a condom during sex and that the decision to not wear a condom was because it was "easier at the time."

"I should be the one to decide if my body creates a life," she said. "Even if you're giving a kid up for adoption you still like have a kid out there somewhere."

In 2022, the Supreme Court determined that abortion is not a constitutionally protected right and that states are able to make their own laws regarding the practice. This led to 13 states enacting a complete ban on abortion while 7 states created laws allowing unlimited abortion and still others fell somewhere in between.

Vermont, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Minnesota, Alaska and New Jersey have unrestricted abortion while saying it is legal up to fetal viability, which is about 21 weeks. In Europe, France and Spain allow abortion up to 14 weeks while Germany limits it to 12 weeks.