23 Apr 2014

‘Go die’: model besieged with Twitter threats over abortion

The ugly face of Twitter emerges again as violent threats and insults are levelled at a wannabe celebrity who has chosen to have an abortion to further her career.

Twitter (Getty)

Josie Cunningham was reported to have told the Daily Mirror that “an abortion will further my career” as it would mean she could appear in the next series of Big Brother.

The Mirror reported the 23-year-old as saying: “I’m finally on the verge of becoming famous and I’m not going to ruin it now.

“An abortion will further my career. This time next year I won’t have a baby. Instead, I’ll be famous, driving a bright pink Range Rover and buying a big house. Nothing will get in my way.”

In response, there has been an explosion of vitriolic abuse against Ms Cunningham – with people variously calling for her to be tortured, subjected to genital mutilation, or killed.

One tweet said Ms Cunningham deserves “nothing but torture” whilst another calls for her to be given “a lethal injection.” Channel 4 News has decided not to show the tweets on taste grounds, but you can see those in which Ms Cunningham is mentioned here.

Additionally, Dr Christian Jessen was one of those who tweeted on the subject – saying that it was a “new low, even for her” to his 300,000 fans. He also retweeted a comment that read: “She is a vile human being.”

Ms Cunningham said she is going to report Dr Jessen, a registered doctor, to the GMC for his comment.

Dr Christian has since tweeted that he has “always been pro-choice”, but that abortions should not be “turned into a publicity stunt”.

In response to the outrage, science writer Martin Robbins wrote for the Guardian: “In reality, her actions are no different from those of thousands of women who exercise reproductive rights in order to make informed choices about their future careers and families, yet because she use the wrong language, because she talks ‘common’, and wants to be on Big Brother instead of working in a call centre, she has been subjected to a torrent of vile abuse and bullying.”

He added: “A woman exercises her reproductive rights, and Twitter burns.”

Paris Lees wrote for Vice: “I still may not agree with your motives, or how you choose to present yourself in the media, and you’re never gonna get a Pride of Britain award, babe. But you don’t deserve all that blind hate and death threats. Your boobs, by the way, are fine. The really ugly tits are the ones that have been bullying you.”

Whatever your view on her decision and her reasons for taking it, the reaction on Twitter is undoubtedly gratuitous and appalling.

And it is not the first time that people have felt justified in abusive and threatening behaviour on Twitter – for example the abuse levelled at Caroline Criado-Perez and Labour MP Stella Creasy for campaigning for a woman’s face to appear on £10 banknotes.