Standupgirl.com reaches hearts

By Paul Harmon, Oregon Right to Life Board Member

Oregon Right to Life Education Foundation (ORTLEF) recently created a dramatically different kind of web site. While recognizing that there were many wonderful information sites, ORTLEF wanted to create a site which would approach abortion from the woman's point of view.

The goal was to create a site which would change hearts and minds in a critical segment of the population which is difficult to reach. We wanted an "online television ad" which would be exciting to young women and draw them in to hear a solid pro-life message. With the professional help of St. Max Media, standupgirl.com was created.

The site opens with music, moving images, and a story about a young woman's struggle with an unexpected pregnancy. Becky, who tells her real-life story about her unexpected pregnancy, was pleased to be the subject of this web site.

She struggled with her own decision about her unexpected pregnancy, deciding in the end to "stand up" and do the right thing - - choose life. The video, through word, sight, and sound, brings the viewer from confusion to decision, from dark into light.

The viewer can check into the "Becky Today" segment to see how Becky's life turned out. Becky herself stays intimately involved with the site by answering questions that are e-mailed to her.

The web site offers viewers the opportunity to view fetal development at various stages. They can view the developing child via embryoscopy, ultra-sound, or detailed drawings.

The site also provides pro-life testimonials from other women who have had abortion decisions to make, connections to local crisis pregnancy care centers through two "800" numbers, a free MP3 to download, quick facts for those in a hurry (or doing a term paper), and links to other excellent pro-life sites. The site attracts, holds attention, and has been recognized for its technical excellence by reviewers at Yahoo.com and About.com.

The following sampling of site visits gives a feel for how viewers interact with the site:

In Guatemala, a "young woman" (visitors are assumed to be female, although the sex is unknown) searching for pregnancy advice on Yahoo found a link to the site. After watching the introductory story, she looked through the 3D ultrasound tour for six minutes and the embryoscopy tour for two minutes, and then read personal testimonies for nine minutes before leaving. She spent a total of 24 minutes getting pro-life information.

In southern Kansas someone was searching Yahoo for advice to teenagers. Fourteen seconds later, "she" was at standupgirl.com. After going through the introductory video she selected the testimonials and spent nine minutes browsing through them. She was there 15 minutes before leaving.

An Oregon State co-ed typed www.standupgirl.com into her web browser and spent the next six minutes watching Becky's story of unexpected pregnancy and reading the testimonials. She was probably led to the site by a local billboard.

A student in North Carolina discovered standupgirl.com on the Internet while searching for information about abortion. An hour later someone else (presumably an adult, perhaps a teacher) looked at the site, and then an hour after that several students visited, one after another, and went through the information.

The site can be reached at standupgirl.com. It is also referred to interested viewers through many search engine names. "Fetal development," "teenage pregnancy," and "gestation" are common requests which lead a searcher to standupgirl.com.

However, the most common reason for arriving at standupgirl.com is when an Internet explorer searches for a site on "abortion." (Yahoo and Google have the listing buried; look for the link titled "abortion stories.")

ORTLEF is advertising the site in school newspapers, at county fairs, by handing out business cards, and on billboards. The advertising has proved successful, as visitors in Oregon come to the site 10 times more often than the population in the state would warrant on a statistical basis. The site is also viewed internationally.

Recently, however, the site has been advertised on GoTo.com. This advertising has made Standupgirl.com one of the top pro-life sites on the Internet. Over 11,000 viewers visited the site for an average stay of eight minutes during the first week in October. Over 75,000 visitors came to the site in two months' time.

This is achieving a goal that all pro-lifers share in--reaching out to women in an unexpected pregnancy and to all those studying "choice" with the truth about the unborn child developing in the womb. The best part of it all is that it can all be achieved in the privacy of the viewer's home, short-circuiting the false rhetoric of pro-abortion counselors or literature.

Pro-lifers across America can participate in helping others come to this site to see and hear the truth about unborn babies. Oregon Right to Life Educational Foundation will send standupgirl.com business cards to anyone who requests them free of charge. These cards are excellent handouts at schools, fairs, pregnancy support centers, and events. Go online to standupgirl.com and make a tax-deductible contribution through the secure online donation page. Every dollar buys advertising which brings 10 more viewers to the site for almost 10 minutes each. Viewers can also add standupgirl.com to their web site, a surprisingly effective way to draw people to the site for free.

ORTLEF is excited about this opportunity to help in the goal to change hearts and save unborn children's lives. This site's goal is to be one of the factors in the coming transformation of America from a land in the shadow of the culture of death to a land of life.