StandUpGirl.Com Celebrates Five Years and Six Million Visitors

By Liz Townsend

        At least 200 young women made the choice to “Stand Up” for life after visiting a remarkable pro-life web site, StandUpGirl.com. Recently celebrating its fifth anniversary and six millionth visitor, the site provides information, advice, and support for girls facing crisis pregnancies.

        “The site gives information about abortion in a gentle way, to reach girls who may not think of visiting a blatantly pro-life web site,” Gayle Atteberry, executive director of Oregon Right to Life, told NRL News. “We hope to woo them to choose life.”

        Established by the Oregon Right to Life Education Foundation (ORTLEF) in June 2000, StandUpGirl.com features the real-life story of Becky, who faced an unexpected pregnancy and chose life. Girls are invited to write to Becky for advice and to tell their own stories.

        “About 2 months ago, on April 17th, I gave birth to my sons, Jotham and Benjamin,” wrote one young woman to Becky. “By reading basically all the information on here, I knew that I couldn’t abort them. So basically you saved my son’s lives.”

        Becky always answers their e-mails, building friendships and offering support. The heartrending letters are posted on the site, along with Becky’s responses, and give girls a real sense of community, a sense that they are not alone as they make the most important decisions of their and their children’s lives.

        “I’ve never been involved with anything so full of God in my life,” said Atteberry. “You can feel the hearts of the girls who are pregnant and scared. Their letters open your eyes to what they are feeling, that none of them want abortions.

        “And you can see their joy to have someone step up and say, ‘You can do this. You can choose life.’”

        Since the site has gotten so popular, Becky has been joined by Lisa, who had an abortion and can help girls seeking post-abortion healing.

        Girls visiting the site can read letters from these women too, finding out firsthand what a choice for death would mean. “I will regret my decision till the day I die,” wrote Melissa in a letter posted on the site. “I could have done it. But I was weak, timid, afraid. There ARE options for girls. I don't know how this sounds, I don’t know if you can use my story. But I felt in honor of my child, I had to put my story out there, to possibly stop one child from suffering as mine did.”

        The site also includes detailed information on fetal development with beautiful pictures of the growth of an unborn baby drawn by an artist. These pictures have been made into posters that are available for purchase.

        “We hired an artist to draw the pictures, and they are beautiful,” said Atteberry. “They show the baby along with the mother. The mother, very feminine and pretty, is shown so the girls can identify with her, to see that a pregnant woman is beautiful.”

        The posters will soon be available for purchase on the web site. Also available soon will be a book written by Becky, where she will expand on the topics covered on the web site and give advice on how to deal with an unexpected pregnancy.

        ORTLEF continues to find ways to spread the word about the site to more young women worldwide. One way is to refine the keywords used by Internet search engines to identify web sites. The keywords “pregnancy symptoms” have brought a great many visitors to StandUpGirl.com.

        The site requires a commitment of money and time by ORTLEF to keep it updated and relevant. The staff has grown from one volunteer to about 20 people donating their time and talents to the web site.

        “I’m overwhelmed at what StandUpGirl has done,” said Atteberry. “We never imagined it would be so successful and so powerful. It’s like a giant, worldwide pregnancy support counseling center.”