my secret identity

The other day, I was sitting in the “Doctor Room,” the area we all congregate while seeing patients in the clinic. This is where we have conferences, this is where we shove food into our faces when we have a moment, this is where we reconvene after seeing a patient, and this is where we write our notes.

I had been working with the same attending for several days now and had disclosed my interest in becoming an Ob/Gyn and including abortion services in my practice. Well today, this particular provider decided to announce to all 15+ people in the “Doctor Room” that I wanted to be an abortion provider.

Shit, shit, shit. I thought, as I lowered my head. Why did she just make an announcement? My secret identity is out-how would my colleagues respond?

That’s fantastic! We need more providers! Tell me how you got interested in the field!

Woah! All positive comments, all supportive, all encouraging. I was shocked. I guess I didn’t know what to expect, but this kinda blew me away.

I don’t really know why I thought there would be a negative reaction. I think as people in the abortion world, we are taught to watch what you say, be vague, don’t mention what you do (or in my case, what I want to do). If anything, I realized in that moment that most physicians really care about this issue. Even if they are not providers, they think it’s important and they support it. Phew!

I’m not quite ready to totally disclose my aspirations to the world, but perhaps we can all share a bit more about ourselves. By doing so, we can see that people really care about our work and appreciate it, and they can see that we are real people here to support the future of reproductive health.