After Korie Roberston shared her stance on abortion in a Live Original blog post, the site went down for more than a day.
The Duck Dynasty mom of six uploaded the post on Tuesday to share her thoughts on abortion in light of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The essay started out with Roberton’s hesitation to comment on the topic. “I’ve gone around and around about whether or not to post about the abortion debate going on in our country. I know how personal and emotional this issue is, and the internet can be a rough place to have hard conversations,” she wrote. “I have enormous compassion for women who have chosen abortions and know that had to have been a tough decision at an extremely difficult and uncertain time in your life. I hope you know how much you are loved by a God who sees you and was with you even then.”
Robertson has not been shy about publicizing her religious values and referenced her faith frequently in the post. She also acknowledged that her opinions might not perfectly align with everyone around her but felt compelled to join the conversation.
“I have friends who think differently than I do about this issue, I love and respect them and am seeing their posts and hearing their passion on the other side than I am, so I decided it’s time I throw my thoughts into the arena,” she noted.
Robertson said she might ruffle a few feathers on both sides of the pro-life and pro-choice argument, despite an apparent inclination towards the former.
“I realize that my writing this could be risky. I won’t say it all right. People will disagree. I’ll likely write something that even my friends or followers on the pro-life side disagree with, too. That’s okay. It’s too important of a conversation to ignore or to just stay silent so here we go … “
She opens her statement with a vocabulary critique, likening the term “pro-choice” to deliberate propaganda, saying, “One of the things that deeply disturbs me right off the bat is the term “pro-choice.” I actually think it was a brilliant marketing decision. It implies that if you aren’t for abortion or “for choice,” then you are against women having the right to choose what happens to their bodies. And that is such a false narrative that I can’t help but speak out.”
She goes on to explain that she does support a woman’s right to choose — however, specifying in what instances: to prevent pregnancy, put children up for adoption and raise babies.
“I 100% support a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body. I’m also incredibly thankful that there are a multitude of choices that are available to women in our day and age before and besides the choice to end the life inside her womb,” detailing different birth control options available, adding that Medicaid and Planned Parenthood can help.
Robertson believes men bear responsibility too. “I’m not letting men off the hook here. A man should always consider the consequences of his action to have unprotected sex. Condoms should always be the choice for protection from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Men should be equally responsible. Women you have the right and the power to demand a condom when having sex,” she asserts.
Incest and rape are two key pillars frequently used in pro-choice arguments and Robertson chose to address this perspective as well.
“I also believe in the woman’s right over her own body to choose whether or not to have sex in the first place. I understand that there are circumstances of rape and incest that sadly take away this choice,” she wrote, adding that these men are taking away a woman’s right to choose, not those against abortion. “The men who perpetrate those acts are the ones who don’t allow a woman to choose, not those on the side of pro-life.”
The former reality TV star continued to list more “choices” women can make instead of terminating their pregnancy, including adoption, calling it “beautiful and heroic” before writing that there are “literally millions of parents on waiting lists to adopt babies in our country.” She also quoted an unknown and unverified source that claims “there are as many as 36 waiting families for every 1 baby placed for adoption.”
Robertson’s final “choice” for those with unwanted pregnancies is simply keeping and raising the baby.
Concerning arguments that those who are pro-life don’t care about the well-being of the children once they are born, Robertson believes it is simply not true.
Finally, while seeming to support a woman’s right to choose initially, Robertson makes her stance on abortion undeniably clear: “In the end, I don’t believe the killing of babies in the womb should be legal in this country, and I don’t believe this is a woman’s rights issue.”
In an email to subscribers with the blog’s full text, Live Original shared that their website server “happened to go down…” LiveOriginal.com, which was back up and running on Thursday afternoon, was down for more than 24 hours. Yahoo Life reached out to Robertson’s rep for comment but did not hear back.
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