Spread the Abortion Wisdom

Being pro-choice is part of my identity. It is who I am, at my core. It is not simply an adjective to describe me, like having brown hair or hazel eyes. And as part of my pro-choice identity, it is my job to spread the word, the abortion word. To spread the knowledge, life experiences, untold stories and statistics, in hopes of instilling love, empathy and abortion wisdom into another person. By doing this, we as abortioneers are widening our circle. We are trying to invite people into our world so they can see into women's hearts as we do, as Dr. Tiller did, and as every human being should.

This past Friday, I was talking to two girls who are also pro-choice. One is a provider who performs abortions and was a strong voice in organizing people to march in protest against Stupak in the nation's capital. We got to talking about women in prison and their stripped rights, when the abortion provider said, "and they can't even get abortions in federal prisons."

My mind immediately went back to my "abortion wisdom box" and I remembered learning at my last job that "Prison officials must ensure that women have access to the full spectrum of pregnancy-related care, including abortion."

She seemed unsure about my statement, baffled by the very idea of it. I was outnumbered because the other girl had also never heard of protected reproductive rights for prisoners, and she worked in prisons!! I stuck by my abortion wisdom, and tried to think of the calls I've had from moms, partners and families of prisoners, all trying to help their loved ones get an abortion. The first step was telling them, "No matter what you have heard, what the prison guards and officials have told her, she has the legal right to a safe and legal abortion even if she's in prison."

It is a woman's constitutional and human RIGHT to have an abortion, regardless of criminal prosecution or incarceration. The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees bodily autonomy and privacy protection, which includes a woman' right whether or not to have a child. The U.S. Supreme Court Decision of Roe v Wade in 1973, ensures this right to have an abortion for incarcerated women.

Now here's the tricky part: Information, Access and Affordability are most often NOT provided to incarcerated women. They rarely know they CAN have an abortion, much less get information on how to pay for it, where to go, or who to call to find all this out.

I am a strong advocate for making abortion services accessible for women, because it is simply not enough that they are legal. Legality does not equal accessibility -- for this reason, many people do not know about the legal rights of women in prison, because they are so heavily restricted from accessing this right. There are SO MANY barriers set in place to keep women from knowing and attaining the pregnancy-related care they want.

It is our job to keep spreading the word, to impart our knowledge of the ins and outs of the abortion world to everyone we meet. Even our friends to subscribe to being pro-choice may not know wisdom we have, and vice versa. Share the wealth. Spread the word. Educate and Inform. For with knowledge comes power, and with power we hope for change.

Happy Vday Everyone :)

Telling Stories: You're Not Alone

It's that time of year again around the world: The Vagina Monologues will probably soon be coming to a city near you. I've been thinking about the Vagina Monologues a lot and though I'm a huge fan, I do think it's very strange they don't talk about abortion when they talk about vaginas. I wish they did!

VDay is coming up too - I think this week. It's all about raising awareness of the violence against women and how it's important to give voice to such things. Even during difficult, terrible times, women can still obtain power. And I'm grateful that as Abortioneers, we get to help women regain some power when faced with an unwanted pregnancy.

For us, one of the most important aspects of giving women power is access to options and choices. Sometimes, this could be as simple as telling the undocumented client who came to us for abortion services - who had been brutally beaten and nearly killed by her strict Catholic husband when he found her birth control pills - that she could regain some control over her fertility (and freedom - hopefully - at least sometimes - from being used as a human punching bag) by using Depo, an injectible birth control that her husband won’t be able to find in her dresser drawer. As you probably know, when a woman is pregnant, the risk of domestic violence increases dramatically. In fact, the time when a woman is most likely to be murdered in domestic violence is when she is pregnant. This client cried when she learned that her husband wouldn’t find any more pills and she could at least prevent a pregnancy; because as you can imagine, this woman had no power to negotiate when her body could be used for sex, under what conditions, nor did she have the power to negotiate condom use, let alone be able to discuss birth control. She was grateful. And though she had endured painful circumstances, and though controlling her fertility doesn’t mean she’ll never be abused again, she gained some power over her own body. Her own life.

I recognize she didn't go home and have a voice against her abusive husband; but for the hours she was within our clinic, she had a strong, powerful voice of bravery. I'm proud that she had a haven, a place to go to where we recognized her strength. Somewhere she could safely tell her own story. Perhaps it saved her life.

Find a V-Day event near you.

Shop Talk

Vulva Flower's post yesterday was timely for me and I've thought quite a bit about the article she shared. I know that our blog is specifically for those of us who do direct service work. We want to be able to be honest and share our feelings/love/frustration/admiration for the work we do. For the work you do, too.

Sometimes this can be a little scary because we (Me? The abortion movement? You, maybe?) get worried at times that what we say can be taken out of context and twisted to suit a twisted person's view. The author of the article that VF posted yesterday, suggests that this actually can create further silence, isolation and stigma about abortion. It can be hard when we feel, even within Abortionland, that it is uncomfortable to talk about the uncomfortable bits of our work.

I agree with the author, however, that if we can't, as abortioneers, have candid discussions (at least in our workspace, at least within our field), then we may feel more isolated in an already isolated Abortionland world. Case in point: I have a colleague who is brilliant at her job. She loves it. She's clever and works her ass off. She'll do lots of different jobs, but just don't ask her to do pathology. She's simply not okay with it. She's totally fine watching abortions/assisting the provider. She's fine counseling or making appointments. Just don't have her look at path. Don't ask her to touch it. Our provider recently said he was unsure whether this individual could exhibit real leadership qualities in a clinical setting and not do pathology. I'm not sure I agree. She's pro-choice and she cares about this work; she's just honest about where her limits are. Does that mean she can't progress further?

The author of the article suggested research should be done on providers' perspectives on second trimester abortion; I think it could be super useful to do research on not just clinicians' perspectives, but all abortioneers' perspectives on abortion in general (not just second tris). Wouldn't it be nice if healthcare assistants and counselors and phone receptionists and staff who scrub instruments could go to big annual meetings (like NAF?) and discuss, candidly, what it takes to do this work?

I just hired a bunch of new staff. I was worried I'd scare them off by telling them about all the security yuckiness that coincides with Abortionland. I worried they wouldn't want to come work for us and I wasn't sure how upfront I wanted to be about how it can be challenging dealing with doing this work. I've since learned it's better to be totally honest and candid so as to face the facts head on (and to scare off early the people who are going to get scared off the first time they get a bomb threat).

...It's the same thing, really, I think, that the author was saying. Talk. Honestly. And listen, too. Without the fear that our discomfort makes us less pro-choice, less of a flaming abortioneer, less of an employee; I mean, I get there's a bit of a fine line here. Personal discomfort levels can't affect the care of women seeking abortions or the ability to do your job. I get that. Totally. At the same time, sometimes it's a continuum, based on experience, and we have to be able to talk about it.