BY AIMEE MURPHY
If you're anything like me, you're an audiophile and you listen to music on a pretty constant basis. Right now my song is "Summertime Sadness" by Lana Del Rey. I've been listening to it nonstop -- and in trying to make out the meaning of the lyrics, I found a few theories that it was about Lana's friend who committed suicide. Considering the content of the music video, I wouldn't at all be surprised if that was the case. It made me wonder how many songs are out there that discuss abortion. You'd be amazed -- 200+ songs made the list, and a sizeable portion of them are either pro-life or lay the grisly and heart-wrenching truth of abortion to bear. Unlike the seeming celebration that the Feminist Majority Foundation wanted to have with their "AbortionMatters blog carnival," these songs really demonstrate the heavy moral weight that we carry with us as a society from the legalized homicide of our youngest members. Even songs that don't make a particular pro-life statement show the mourning, psychological trauma, and (in some cases) the medical, ethical reality of abortion and its aftereffects.
Here's a short list of some popular songs that you've probably heard at one point or another -- take a step back and reevaluate the lyrics. Abortion is such a common tragedy in our generation that we cannot avoid the reverberations and aftershock -- whether it be from the loss of a sibling, potential friend, or child. Share a song with your friends, and start a conversation.
"Slide," Goo Goo Dolls
Pretty much anybody who is older than 15 knows this song. Despite the fact that it was first released in 1998, it is still popular and played on the radio today (what staying power, Goo!). It's the story of a young teenage couple -- the girl finds out she's pregnant, and the couple is trying to decide whether to get married or have an abortion. From what I can tell, she got an abortion and now has "little pieces of nothing that fall," but not necessarily after consulting the father.
"Don't you love the life you killed?/ The priest is on the phone/ Your father hit the wall/ Your ma disowned you/ Don't supposed I'll ever know/ What it means to be a man/ It's somethin' I can't change/ I'll live around it."
"The Freshmen," The Verve Pipe
Another popular song from the '90s, "The Freshmen" tells the tragic tale of a young woman who gets an abortion and cannot deal with the guilt and pain of knowing she killed her own child -- and commits suicide. Her friends try to cope and pull themselves together, but in their youth they don't know how to handle it.
"When I was young I knew everything/ and she, a punk who rarely ever took advice/ Now I'm guilt-stricken, sobbin' with my head on the floor/ Stopped a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice/ Can't be held responsible/ She was touchin' her face/ I won't be held responsible/ She fell in love in the first place/ For the life of me/ I cannot remember/ What made us think that we were wise/ and we'd never compromise/ For the life of me/ I cannot believe we'd ever die for these sins/ We were merely freshmen/ My best friend took a week's vacation to forget her/ His girl took a week's worth of valium and slept/ and now he's guilt-stricken, sobbin'/ with his head on the floor/ Thinks about her now and how he never really wept/ . . . / We tried to wash our hands of all of this/ We'd never talk of our lack in relationships/ and how we're guilt-stricken sobbin' with our heads on the floor/ We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip we'd say/ We can’t be held responsible . . . "