Sarah Silverman's 'vile' before-and-after abortion photos

(Image credit: whosay.com/sarahsilverman)

last updated 8 January 2015

The image: The comedian Sarah Silverman just fired the latest salvo in the so-called War on Women. Known for making edgy jokes about rape and the Holocaust, Silverman created an uproar by tweeting a fake before-and-after picture of herself with the caption, "Got a quickie aborsh in case R v W gets overturned." Referring to Republican promises to roll back the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision that legalized abortion, the "before" picture shows her with a distended belly (taken, she says, just after she ate a bloating burrito), while her stomach is flat in the "after" image.

The reaction: Silverman's "brand of abortion-based wittiness" is "vile" and "disturbing," says Jeannie Deangelis at Big Hollywood. While she has drawn support for "voicing liberal pro-choice beliefs," some are condemning her "insensitivity" to a subject that is "no laughing matter," says Olivia Fleming at The Daily Mail. Even her fans might conclude that she's gone "too far," says Kaydi Poirier at Hollywood Life. Actually, people are missing the whole point of the stunt, says Meredith Carroll at Babble, which is to make light of the perception on the right that the "pro-choice movement is all about… killing life at every opportunity."