Everyone has a story. What's yours?
 Linda Thomas
twitter: @TheNewsChick
About Linda
Linda is the morning news anchor and features reporter for KIRO Radio. This is her local news blog, with an emphasis on social media, technology, Northwest companies, education, parenting, and anything else that grabs her attention.

If you have a news tip or story idea, I'd love to hear from you...

To leave a voice message for Linda about any of her stories call toll free 1-855-251-2363

Follow Me on Pinterest


Darcy Burner asks more women to 'come out'

June 14, 2012 @ 5:27 pm (Updated: 10:07 am - 6/15/12 )

Listen to Darcy Burner asks more women to "come out" about abortion

Congressional candidate Darcy Burner didn't think her request to have women stand up if they've had an abortion would become a controversy, but she hopes it will inspire more women to "come out" about their personal experiences.

At a women's health conference in Rhode Island the First Congressional District candidate asked women in the room to stand if they have had an abortion. She says about 150 women stood. Then about 2,000 women stood after she asked if the rest of the audience would support a woman who has had an abortion and is "willing to come out about it."

BurnerAfter the speech, Burner talked with a few of the women who stood up. They "never felt as loved and supported" as they did when everyone stood with them.

In an interview with Burner, she uses the term "coming out of the closet" several times.

Her message about abortion was inspired by the success of the gay rights movement.

There was a time when people felt they had to conceal their sexual orientation or gender identity because society shamed.

As more and more people came out about their homosexuality, others were able to see there's nothing wrong or shameful about being gay, she says.

"Women who've had an abortion should feel like it's okay to come out of the closet and talk about their decision," Burner says.

"People think they don't know women who've had abortions, when in fact their mothers or their sisters or their co-workers or their friends often have. Women being able to come out of the closet and being able to say 'I've had an abortion' would change people's view of what it meant."

I asked Burner a question I've never asked anyone before, "Have you had an abortion?"

"I have not had an abortion, but I've been in a situation in which during a very high-risk pregnancy my doctor sat me down and said their was a very real chance if I continued the pregnancy I wouldn't survive," she says. "The choices that are made at that moment are incredibly difficult and no politician has the right to make them for any woman."

She believes abortion rights will become an issue in the congressional races across the country as those in the GOP try to restrict women's access to medical care.

"It's easy for opponents of abortion rights, and women's rights in general, to paint the worst possible pictures. To claim that the only people this ever happens to are horrific horrible people and they're not. They're your neighbor, they're your co-worker, they're your mother, they're your friend," Burner says. "Politicians don't get to stand between women and their doctors."

The race to replace Jay Inslee is a crowded one that includes John Koster, who opposes abortion but did not return my request for a comment. Among the Democrats - Suzan DelBene, Laura Ruderman, state Rep. Roger Goodman and state Sen. Steve Hobbs.

By LINDA THOMAS

AP file photo

Related: Burner abortion move sparks strong debate

More from Linda Thomas

MyNorthwest.com - Purpose of Comments statement
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.

Comments (100)


  • Add A Comment

  • jpetro wrote...
    Longway...
    June 15, 2012 8:38 am
    As a woman...Burner is indeed a LOON !!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Nearly every comment on this topic so far today...
    June 15, 2012 8:53 am
    has a negative and nasty overtone. Lots more name calling than actual thought.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    Chuck -
    June 15, 2012 10:09 am
    there's a positive side to this story?

    This woman's method of using women who have had abortions as a political tool disgusting. And then to follow up with having the women in that room pressured into "standing up" for them or be counted as "wrong", is equally so. I find her "coming out" comparison to the Gay movement abhorrent.

    Following up with that - she is so shortsighted as to think that people who vote on the left are not religious by that ridiculous assumption also conflates that they won't value prenatal life - and then puts undefined populist rage on the same moral ground as their chosen religions ... I don't even attend, much less care about what people do behind church doors and it even makes me cringe to hear it.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • JW1984 wrote...
    Confusing Terms
    June 15, 2012 9:10 am
    A few weeks ago, I saw a photo of a woman holding a sign "Fetuses are not babies". That someone can say this is horrible, but at least I had to admit that she was being honest about her beliefs instead of hiding behind nice-sounding words. The deceptive language that the left uses to skirt around this issue enrages me. "Republicans are trying to prevent women from accessing medical care". In all but a very few instances, abortions have nothing to do with medical care and everything to do with selfish life planning. Furthermore, extremely few republicans are unwilling to allow exceptions in cases where there is a valid, serious health concern for the woman. "I am Pro-choice". Just about everybody can agree that there must be some limits on our choices. Anyone who approves of the justice system in any form could technically be labeled "anti-choice". Conversely, I could use the term "pro-choice" to justify support for the legalization of theft, child abuse, murder, or anything other heinous crime.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • grow up/get real wrote...
    Can someone please make her go away.
    June 15, 2012 10:35 am
    please.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • flipper wrote...
    Anyone wonder...
    June 15, 2012 10:37 am
    ...why she no longer works at Microsoft? What a twit.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cbrew wrote...
    Such A Hypocritical Justice System we have....
    June 15, 2012 10:45 am
    If somebody shoves a woman down who's pregnant and the result is that the baby she is carrying dies, that's called Manslaughter. The Law recognizes that a life has been lost and punishes the person for it. If someone kills a Pregnant woman, they get 2 counts of murder or murder and manslaughter. In other words the court has laws protecting the unborn child. SO HOW THE HECK CAN A WOMAN SIMPLY DECIDE TO KILL AN UNBORN CHILD!?!?!?!? Why can't the father prosecute? Why does the baby lose it's rights just because the mother decides it is now unwanted? A completely Hypocritical statement by our Judicial system. This is not about a "woman's right to choose" In fact considering the examples i provided, Abortion amounts to pre-meditated murder. I can't believe it is allowed. I don't get to willy nilly decide to kill somebody that i don't want to exist, they should NOT either. This law is ridiculous. This has nothing to do with a woman's rights and everything to do with the rights of a human being that hasn't even had a chance to draw it's first breath. I abhor Abortion i think it should be illegal and anybody practicing it should be jailed and prosecuted for premeditated murder.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hnuh wrote...
    06-15-2012 Burner is
    June 15, 2012 11:16 am
    the current hack of choice of the local communist(democrat) machine. She's not proven to win, yet, her message hasn't been massaged enough to become popular. She has proven that she's willing to say whatever her masters demand with no regard for truthfulness. In and around the environs of Seattle she probably will eventually get elected, much to the detriment to the free people of the state of SayWA.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Chuckie Gould: "...has a negative and nasty overtone..."
    June 15, 2012 11:35 am
    Chuckie I realize to a commie liberal like you and Ms Burner, baby killing is something warm & fuzzy. But to the sane amongst us it is reviling.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • JMGilday wrote...
    it is clear that Darcy
    June 15, 2012 11:48 am
    Can't Understand Normal Thinking
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cranky old lady wrote...
    Darcy Burner
    June 15, 2012 1:15 pm
    Of course all the haters and self-righteous folks come out of the woodwork. You are the least Christian of all, since you are so quick to judge even in your ignorance of the other person’s situation. You have to walk in the other person’s shoes to know why they make the decisions that they do. Also, and I know this will come as a shock to you, not everyone is a Christian or even believes in a god so other people have different beliefs and are also moral people with different perspectives. It is the mean spirited amongst you that make gay people, women who have abortions and others that you instinctively hate stay in the closet. First remove the beam from your own eye before you remove the splinter from your neighbor’s eye.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    cranky old lady
    June 15, 2012 1:34 pm
    I don't need a book of parables or a wooden symbol to pray to to tell me that prenatal murder is wrong.

    If they have some kind of internal conflict about what they have done that's their own business and if they want absolution they should go see a religious leader or a counselor not a politician.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    cranky old lady...
    June 15, 2012 4:44 pm
    I never mentioned organized religion an ANY of my postings re: this topic. I merely posted the immorality of baby killing. So now who is the "hater & self righteous" one? Me thinks thou dos't protest too much....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }