Abortion Experiences
This collection is also posted at the Abortion Assistance Blog.
Videos:
The Abortion Diaries (a short documentary featuring 12 women)
My surgical abortion at 9 weeks. Part 1.
Our Reality: Aspen’s Experience with Abortion
Blogs:
What To Expect When You’re Aborting
Able to have an abortion, thanks to the National Network of Abortion Funds
The Land of “Oh Fucking Shit”: When The Choice Is Yours and the follow-up, In Which I Wait Two Menstrual Cycles
Crasstalk: By the Time You Read This
I submitted my testimony today in opposition of the heartbeat bill here in Ohio
Why I Had An Abortion: Parts 3 and 4
{Two Years;; Feels Like Forever}
What It’s Really Like To Have An Abortion
How My Abortion Enabled Me To Be A Better Mother
Why This Women Chose Abortion - at 29 Weeks
Another Memory of Visiting Dr. Tiller (severe fetal anomalies)
Women’s Stories About Abortion
National Network of Abortion Funds: How are women’s lives affected?
A Heartbreaking Choice (severe fetal anomalies)
(Source: everythingispouringin)
Judicial Bypass for Minors
There are 37 states that currently enforce parental notification or consent laws - find out here if yours is one, or call your local Planned Parenthood. To avoid having to notify or obtain consent from parents or guardians, you must get a judicial bypass, meaning a judge will decide if you can get an abortion. Here are a few resources I’ve found on judicial bypass for minors seeking a safe, legal abortion without parental notification or consent.
Getting a judicial bypass does not cost anything, and you are entitled to a court-appointed lawyer.
- I found a lawyer in Ohio, Christine Baker, who offers free, confidential assistance.
- Texas has a program called Jane’s Due Process that ensures legal representation for pregnant minors.
- Contact your state’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). They may have a program that provides legal representation, or give referrals to lawyers.
- Contact the National Abortion Federation’s hotline (1-800-772-9100) for information and referrals in your state.
- Search your local Planned Parenthood’s website (find it here) for information on judicial bypass in your state. They may have a hotline or references for someone who can represent you.
- Be prepared to go out of your county, or even out of your state. Some judges will refuse to handle judicial bypass petitions, or to even hear the proceedings. If you need help getting to a court that will hear your petition, check out or contact the Abortion Assistance Blog or your state’s abortion fund.
I’ll keep updating this post, so any more information is much appreciated.
The worst anti-abortion bill in the nation
Remember those Michigan lawmakers who were silenced for saying the word “vagina”? The bill those women legislators wanted to discuss has passed the Michigan House and is now headed to the full Michigan Senate. If it passes and is signed into law, it will become virtually impossible to find a clinic in Michigan that can meet state regulations for performing abortions.
The bill is called HB-5711, and it would force women who have abortions to pay for the burial, cremation, or interment of any fetus 10-weeks or older, a first in the nation that would create unbearable costs for women, including those who have been raped. For fetuses at 20 weeks gestation, a death certificate must be obtained, subjecting the woman to potential public scrutiny at a time of private stress.
Additionally, any doctors who perform abortions would have to make costly and unnecessary renovations to their clinics — even if they only administer the morning-after pill. The dramatic effect of all this needless regulation is the closure of most Michigan health centers that provide abortions, and the remaining ones will be forced to charge much higher fees for services that one in three women will need some time in their life.
Tell Republican State Senators: HB-5711 will drive doctors out of Michigan and close family planning clinics. Say no to this bill and protect women’s access to the health care.
We have to stop this radical erosion of women’s access to healthcare masquerading as “reasonable restrictions.” The state Senate will consider this bill after it returns to session on August 15, and we need to show a determined opposition as soon as possible.
Under the bill, some physicians performing more than five abortions per month must carry $1 million in liability insurance. And it completely bans the best method for many rural women to access medication abortions through telemedicine practices. Michigan women are already suffering from too few obstetricians and gynecologists — especially in rural areas — and if HB-5711 gets passed and signed by the governor, some doctors will quit providing abortions, leave the state, or simply retire.
The committee that considered this bill in the Michigan House heard testimony from 10 people. Nine of them were against the bill, including a board-certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist. Just one person testified in favor of the bill: the head of an anti-abortion group. Despite this testimony, the committee passed the bill. And the fact that these requirements are directed only at clinics where abortions are performed, a procedure that is less invasive than many procedures done routinely in doctor’s offices, shows that this has nothing to do with women’s health or safety, and everything to do with politics.
It’s still possible that with enough pressure and publicity, we can slow or stop this extreme and dangerous bill from getting out of the Michigan Senate and onto the Governor’s desk for signature. But we have to act fast to build the necessary momentum before the legislature returns to session on August 15.
Tell your State Senator: Reject HB-5711 and stop the war on women’s access to reproductive health care in Michigan.
*this issue affects everyone, not just women.
SIGN THE PETITION.
Fatal Fetal Defect Counselors Brace For Influx of Families After Arizona’s Abortion Ban
(trigger warning for abortion, birth, pregnancy, miscarriage and forced birth)
This is just unbelievably sad. Arizona has now banned abortions after 20 weeks since the pregnant person’s last period. And as usual, the main people who get late-term abortions — people who will not have a healthy baby and mom when it’s all over — are the victims.
Via thinkprogress:
MISS Foundation and Embrace are non-profits specifically working to develop birth plans for such families, provide counseling, and prepare funeral services. The Legislature has allocated no funding for these services, which are expected to kick into high demand once the abortion ban goes into effect.
About 100 pregnancies are terminated after 20 weeks in Arizona each year. According to Joanne Cacciatore, the CEO of MISS Foundation, one or two families a month currently seek their help preparing for a fatal birth. But they expect their resources to be stretched past maximum capacity soon. Cacciatore said:
This law may have intended to do good, but it can really adversely affect non-profit organizations that desperately want to help people but maybe can’t help the number of people who now come to us. We are already stretched very, very thin. I don’t know where this money would come from. […] They’re finding us on their own. I don’t know what will happen when the Legislature opens this up.
So: no babies are saved, the mothers’ lives are put at risk, and their insurance carriers have to bear the cost of a dangerous labor and delivery (not to mention ongoing prenatal care). Tell me again who this benefits? Oh, right, self-righteous pro-lifers who can pat themselves on the back for saving the precious babies from their grieving mothers.
This is especially sick, given the vast number of severe fetal abnormalities that are only first discovered at the ~20 week ultrasound. I’m not sure the anti-choicers behind this legislation realize just how cruelly effective they have been, given their general lack of knowledge of obstetrics and gynecology, but they’ve done it.
Reblogging for the daytime crowd and for this ^^ commentary. Most doctors do the test that diagnoses fatal illnesses in the fetus do it at 20 weeks, because before then, the fetus is so small that you can’t really detect problems like that. So the main people who will be affected by this are pregnant people with a WANTED pregnancy who find out their baby won’t survive the birth. It’s known as a “fatal birth.” The state of Arizona is forcing mothers to carry a nonviable pregnancy to term and give birth to a dead or dying child. This happened in Brazil: because of their strict abortion laws, a woman was forced to carry a fetus that developed without a brain.
Late-term abortion is just… pregnant people don’t get abortions at that point unless something is really, really wrong. It’s heartbreaking for the parents who go through it (those are both links to personal accounts of women’s late-term abortions of wanted pregnancies). It’s incredibly sad and difficult on its own. These parents don’t need legislators cruelly enforcing a naive pro-life agenda on top of it.
![starrchild:
suicide-pacts:
Aaron Gouveia and his wife were already having the worst day of their lives. Then came the abortion protesters. [Source]
“You’re killing your unborn baby!”
That’s what they yelled at me and my wife on the worst day of our lives. As we entered the women’s health center on an otherwise perfect summer morning in Brookline, two women we had never met decided to pile onto the nightmare we had been living for three weeks. These “Christians” verbally accosted us—judged us—as we steeled ourselves for the horror of making the unimaginable, but necessary, decision to end our pregnancy at 16 weeks.
After extensive testing at a renowned Boston hospital three weeks earlier, we were told our baby had Sirenomelia. Otherwise known as Mermaid Syndrome, it’s a rare (one in every 100,000 pregnancies) congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together. Worse than that, our baby had no bladder or kidneys. Our doctors told us there was zero chance for survival.
I’m not a religious person and I’ve never believed in heaven or hell. But there is a hell on Earth. Hell is sitting next to the person you love most and listening to her wail hysterically because her heart just broke into a million pieces. Hell is watching her entire body convulse with sobs because she’s being tortured with grief. For as long as I live and no matter how many children we have, I will never forget that sound. And I vowed to do everything in my power to make sure she’d never make it again.
Across a crowded street, two people with “God Is Pro-Life!” signs and pictures of torn-up fetuses managed to drive the blade in even deeper. Again, I was left trying to console the inconsolable, feeling even more helpless this time, because I wasn’t allowed into surgery with her.
Running on pure adrenaline, and without even a hint of a plan, I grabbed my cell phone and crossed the street. I didn’t know what to say or how to say it, I just knew I wanted to make public the cowardice of these protesters. The video’s below—they didn’t disappoint.
I learned a few important things from this encounter. First, these people aren’t used to being confronted. They prey on the weak and they pounce on the wounded. It’s easy to berate people and shame them when they’re too beaten down to fight back. But I chose to do just that, and you can see what happened.
They spout the same tired rhetoric passed out at rallies and subway stations. They don’t have one salient response to any of my questions.
The most telling thing about their cowardice is when the woman on the right gets upset that I’m recording the conversation (which is perfectly legal) and then threatens to call the police. The irony is rich. She wanted to call the police because I was peacefully expressing my opinion on a public sidewalk and exercising my First Amendment rights, which is exactly what she was doing. But I’m not on “God’s side,” am I.
She also claims the women at the clinic are suicide risks. Even if she believed that were true, does she really think yelling at them and shaming them in public is going to encourage these women not to kill themselves?
After I took a walk and calmed down, it was time to pick up my wife and go home. When we pulled out of the clinic, the protesters were gone, and a police cruiser was parked nearby with the lights flashing. My wife, still groggy from the surgery, managed to crack a little smile, and asked, “What did you do?”
I have no idea if it was my interaction with the protesters that got them to leave. I doubt it was, but my wife was convinced that was the case. At first, I didn’t think of it as a big deal, and I actually felt a little foolish for getting so heated.
My wife, suddenly serious, pointed out a women entering the clinic. Within minutes, she said, that woman would be making a serious choice. Whether she kept her baby or not, it didn’t matter—what matters is that she can make the decision that’s right for her. And she can make it without people screaming at her.
My wife and I wanted our second child. We loved her. We even had a name for her, Alexandra.
You never know the circumstances surrounding this kind of decision. Consider this my plea: stop terrorizing women. Stop adding trauma to their trauma. If you’re able, stand up to these bullies in nonviolent ways. Speak out. And if you have a camera, use it.
—Aaron Gouveia is a regular contributor to The Good Men Project Magazine.
holy shit this made me cry
I have so much love for this man and his wife. This is an incredible story, and this horrible infliction on women NEEDS to stop.](http://goodmenproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Picture-43.png)
Aaron Gouveia and his wife were already having the worst day of their lives. Then came the abortion protesters. [Source]
“You’re killing your unborn baby!”
That’s what they yelled at me and my wife on the worst day of our lives. As we entered the women’s health center on an otherwise perfect summer morning in Brookline, two women we had never met decided to pile onto the nightmare we had been living for three weeks. These “Christians” verbally accosted us—judged us—as we steeled ourselves for the horror of making the unimaginable, but necessary, decision to end our pregnancy at 16 weeks.
After extensive testing at a renowned Boston hospital three weeks earlier, we were told our baby had Sirenomelia. Otherwise known as Mermaid Syndrome, it’s a rare (one in every 100,000 pregnancies) congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together. Worse than that, our baby had no bladder or kidneys. Our doctors told us there was zero chance for survival.
I’m not a religious person and I’ve never believed in heaven or hell. But there is a hell on Earth. Hell is sitting next to the person you love most and listening to her wail hysterically because her heart just broke into a million pieces. Hell is watching her entire body convulse with sobs because she’s being tortured with grief. For as long as I live and no matter how many children we have, I will never forget that sound. And I vowed to do everything in my power to make sure she’d never make it again.
Across a crowded street, two people with “God Is Pro-Life!” signs and pictures of torn-up fetuses managed to drive the blade in even deeper. Again, I was left trying to console the inconsolable, feeling even more helpless this time, because I wasn’t allowed into surgery with her.
Running on pure adrenaline, and without even a hint of a plan, I grabbed my cell phone and crossed the street. I didn’t know what to say or how to say it, I just knew I wanted to make public the cowardice of these protesters. The video’s below—they didn’t disappoint.
I learned a few important things from this encounter. First, these people aren’t used to being confronted. They prey on the weak and they pounce on the wounded. It’s easy to berate people and shame them when they’re too beaten down to fight back. But I chose to do just that, and you can see what happened.
They spout the same tired rhetoric passed out at rallies and subway stations. They don’t have one salient response to any of my questions.
The most telling thing about their cowardice is when the woman on the right gets upset that I’m recording the conversation (which is perfectly legal) and then threatens to call the police. The irony is rich. She wanted to call the police because I was peacefully expressing my opinion on a public sidewalk and exercising my First Amendment rights, which is exactly what she was doing. But I’m not on “God’s side,” am I.
She also claims the women at the clinic are suicide risks. Even if she believed that were true, does she really think yelling at them and shaming them in public is going to encourage these women not to kill themselves?
After I took a walk and calmed down, it was time to pick up my wife and go home. When we pulled out of the clinic, the protesters were gone, and a police cruiser was parked nearby with the lights flashing. My wife, still groggy from the surgery, managed to crack a little smile, and asked, “What did you do?”
I have no idea if it was my interaction with the protesters that got them to leave. I doubt it was, but my wife was convinced that was the case. At first, I didn’t think of it as a big deal, and I actually felt a little foolish for getting so heated.
My wife, suddenly serious, pointed out a women entering the clinic. Within minutes, she said, that woman would be making a serious choice. Whether she kept her baby or not, it didn’t matter—what matters is that she can make the decision that’s right for her. And she can make it without people screaming at her.
My wife and I wanted our second child. We loved her. We even had a name for her, Alexandra.
You never know the circumstances surrounding this kind of decision. Consider this my plea: stop terrorizing women. Stop adding trauma to their trauma. If you’re able, stand up to these bullies in nonviolent ways. Speak out. And if you have a camera, use it.
—Aaron Gouveia is a regular contributor to The Good Men Project Magazine.holy shit this made me cry
I have so much love for this man and his wife. This is an incredible story, and this horrible infliction on women NEEDS to stop.
(Source: faqueers)
Since I was told I have privilege…
1. Name me a TV series or movie where a main or secondary character is asexual, has come out as asexual, remains asexual and their asexuality is not due to abuse, a medical condition that can be fixed, a “phase”, being too young to be sexual or an alien race/supernatural creature or “waiting for the right person”. They can be of any romantic inclination (including aromantic) or any gender but they MUST have stated they are asexual.
Bonus if they’re also childfree.
2. Name me a TV series or movie where a main or secondary female character is childfree. Not childless(wanting kids but being unable to have them/not having had them yet) but actually childfree (never wanting children and sticking to never giving birth to any or adopting any - childfree people have no children. Peroid.) and not only has stated such but remains true to their childfree beliefs even if they get pregnant (yes that means an ABORTION not AWWW I WANNA BE A MOMMY NOW). Their childfree desire cannot stem from being “tragically sterile”, the last of their race, a supernatural or alien creature, a medical/mental illness or because the love of their life died young.
Bonus if they’re asexual too.
3. Name me a TV series or a movie where asexuality is shown in a positive light and treated as valid; not as something that can be fixed or a choice one embraces because “no one wants them” or a medical or mental illness.
4. Name me a TV series or movie where a woman being childfree is shown in a positive light and treated as valid; not as child-hating, being bitter, a “phase”, being immature, abusive, a “rabid man hating feminist” or the result of a medical/mental illness that needs to be fixed.
5. Name me a TV series or movie where a woman/person with a uterus actually has an abortion because she wanted to and with zero or little regrets afterwards because it was the right choice for her.
Bonus if she’s childfree and is shown sticking to that belief.
Now the reason I was female specific on the CF questions is because there are plenty of examples of CF men and men who don’t really want kids, so much so that Hollywood has made a billion cliche movies about it (and always the guy seems forced into parenthood because his girl is pregnant and happy) so a guy not wanting kids isn’t so much of a big deal. Females are supposed to want children because we supposedly have this clock that makes us want to breed. The other side of that is rarely, if at all, represented.
I’d actually love to see answers to these because I’d love characters I can look at and see myself fairly represented by the media.
U.S. Conference of Mayors Passes Pro-Choice Resolution
The resolution ”affirms the importance of women’s reproductive rights” and “urges Congress and the states to pursue a positive agenda that reaffirms fundamental rights and improves women’s access to safe and comprehensive reproductive-health care.”
Other resolutions support healthy eating, local farms and purchasing, and increased access to healthy food, especially in inner cities, increased funding for CDBG grants to provide quality, affordable housing, the reauthorization of VAWA including support for undocumented victims, eliminating the backlog of untested rape kits, reducing sex trafficking of minors, and empowering parents to ensure their child gets a good education and transform failing schools.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors sends representatives from cities with populations of 30,000 or more. They use their collective voice to influence national policy by distributing resolutions to the President and Congress.
Perhaps someday they’ll recognize that the health care issues they speak about affect everyone with the ability to get pregnant, not just cis women.
Abortion - Myths and Reality
Abortion has become an increasingly controversial topic. The anti choice movement has created a plethora of misinformation and flat-out lies. If you google information about abortion, a lot of scary, untrue “information” can come up, and this can be dangerous. I’m here to debunk some common myths about abortion.
MYTH: If you have an abortion, you won’t be able to have any kids in the future.
REALITY: Abortion is an extremely safe procedure. It’s 10 times safer than giving birth if performed before the 18th week of pregnancy, and about twice as safe as having your tonsils removed. A safe, uncomplicated abortion procedure should not affect future fertility. An abortion does not make miscarriage more likely, increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy, cause birth defects, cause premature birth, or increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
MYTH: Abortion causes breast cancer.
REALITY: A link between abortion and breast cancer has never been found. This myth has been promoted by people and groups that are against abortion; they use this idea to frighten people away from obtaining an abortion.
MYTH: If I have an abortion, I will become depressed and get “post-abortion stress syndrome.”
REALITY: The American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association do not recognize the existence of “post-abortion stress syndrome.” They have found the anti-choice studies and research flawed. Most scientific studies found that the long-term reactions to having an abortion are positive. Those at high-risk for depression and other psychological issues after abortion are people who already had emotional and psychological issues before the procedure.
MYTH: Plan B/emergency contraception causes abortion.
REALITY: Emergency contraception, also called Plan B and the morning after pill, is not the abortion pill. Emergency contraception stops a pregnancy from happening, while the abortion pill (RU-486 or mifepristone) terminates an already existing pregnancy.
MYTH: Only irresponsible people want abortions.
REALITY: According to the Guttmacher Institute, one in three people will have an abortion before age 45. Roughly two-thirds of those people will already have children and families. Mistakes happen. In a perfect world, birth control would be 100% effective, easy to use, and free or low cost. Everyone would have fact-based comprehensive sex education and access to sexual health services. There would be no rape or incest. Birth complications and birth defects would no longer exist. But, unfortunately, the world is not like that. Until that happens, abortion needs to be kept safe, legal, and accessible.
My Pro-Choice Politician: Nina Turner (D-Cleveland, OH)
This is the fifth in an on-going series where you all nominate state- or local-level elected officials who are standing up for reproductive rights in their communities and states, and we all, as a community, thank them for what they do.
We need to keep reminding these hard-working, often unacknowledged state-level politicians that we see the work they are doing and we are incredibly grateful for it.
(list of previous installments at end of post)
______________________________________
Today’s Pro-choice Politician is Nina Turner, an Ohio state senator (D-Cleveland).
Ms. Turner was nominated by both Gig Hartline and Heidi Swindell.
Ms. Turner became nationally famous in March when she introduced her “viagra bill.” Mimicking the paternalistic rhetoric of much anti-choice/anti-contraception legislation and the politicians who support it, Senator Turner said the bill was necessary to “protect men’s health.” From Robin Marty:
As I’m sure anyone who has experienced priapism can no doubt tell you, erectile drugs side affects are no laughing matter. Well, unless you’re in an “American Pie” sequel.
That’s why Ohio state Senator Nina Turner is introducing a very important bill to help regulate Viagra usage.
Via the Middletown Journal:
Before getting a prescription for Viagra or other erectile dysfunction drugs, men would have to see a sex therapist, receive a cardiac stress test and get a notarized affidavit signed by a sexual partner affirming impotency, if state Sen. Nina Turner has her way.
At least she didn’t mandate a rectal exam.
Today, if you head over to Senator Turner’s website, this is the first image you will see:
Help us say, “THANK YOU!” to Senator Turner for being a staunch pro-choice ally and for fighting tirelessly for reproductive rights.
- Twitter: @ninaturner
- Phone: (614) 466-4583
Thank you, Senator Turner!
If you’d like to nominate someone for our new “My Pro-Choice Politician” series, you can do so on our Facebook page or via Twitter (we’re @rhrealitycheck and use hashtag #prochoicepol).
___________________________________________
This idea was inspired by our post a while back for Kentucky State Rep Darryl Owens.
First installment: Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago)
Second installment: Kathy Stein (D- Fayette, Kentucky)
Third installment: Edith Ajello (D - Providence, Rhode Island)
Fourth installment: Mark Dayton (Governor of Minnesota)
Remember the scandal over Janet Jackson’s boob during the Super Bowl?
Super Bowl Viewers Will See Graphic Anti-Abortion Ads With Pictures Of Bloody Fetuses
christianist propaganda is OK but cock and pussy is obscene. welcome to Amerikkka.
Michael Jay Tucker (via fox-power)
This. Stop threatening to occupy my womb and instead adopt some of the 500,000 children in the US alone waiting for permanent families.
(via propaganda-for-life) (via randomduckeva)
(Source: fox-power)
A woman in NY has been charged with self-abortion
The police said Thursday that they had charged Yaribely Almonte, 20, who had lived in the building, with self-abortion in the first degree, a misdemeanor charge that has been used only a few times in New York State. Although it was unclear how old the fetus was, the charge applies when the abortion occurs after 24 weeks of pregnancy, when it is legal only if a woman’s doctor says her life is in danger.
The state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services said that since 1980, four other women had been charged with self-abortion in the first degree or in the second degree, a lesser charge that can apply when the attempt is not successful. Three of those cases, from Nassau County in 2006 and 2010 and from Monroe County in 2000, ended in dismissal.
Please please please signal boost this. I saw it on Twitter in the early hours of the morning today and it hasn’t gotten much press yet.
If you live in NY, maybe give someone a call? This is an abhorrent violation of this woman’s right to privacy and bodily autonomy. I am sickened that they are targeting a poor WOC for this, but not at all shocked. There may be a petition in the works; stay tuned for updates.
-R
[edit: It’s been brought to my attention that the article at the link has some pretty terrible reporting in it. I can totally see it now but I was half asleep when I first read it so I’m sorry for the oversight.]
This needs to be “super-reblogged”
(Source: stfuconservatives)
The GOP has launched an all out assault on women’s* rights and restrict access to vital health services. But we are fighting back, and we won’t go back to the back alley.
Check out this ad featuring House star Lisa Edelstein and join the fight here: http://pol.moveon.org/backalley/“The on-screen doc appears in an ad titled “We Won’t Go Back” for the activist group MoveOn. The pro-choice ad is currently on YouTube and is expected to air on certain cable networks.
The 30-second spot shows the actress dressed as a woman from the 1950s walking toward a closet door. As she walks, her voice is heard saying “Decades ago, women suffered through horrifying back alley abortions, or they used dangerous methods when they had no other recourse.”
The voice-over continues to criticize the Republican party’s recent “all out assault on women’s health” by limiting access to “vital services,” as she continues to walk toward the door in front of her.
“Why is the GOP trying to send women back… to the back alley?” she asks.
The end of the commercial reveals nothing but a wire hanger in the closet, while flashing between a modern day Edlestein, and her 1950s portrayal.”*doesn’t just affect cis women, but rather all people capable of getting pregnant.
