It’s one of the more bizarre things we’ve seen on Twitter (and that’s saying something) but it brings to light an issue we’re facing for the very first time in history: just how far can you go, to go viral?
A woman, known as Saipanting, is supposedly making the decision to abort her baby (or not) depending on the number of re-tweets her latest tweet receives.
“Four months pregnant. 4k RTs & I won’t abort it,” she posted to Twitter, alongside an apparent image of her growing baby bump, last Wednesday.
It’s very likely it’s all a ruse for clicks. The situation escalated rather drastically – with the father of the unborn child, ‘King Nathan’, replying to her tweet with the accusation: “Instead of letting me know it was my baby, you decided to come on Twitter with this bullsh*t?”
We then learn Saipanting sold King Nathan’s dog for tickets to a Lil Pump concert. (A decision she says was worth it.) Before a third character comes into the mix – King Nathan’s current partner who is also pregnant with his child.
It’s suspiciously hoax-like. But that doesn’t make it anymore okay.
The decision to terminate a pregnancy has no place in the social media world of ‘likes’ and ‘retweets’. They’re reactions that seem too trivial when a person’s life – that of the mother, or the foetus – hangs in the balance.
More than this: abortion is never an act of attention-seeking. Saipanting – whoever she is, whatever her motivations – is turning a very real, very personal issue into a parade of vanity that is the worst of social media.
It’s a huge injustice to women who’ve had to make the decision to terminate a pregnancy.
Wider than this, it’s a dangerous direction to take in the conversation around abortion.
Women seek abortions for a number of reasons. Their health. Their finances. Their place in life. Their relationship with their partner. Their future. Never, not once, is it done to garner attention.
Abortion is a personal choice. Always, it should be her choice – one we need to protect and value and respect, going forward. Women past and present fight for this right.
In no world, and for no woman, should it – or the pretense of it – be used as a tactic to go viral.
Fake or not, the mere fact that a stunt like this can attract such an overwhelming response, shows we have a long way to go in educating people on who exactly gets to make decisions about women’s bodies.
LISTEN: Donald trump’s abortion law.
Top Comments
You know what? Her body, her choice.
You may not like what she did/doing but she is free too
Yes it speaks of other issues she may have in the need for attention or drama but broken down, its her body and she can do as she pleases with it
People do all kinds of things for 15 minutes of fame
In saying that, its not something id choose to put in the twitterverse and leave to retweets or likes but for me abortion wouldnt be a hard choice, i dont want to be pregnant ever again. Nothing will change that
What happens if she doesn't end up doing it and in 13 years the kid finds all this?
That is something she would have to deal with then
We all make choices that affect the future in some way, we cant tell how things will pan out
True we can't predict the future, but I'm willing to bet that finding that your mum started a competition on whether you would be aborted or not would really put a damper on your relationship.
Oh it probably would but thats something this woman will have to deal with then
I think she may have a personality disorder.
If she has the child such callous depravety should have social services there to remove it from further peril and place it with a loving family.
What's next? Upvote me or I will abandon my baby?