An Abortion Mission

Abortion still seems to be a “fringe” topic. I have come to realize that there’s a difference between being “pro-choice” and really believing that abortion is a central part of women’s lives (all women’s lives, and men’s, and families); until we can find some way to make contraception affordable and accessible to ALL women (and men), and to provide unbiased and accurate information about sexual health (not just reproductive health), and a whole slew of other economic, social and political changes….abortions will continue to be common and not rare (unfortunately). SO, what does this mean?

For the time being, you cannot talk about sexuality and women’s health, without talking about abortion. It happens! It’s like…. when people on the phone used to tell me they “didn’t believe in it” after I spent weeks helping to fund their abortion. I would scratch my head and think…. “How can you not believe in it? It’s not like a ghost, or God, where you can’t see them and don’t really know if they exist.

Abortion is a common medical procedure, so how can you not believe in it? It’s real.”

Still, there are people in my everyday life who think it’s talked about too much (maybe from me), and even seem a tad annoyed that it is constantly brought up. Let me clarify by saying, some of these people are studying sexuality!! I simply do not understand how you can talk about sexuality WITHOUT talking about abortion? It’s just that common. For instance, my roommate tells me the other day, “Hey, guess what? Did you know 1 in 3 women will have an abortion before the age of 45?” I ponder for a moment as I’m thinking… “Haven’t I repeated this statistic to you a million times?”

1 in 3, 1 in 3, 1 in 3!!!!

Speaking of abortion, I went to a discussion forum about Stupak on my campus and got SO RILED UP! (obvi) I was furious, I was outraged, and I was pissed off! And I as I looked around the room, everyone else seemed surprisingly calm. Was I the only one who was hearing this? As I was saying things under my breath (and not under my breath) in response to the health care reform updates, I was once again being hushed. My friend put her hand on my knee and looked at me, telling me quietly to calm down.

Wasn’t everyone else OUTRAGED?! Who else is Outraged?!

SO… a classmate and I are on a mission (an abortion mission) to bring up abortion in every class discussion. We managed to do it in statistics class AND in our theory class, where we strategically inserted statistics like “77% of anti-choice leaders are men, and 100% of them will never become pregnant,” during a discussion on gender and social movements. It has already become clear, that it makes some people “uncomfortable.” But HEY, get uncomfortable! Because watch out world, here we come!