Welcome to 16 & Loved!
16 & Loved is a campaign to give our public support to the three young women who told their abortion story on the MTV special – “No Easy Decision” – created for the popular series “16 & Pregnant.” Markai and several other young women did their part to let others know: “you are not alone. I’ve been there too.” Now, it’s time to do our part. We need to make sure these brave young women feel our unconditional love and our support. 16 & Loved sends love and support to Markai and the others on the show, and, in the process, lets every young woman who has had an abortion know that she is not alone. She is loved.
16 & Loved is brought to you by Exhale, a nonprofit organization which provides the first and only national, multilingual after-abortion talkline. We partnered with MTV on the special because we never want another young woman who has had an abortion to feel like she is alone. She is loved. We offer nonjudgmental emotional support with trained peer counselors and the opportunity to connect and share stories with other young women in a private online community space.
If you care about women who have had abortions and our wellbeing, then help us spread the love by joining our 16 & Loved campaign.
- Showing your love by submitting a message to this website.
- Let Love Rule and join blogging stars Jessica Valenti, Lynn Harris, Shelby Knox & more in conversation as they live-blog the show.
- Becoming a Fan on Facebook. We need to add 1,000 new fans before the show airs on December 28th. Spread the word and recruit your friends!
- Grow the Love on Twitter. We’ll be talking about telling our stories leading up to the show, and we want you to live-tweet the MTV special with us. Make sure you’re following @ExhaleProVoice on twitter and use the hashtags: #16andloved and #provoice. Here’s a sample tweet:
Help build the #provoice movement: join @ExhaleProVoice in supporting these 3 women! http://bit.ly/16andloved #16andloved - Give the Gift of Love and make a donation to Exhale. We expect our call volume and web traffic to grow exponentially in the days and weeks after the show airs. Help us meet the new demand and make a donation today.
I’m so glad this movement was created, and hope the movement goes beyond the mtv catalyst and gets as mainstream as possible. Let’s support our sisters!
This is an amazing avenue of support and love for young women who need and very much deserve it. Choices should always be made available to those who find themselves in tough situations like this and never should we prohibit that ability to choose. Taking away anyone’s freedom in the right to choose their own fate is taking away the very liberties our country was founded upon. Allowing an open, honest dialogue in relation to this issue will hopefully allow the country a more realistic view of both the benefits and challenges that abortion presents. I want these young women to know that I am a young woman myself who fully supports their decisions and wishes the very best for their futures. I’ve seen my peers make the same decisions you have and I’ve seen them in their ups and downs, ultimately watching them thrive and become the people they have always strived to be. Just know this, you are brave. You are not alone. You will achieve your dreams and aspirations. Most of all, you will always be loved more than anything else.