A song in which rapper Qwel expresses his pro-life views on abortion. Considering the album the song is featured on in 2007, he stated, "Some of it, I look back on it and I think, I was 19 and complaining about things I didn't know nothing about. I don't think a 19-year-old man should do an abortion song. But I'm older now, I could not have known that then."
A song which criticizes the Catholic Church's position on abortion, featuring the line "Don't hide your shame behind the convent wall/Keep your child or don't give birth at all."
A
"Abortion" by Cars Can Be Blue
An irreverent duet in which a couple discuss their plans to get an abortion and then mutually declare "killing this baby was the best choice we ever made!"
"Abortion" by Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew
A pro-life rap song that describes abortion as a "distortion" and states the "world's morals are out of proportion."
A song with a pro-life message that was included as a hidden track on the band's debut album Snuff the Punk. Reflecting on the song years after its release, lead vocalist Sonny Sandoval said, "We don't do that stuff anymore, 'cause that's not where we're at. You know, we're not about stepping on people's toes."
A song about abortion that Young was inspired to record with Pearl Jam after playing it live with the band at a Voters for Choice benefit concert. Young commented on the song thusly: "See, personally, I'm pro-choice. But the song isn't! This isn't an easy subject to confront head-on. People who say that human beings shouldn't have the right to dismiss a human life - they have a point. You can't dismiss that point. But then there's the reality. There's idealism and reality, the two have got to come together yet there are always major problems when they do."
A song about a priest who becomes involved with a teenage girl whose boyfriend is away at war, then urges her to have an abortion when she gets pregnant, although he regularly protests at the clinic.
A French-language rap song about a 16-year-old who decides to continue a pregnancy despite her parents and friends advising her to have an abortion. When asked if he opposes abortion in an interview, Colonel Reyel stated he does not, and explained the intent of the song: "What I'm trying to evoke in the story is that it remains above all a personal choice. It's for the girl to decide whether she is able to give life or not, quite simply. And in the case of Aurélie, she feels ready, we must therefore support her rather than bully her."
"Autobiography" by Nicki Minaj
The final verse of this song is about the abortion Minaj had during her teens and the regret she experienced afterward.
B
"Baby Killer" by Rackets & Drapes
A Christian rock song that expresses the band's pro-life stance on abortion. In an interview, singer Kandy Kane stated the song was "dedicated to Bill Clinton," after he "lift the law that prevented federal funding for abortion clinics."
A song which alternates between the perspective of a man upset by not having a say in his partner's decision to have an abortion, the woman herself, and their baby.
A song Reynolds wrote to protest a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing restrictions on Medicaid funding of abortion, suggesting it will cause poor women to turn to unsafe means.
According to Godsmack vocalist Sully Erna, a practicing Wiccan, the song has an anti-abortion message. Erna says, "You don’t even know me, yet you’re deciding to kill me? Look, I’m here. I’m alive inside you. I can’t be ignored."
A song Bill Stevenson wrote about what he felt going through an abortion with his girlfriend.
"Bitchcraft" by Strelnikoff
A song mocking religious conservatives who are against abortion. It is written in the voice of a character designed to misrepresent the group. The character vows to correct what he views as morally transgressive behavior. The song was written as a criticism of lobbyists representing the Catholic Church who wanted to change abortion law in the band's native Slovenia.
"Black Chick, White Guy" by Kid Rock
A partly autobiographical song which tells the story of a relationship between an interracial couple, which begins in high school, when the girl gets pregnant and has an abortion.
The third verse of this song is about a man who gets an extramarital lover pregnant and then must inform his wife after his pastor tells him that abortion is not permissible.
"Blue Eyes Like Janey's" by David Huff
A song about a young couple who experience grief after an abortion and later become pro-life activists.
A song inspired by an obsessed fan and mental asylum patient named Pauline, who once showed John Lydon a fetus, telling him she had gotten pregnant by male nurses at the asylum. In 2009, in response to a conservative website interpreting the song as pro-life, Lydon stated, "The lyrics state both cases. I agree with both sides at the same time – not for religious reasons, but for humane ones."
A song with a pro-life message, about which Michael Tait said, "We were told by people that a lot of times 'issue-oriented' albums are not great sellers, or you'll get a lot of flak for them. To best honest with you, we're human, and we didn't want to get laid out again. But if telling the truth hurts, then it's just gonna have to hurt because that's what we're about. You know, racism is sin, abortion – to us – is sin."
A Spanish-language song which implores an unmarried pregnant woman not to have an abortion. In a radio interview, Arjona stated, "So it has an explanation in the CD: 'This is just a story, not a point of view,' right? Because I believe that such determinations belong to the people who have to make them, and I do not want to get in the position of having to influence people to see what to do with their lives or the life of someone who has a lot to do with them. That's the reason for the clarification and that's why I did not dare record this issue for so long, in order not to make it a kind of anti-abortion anthem, which was not really what I wanted to capture in this song."
"Convenient Homicide" by Seventh Seal
A song about the band's opposition to abortion, in which they declare, "There is no right to choose/Abortion is murder."
A French-language rap song written as a dialogue between an aborted fetus and the woman who carried it.
"Coulda Been" by K. Sparks
"Curse of Blood" by A.W.E. Band
A pro-life song that shifts perspective with each verse: the first verse is about the unborn, the second about a woman regretting an abortion, and the third verse about a nation asking God's forgiveness.
A song that metaphorically addresses facing an unplanned pregnancy, with "the dancer" referred to in the lyrics representing the choice to continue it, or "the sure way".
A French-language folk song with lyrics that mourn the passing of the era when Quebecers had large families and condemn modern women for having abortions.
Written by Yucatecan composer Vicente Uvalle Castillo, it is a Spanish-language song sung from the point of view of the fetus where it asks its mother to reconsider her choice of inducing an abortion.
A Spanish-language song Rivera wrote as a "plea for life to her mother" after learning that, while pregnant with her, her mother unsuccessfully tried to induce an abortion because she was immigrating from Mexico to the United States and thought it was an inopportune time to have child.
"Diary of an Unborn Child" by Mark Fox
A pro-life song sung from the point of view of a fetus that chronicles its development from its conception until the moment it is aborted.
"Didn't Wanna Be Daddy" by Jeffrey Gaines
A song Gaines wrote about the conflicting thoughts he had after finding out a woman he was with had an abortion.
A song about a young woman who dies giving herself an abortion because her state has a parental consent law and she is too ashamed to talk to her parents.
A song about Starlito wrote about having a woman with whom he was involved decide to get an abortion without telling him. The rapper explained that he consulted the woman before choosing to release the song: "I don't even know if people take that as a real thing that happened when they listen to that song, but if she said she wasn't cool with it, I wasn't gonna put that song out. I don't want to step on somebody's toes just for my art, not somebody that I care for."
The third verse includes the lyrics "A bitter debate and a feminine fate/Lie in tandem like two precious babes/While the former gets warmer, it's the latter/That matters except on the nation's airwaves./And custodians of public opinion stayed back/After vainly discussing her rights/Lay hands off her body/It's not your fucking life!"
A pair of songs written from the perspective of a fetus. In the first song, the fetus asks to be aborted, then changes its mind and asks to be born in the second song. "June" was conceived after "Due in June" had already been recorded because the group felt they "needed another track to balance that out, a way to talk about not having an abortion."
A song Illogic wrote based on his experience of having a girlfriend get an abortion without telling him.
"Foeticide" by Carcass
A song with very graphic lyrics describing abortion as brutal murder. "Foeticides done daily. Frying them inside the womb. Electrocuting embryos in their sterile tomb."
A song from Robyn's second album My Truth that deals with an abortion she had in 1998.
"God Are You There" by Eternity Focus
A song about teenage girl who has an abortion and is left "tormented day and night by both her choice and her pain."
"God Has Lodged a Tenant in My Uterus" by Tammy Faye Starlite
A satirical country song in which the singer assumes the role of a character whose oft-pregnant mother sung this song to her as a child to instill a pro-life viewpoint.
A song about a woman who travels to New York state, which legalized abortion three years prior to the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, for an abortion.
"Homicide" by Focal Point
A song in which the band condemn abortion providers, including the lyrics "A beating heart treated like a worthless piece of trash/I hate what you're doing and I will not let it last."
A pro-life song sung from the perspective of a fetus to the pregnant woman who does not want it. The song met with negative response upon its release as a single in the United Kingdom in 1987, with radio stations deeming it unsuitable for airplay, and record stores apparently declining to stock it. Solo has credited the song with "more or less" ending his career as a commercial recording artist.
A song about a woman haunted by the spirits of the abortions she had. When asked about her views in relation to the song, Jones stated, "I am not sure about the nature of a foetus, if it matters, truly. One wants to hope it matters, because one wants there to be a god, a morality, a good and evil, and if foetuses mattered, it would give some sense that there is in fact more than meets the eye, that the invisible world is filled with spirit, that a being exists even in a couple cells. It may. Or maybe not."
A Spanish-language song, written by a Uruguayan rock band, about the illegality of abortion in Latin America, and what the group views as the hypocrisy of society on the subject.
A song that Jamie Stewart wrote based on the experience of a teenage fan with whom he corresponds by e-mail, who found herself pregnant and decided to have an abortion because she felt she was not ready for parenthood.
A song in which duo Prince Po and Pharoahe Monch take on the role of twin fetuses inside the uterus of a crack-addicted woman, one preferring to be aborted rather than face a bleak future, and the other hoping to experience the world despite any possible adversities.
A song about a teenage girl leaving Ireland to have an abortion that Dido co-wrote with her brother Rollo Armstrong. When asked about her song "Thank You" being sampled on the Eminem track "Stan", Dido responded, "I certainly write songs about things that haven't happened to me, and they're just not quite as shocking. Like, 'Isobel' is about abortion. I'm not saying whether I think it's right or not."
A song about unsafe abortion that Seeger wrote for NARAL. It was not well received by the organization according to her: "They didn't like at all. It's not what they wanted. On the other hand, it stops people in their tracks. And it stops me in my tracks when I sing it. What they wanted was an anthem that everybody could join in and sing on."
A song in which rapper Butterfly gives reasons why he thinks access to abortion should be protected. Fellow group member Ladybug offered the following thoughts on the song in a 2005 interview: "We didn't make a conscious decision . We are conscious of our environments and of our lives and we take true situations in our lives and put it into songs. So that is an issue that every young person has to deal with at some point in time when you start having intercourse and sexual relations and stuff."
Described by Boone as "the anthem of the unborn child," this song features a children's choir, who take on the role of fetuses in a dream of Boone's, describing fetal development up to three months.
A song about a teenage girl who considers abortion after becoming pregnant by her substance-using boyfriend, but opts against it, giving birth to a son and marrying the father after he overcomes his addiction.
The first verse of this song is about an abortion: "I keep floating down the river but the ocean never comes / Since the operation I heard you're breathing just for one / Now everything is imaginary, especially what you love / You left another message said it's done / It's done."
"Little One" by Madison Greene
A song which violinist Erin Beck wrote about her regret over having an abortion. It is featured as a hidden track on the band's 1998 album White Stone Gathering.
A song about a young couple dealing with the feelings they experience following an abortion.
"Lost Ones" by J. Cole
A song written as a dialogue between a couple facing a pregnancy, with Cole alternating between the voice of the man, who suggests an abortion, and the woman, who rejects this idea.
"Lost Woman Song" by Ani DiFranco
A song in which DiFranco recounts the abortion she had after becoming pregnant in 1988.
A song about a young couple struggling with sadness and regret after an abortion. They see a counsellor who suggests that to overcome these feelings they should treat the abortion like a death in the family, and so they hold a funeral, buy a headstone, and choose the name Lucy to put on it.
A song about a college student who opts for abortion when her boyfriend declines to offer her support and has to be escorted by police past protesters at the clinic.
"Maria" by Roberta D'Angelo
An Italian-language song about a woman who undergoes a risky illegal abortion and "returns to live a little longer but even more alone."
A song L.A. Reid and Babyface wrote about a woman who had an abortion and later felt she made a mistake. When asked if the song was intended to convey a pro-life message, Houston stated, "I didn't sing it with that in mind. I think about the air we breathe, the earth we live on. I think about our children. I think about a lot of things, things God put here for us to have, things that we need and take for granted. I think all of these things are miracles and I think we should try to take better care of them."
A song that criticizes the now-defunct conservative organization Moral Majority, featuring the accusation, "You don't want abortions, you want battered children."
An Italian-language song about a man who feels helpless when his partner decides to have an abortion. In an interview, Afterhours frontman Manual Angnelli stated the song was "a piece on lack of communication between men and women," and that it was written for the purpose of "telling a story, the emotions and feelings so raw, without taking sides."
An autobiographical song about the abortion Grae had at age 16. Grae has stated her intent with the song was to give listeners a vivid picture of her experience: "The whole idea of it was, no, I wanted to do a song that was this real about it. Taking you into the room. The anaesthetic. You're going through the whole process, especially experiencing it as a teenager. And not having anyone to share that with."
A song that criticizes the pro-life movement, including those of the band's contemporaries in the vegan straight edge scene that adhered to the hardline philosophy, which includes opposition to abortion.
An autobiographical song about an abortion Chan Marshall had at the age of 20.
O
"Oasis" by Amanda Palmer
An upbeat pop song about a teenage girl who has an abortion after being date raped at a party, but quickly dismisses the significance of her experience when she receives a signed picture from her favorite band, Oasis. Palmer explained that the song was intended to be "funny and dark" rather than offensive, stating, "When you cannot joke about the darkness of life, that's when the darkness takes over."
A song written from the perspective of a man who bombs an abortion clinic. Frontman Bill Mallonee explained the song thusly: "I am not the character nor do I advocate the bombing of abortion clinics. Violence only begets violence. However, one must understand what righteous anger might look like when all options are closed off."
"Operation Rescue" by Bad Religion
A pro-abortion song written as a rebuttal to Randall Terry and the conservative pro-life organization Operation Rescue.
An Italian-language song about a woman undergoing an illegal abortion that Guccini based on common elements from personal stories related to him by several women.
A French-language song Moffatt wrote about her friend's experience with going through an abortion.
"Prawo do życia, czyli kochanej mamusi" by Prowokacja.
Polish pro-life punk rock song. Lyrics states that abortion is a murder and lack of respect for human being. It also contain phrase: Felon mothers, impious mothers.
"Przez sen" by Natalia Przybysz Song about a woman contemplating abortion.
"Pro LC" by Jenni Potts
A about abortion described by Potts as featuring three distinct voices: "the doctor," "the voice of desire," and "an overwhelming feeling of shock and guilt." Potts further explained that, although the title stands for both "pro-life" and "pro-choice," she dislikes such labels: "I've always hated those terms because it takes a very serious thing and turns it into an 'opinion.' I totally understand both sides. This song goes beneath all of that."
An ensemble reggae track in which the vocalists collectively declare their intent to stand against abortion. Christafari founder Mark Mohr explained that he tried to write a song dealing with abortion for several years, but eventually decided "I'm not going to sing this song, I'm going to have gospel reggae artists worldwide sing this song," each of whom contributed to the lyrics so that "it wasn't just my story, it's their story."
A song Friedman has described as "the only pro-choice country song", which tells the story of a young man who skips town after getting his girlfriend pregnant, leaving a farewell letter and feeling reassured by the knowledge that she plans to see a "doctor in Chicago."
Features a verse in which Pigeon John thanks his mother for not going through with the abortion she considered while pregnant with him. Commenting on the song, the rapper said, "I wanted to share how a human's simple choice does bring life or death. There is no in between. It just looks grey."
A song in which Green likens abortion to plucking roses before they have bloomed.
"Rosie Jane" by Malvina Reynolds
A song Reynolds wrote in support of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. It features a lyrical dialogue between a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy and a condescending doctor. According to Reynolds' daughter, Reynolds wrote the song about her friend, singer-songwriter Rosalie Sorrels, but chose not to reveal this during her own lifetime out of concern it would upset Sorrels.
A song in which a young couple from a small town run away together, and halfway through their trip, the girl reveals that she did not go through with an intended abortion and is still pregnant.
The first verse of this song is about a woman who picks up the phone to make an appointment for an abortion but hangs it up after looking at her sleeping child.
A song Stevie Nicks wrote about the abortion she had after becoming pregnant by her then-boyfriend Don Henley. Henley claimed this was the meaning behind the song in a 2000 interview. In 2014, Nicks confirmed Henley's account, stating, "Had I married Don and had that baby, and had she been a girl, I would have named her Sara."
A song about a pro-life U.S. senator who mysteriously finds himself pregnant and has a doctor decline his request for an abortion because "the law's the law."
A song about a woman driving home from a clinic after deciding not to go through with an abortion. She by Reid Jamieson from 'Me Daza' written for Ireland's referendum to repeal the 8th amendment. It chooses only the woman's side in that regardless of which choice is made, she will pay.
A French-language song about a teenage girl who has an abortion.
"Sibling Rivalry" by Sackcloth Fashion
A pro-life song in which two male rappers take on the role of twin fetuses while a female vocalist assumes the role of the pregnant girl who ultimately has an abortion.
A song written from the perspective of a fetus asking the woman carrying it not to have an abortion and afterward saddened with her going through with it.
A song about a Christian girl who decides to have an abortion although it is against her beliefs. The song was recorded during the sessions for Jackson's album Bad, but was not released until 2012 on the compilation Bad 25.
"Song X" by Neil Young
A song dealing with the 1993 murder of abortion provider Dr. David Gunn.
Features the lyrics "The abortion that you had/It left you clinically dead and made it all that much easier to lie/Said, 'It's nothing that I'm proud of'/Well, It's nothing that I'm proud of."
A song about an abortion decision which Dan Muckala described as being written from "the standpoint of the person that was aborted" and exploring "what might have been the story of her life."
"The Stranger" by Kat Eggleston
A song which gives an account of the experience of going through an abortion.
A song Jarvis wrote to contrast what he described as the "potential beauty" of a relationship that leads to a pregnancy with the "sometimes emotionally detached" decision to have an abortion.
"Superman" by Marry Me Jane
A song about the thoughts a woman has after an abortion, wondering if her child would have been "Superman," "an idiot," etc.
"The Survivor" by Phil Keaggy
A song written from the perspective of a baby born alive after an abortion.
The third verse of this song recounts Wainwright's experience of going to a hospital with his then-wife Kate McGarrigle in 1976 for an abortion, and, after she opted against it, returning there for the birth of a "little girl." When Wainwright's daughter Martha was asked if this referred to her, she responded, "Yeah. He doesn't make up a lot."
A song that condemns abortion and suggests that those who have one will go to hell. Josh Silver, the band's keyboardist, stated that, while he disagreed with the message of some of the lyrics frontman Peter Steele wrote for the album Dead Again, he supported Steele's expression of his views: "Honestly, I'd rather deal with a guy whose views I don't agree with than a guy who has no views. Probably 90 percent of music today is mediocre, view-less shit. Type O has always had opinions; sometimes they're horrific, sometimes they're depressed, but we'll always have opinions."
A couple goes through a number of difficult life events, including an abortion. "A third had just been made, and we were swimming in the water / Didn't know then, was it a son was it a daughter Reminding you we used to be three and not just two."
A song about a teenage girl who decides not to go through with an abortion after God speaks to her in the waiting room of the clinic. Elefante has explained that the song was inspired by his adopted daughter's story: "This is one the easiest songs I have ever written. I was able to put myself in the place and time where my daughter was so close to being aborted. It was so divinely vivid to me because this story was meant to be told."
A song with lyrics that condemn abortion. In an interview with a Dutch music website, guitarist Scott Mellinger stated, "We are seen as a pro-life band, but essentially we are as a band for nothing," and that though he personally views abortion as "tantamount to the murder of a child" he thinks it is "no business of the government to say it is not allowed."
A song with lyrics written by Dash Crofts' sister-in-law that asks women considering abortion to rethink their decision. Commenting on the song, Crofts said, "It is our effort to make people aware of when life begins, which we feel is at conception. We feel that each soul has the right to grow without the development being prevented."
"Unborn Me" by G. Finale
A song G. Finale wrote based on his experience of having a girlfriend decide to have an abortion. The song begins with the man's perspective in the first verse, shifts to the woman's perspective in the second verse, and concludes with the fetal perspective in the last verse.
A song about a teenage girl grappling with whether to have an abortion.
V
"Voicemail For Jill" by Amanda Palmer
A song describing how the decision to have an abortion is just as important and life changing as the decision to have a child is, suggesting the idea of celebrating an abortion like one would celebrate a wanted pregnancy.
A song in which the narrator confronts his girlfriend for having an abortion without telling him. In an interview, group member Speech explained the song's intent, stating, "The song is basically about relationships, about communication, as opposed to me trying to dictate what she does with that child. It's not pro-choice or pro-life."
A song written to object to a pro-life display of 4,000 white crosses called the "Cemetery of the Innocent" that was set up on the lawn of a church across the street from where Laura Jane Grace lived at the time she wrote much of the album White Crosses, which she described as an "eyesore."
"Who's the Victim" by The Lead
A hardcore punk song written from the perspective of a woman who finds out she is pregnant and is advised to have an abortion. The second half expresses regret over going through with this choice.
A song about a child who is born to a couple after they opt not to go through with an abortion, and eventually dies because her parents cannot afford to feed her.
A song written in the voice of a fetus, which responds to the woman carrying it that, even though she is considering abortion, it intends to be with her "for the rest of miserable days."
A song that gives an account of abortion from a man's perspective. Parker commented on the song on his official website in 1999: "...my impressions of such a powerful experience are not one-dimensional, and this is apparent in the song to all but the most narrow persons who might decide to misconstrue its meaning and my standing on the subject for their own, political/moral prejudice."
A pro-life song that asks "Is your convenience something that's justified to you?/ If you could ask her what she would want/ Would she want to be away from you?"
A song in which a father-to-be celebrates his partner's pregnancy, including the lyrics, "Didn't have to keep it/ Wouldn't put you through it/ You could have swept it from your life/ But you wouldn't do it."