Pro-life shirts that spark, spur, and speak

“Hey, what’s with the shirt? What’s Abort73.com?”

“I could tell you, but better yet, why don’t you go online and check it out?”

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Fifteen years ago, on campuses across the US, Canada, and even in England, students started showing up to class in t-shirts emblazoned with a distinctive “Abort73.com” logo. And the next day they’d be back, with a different shirt, in a different color, with a different style, but also emblazoned with “Abort73.com” across the chest and back.

What’d it be like to sit behind someone who, day after day, was outfitted this way? Would you start getting a bit curious about this website? Would you want to know more?

Speaking up without saying a word

That’s the brilliance behind Abort73.com. Through repeated exposures, people who otherwise would never check out a pro-life website go to this one. Their curiosity compels them. Day after day, week after week, month after month, shirt after shirt, the same short web address – eventually curiosity has to get the best of them.

These shirts are also an aid – and really an answer to prayer – to the many Christians who want to speak out against abortion but don’t feel equipped to do so. Perhaps you’re the type to get tongue-tied, or maybe you always think of just the right thing to say twenty minutes after the opportunity has passed you by. Maybe you’re worried that if you do speak up no one will pay attention. Or you’re more worried that everyone will listen. Whatever the case might be, these shirts can help you speak up without saying a word.

A two-pronged approach

Most pro-life t-shirts have been designed to make a statement all on their own with slogans like “Abortion is Murder” or “Choose life – Your mother did.” Originally Abort73.com shirts weren’t like that. They were focussed entirely on getting folks to the website, because that’s where they would have the room to really make the case for the humanity of the unborn in a way that no single t-shirt ever could. That’s why their early shirts just had the website address, albeit in all sorts of fonts, colors, and styles. When people did visit the site, what they found was a well-organized summary of the medical, philosophical/logical, and pictorial arguments against abortion and for the humanity of the unborn. The one notable downside to their approach is that none of their “first layer” arguments – those you can find off of their front page – are Christian arguments. God’s thoughts can only be found by digging deeper into the site.

Nowadays Abort73 has expanded their approach in that they also sell shirts with slogans. I suspect that’s because, even as it’s better to get people to the website for the full presentation, they now recognize that speaking to the humanity of the unborn via even brief t-shirt slogans can be a way of stirring things up too. Especially on today’s college campuses.

The shirts are $20 US each but if you buy a half dozen you can get them for just $10 per, and that is pretty impressive.

Why not check it out?

So, is your curiosity piqued? Then why not go to www.Abort73.com and check it out? Or go directly to their store to order a shirt…or thirty?

A version of this article was first February 2006 issue under the title “A shirt a day…the vision of the folks behind Abort73.com”