Grant Partner Spotlight on Holistic Abortions: Imagining Localized, Decolonized Community Health Care & Abortion Care

This summer, ACP Board Member Abby Minor had the pleasure of talking with current Grant Partner Daena Horner of Holistic Abortions, a grassroots project focused on shifting the ways abortions are seen and supported in North America. Engaging in popular education, narrative shift work, and training resources that prioritize accessibility, inclusion and autonomy, Holistic Abortions is promoting decolonized models of community care that honor the lived experiences and traditions of the people having abortions. 

ACP’s 2024 Grant Partnership with Holistic Abortions supports the group’s newest zine, The Scoop on Herbal Abortion. Check out all the Holistic Abortions zines here!

AM: Hi Daena, I’m so glad to have a chance to hear about your work with Holistic Abortions. Let’s start at the beginning: What kinds of experiences informed your decision to create the Holistic Abortions project? How did you arrive where you are now?

DH: Hi Abby; thanks so much for this question. It’s funny to think of all the twists and turns and what seemed like roadblocks, but were actually important detours, that result in us landing in a good place with good people to build a community with. Holistic was a little sprout pushing through the soil after spending the time underground developing and nourishing seeds planted and nourished by the countless others practicing and protecting home abortions and holistic care. It came about as an organic and inevitable culmination of collaboration and wild imagination between friends and colleagues who wanted to challenge the dominant narrative about how people talked about, presented and experienced abortion. 

I, like so many people, rely on a plurality of medical modalities for my health and wellbeing. If I get sick I may drink some ginger tea with honey, eat some caldo or chicken noodle soup, and maybe take a decongestant or analgesic. I’ll avoid caffeine and sleep as much as possible. It’s a combination of allopathic medicines, herbal remedies and healing recipes handed down from our grandmothers. For most of history abortion existed in a multiplicity of practices resulting in a type of care that acknowledged and addressed the spectrum of experiences and effects on the entire body (physical, emotional, and spiritual). 

My own clinical abortion was not those things. It was a medical procedure and little more. The pain of this procedure garnered nothing more than a “Aren’t you glad you’re not pregnant though?” and a silent recovery room where after not being allowed food all day (it was now after 4 pm) a second bag of goldfish was reluctantly shared. The entire experience felt like a passive aggressive exercise of power over me for making a mistake, or maybe it was a type of mutated punishment of centuries past where the female body is not to be sexual outside of reproduction. Either way, as someone who had always been pro-abortion, and had fundraised for local funds for years, the clinical abortion was a disillusioning experience. I had expected it to be different. I wanted it to be different. I believed it could be different. So, I started connecting with others who believed the same and were working towards making those changes.

Reading your words, I’m struck by the fact that our own experiences are so often what radicalize us. I had a very similar, disillusioning clinical abortion experience; and like you, I found myself thinking–this could be so much different, so much better. People should never have to settle for just ‘getting through’ any reproductive experience. That’s what led me to get involved with ACP. I know this is kind of a big question, but–now that you’ve been doing this work for some time, how would you like to see the abortion care landscape change?

Let’s dream and imagine together. Let’s pretend that the politics and judges don’t make the rules for a privatized health care system. Let’s imagine free abortion care on demand. I want to see more safe and effective methods and modalities available for people to choose from. I want to see people able to make consensual, informed decisions about their reproductive lives. People deserve to experience stigma and judgment free spaces and consultation when accessing the care they need to build the families they want. What can a localized, decolonized community health care look like and how can that be applied to abortion care?  What would a fully loving and supported abortion feel like in those unique communities? These are the imaginations that inspire and motivate the mission of Holistic Abortions.

You have so much powerful work going on at Holistic Abortions. Can you talk a bit about how your zine projects have come together? These are beautiful, colorful zines with titles like Grow Your Abortion: Herbs to Make you Bleed, and Creating Rituals for Pregnancy Loss. What’s that creative process like?

Thank you for lifting up our zines! The folks in zine culture are so talented and creative. It is such an honor to be able to share information in this way with people. The creative process for each zine looks a little different. Mostly they arrive as a response from the feedback and questions we get in workshops, classes, and conferences. Together the zines make up a colorful and creative answer section to our most Frequently Asked Questions. We were talking so much about “building relationships” with plants, especially the ones people might be working with to help us bleed, and eventually someone asked, “Okay, but how do you build a relationship with plants?”  And that was the beginning of the Grow Your Abortion zine.  It is not a ‘how to’ for herbal abortions, it is an invitation to interact and grow these plants as a way to understand them and their medicines. 

Creating Rituals for Pregnancy Loss also was put together as an answer to people asking how to honor their abortion in a way that isn’t appropriating the cultures and practices of others, since for many people these ceremonies didn’t survive the pressures of colonial assimilation and patriarchy. 

The newest zine, The Scoop on Herbal Abortion, attempts to address the most common misinformation and fallacies perpetuated about herbal abortion. As interest about using herbs in this way has increased, especially in more mainstream medical and research communities, we felt it was really important to start with a shared understanding about some of the biggest misconceptions. With the help of the ACP seed grant we were able to collaborate with some super skilled artists and provide a number of digital and print copies for others to help distribute and help us to reframe this sacred practice and center the voices, experience and expertise of the people who know, use, and respect this medicine.

The front cover of the zine “The Scoop” is centralized. It is against a multicolor, abstract background. The cover shows a large image of a drawn ice-cream cone in the foreground, with sprinkles in the background. The words “The Scoop” are typed over the ice-cream. The zine was created by Grantee, Holistic Abortions.

All of us at ACP are honored to support this latest zine project! Thank you for bringing it into the world. What’s next for you, now? What other projects are you dreaming towards?

Oh, well the work is without end isn’t it? When folks aim for the social justice and autonomy that can only come with liberation, legal abortion access for all is not nearly enough. Our cultural and narrative shifting work is a challenge to the simplified black and white stories of pro or anti that have permeated the mainstream conversation. The Holistic team commits to continuing the hard conversations with doctors, researchers, and organizations that can (hopefully) create the space and trust for long overdue growth spurts from those who traditionally hold power. We will continue to develop educational projects and foster relationships that allow for deep collaboration and healing between strategies and networks working toward radical change. We will do that while dedicating our educational resources and programs to expanding personal and collective knowledge of our bodies, of our health, and of our reproductive lives in ways that empower, inform and liberate us from the whims of the political system and the languor of those with power. 

Daena Horner, (she/they) is an educator, activist, abortion doula, and herbalist. They are co-founder and director of Holistic Abortions, a grassroots project committed to increasing body literacy and liberation through creating accessible curriculums, peer-to-peer support networks, community-led research and educational materials that center the people getting abortions.

Abby Minor lives in the ridges and valleys of central Pennsylvania, where she works on poems, essays, drawings, and projects exploring reproductive politics. Granddaughter of Appalachian tinkerers and Yiddish-speaking New Yorkers, she teaches poetry in her region’s low-income nursing homes and directs an arts education organization called Ridgelines Language Arts. 

Giving Tuesday: Why ACP?

The abortion world has been turned upside down and women and clinics in 26 states are desperate. According to the Guttmacher Institute 58% of those people who could get pregnant live in states hostile to abortion rights. Abortion navigators and abortion funds are struggling to keep up with the need. So, why give to a group that just wants to talk about abortion? 

What if we had been helping people talk about abortion since 1973?

Here at the Abortion Conversation Projects we have always been inspired by Desmond Tutu’s famous quote: “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they're falling in.” We think a lot about the simple strategy of starting conversations about abortion. What if we had been helping people talk about abortion since 1973 when abortion was decriminalized in the US? Would we be here now, losing bodily autonomy and rights, when other countries all over the world are opening up access to abortion? 

I think we have all been in situations where it was just too difficult to have a conversation about abortion—Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner when everyone is just trying to get along? Or, you’re just not sure how people will react, or whether they will think less of you for your views or your experiences. This “not talking” is so common that even when you need to talk to friends you worry that they won’t be supportive. And you don’t know because they haven’t been talking either!  

The anti-abortion folks have had 49 years of silencing and shaming people about abortion so it’s no wonder that we worry about what others might think. It’s called abortion stigma and it’s everywhere, inside and outside of us. We have made it our mission to challenge stigma on a grassroots level to make people comfortable with conversations about abortion. And it is getting better. And we are happy to say that many of the projects we have supported have been successful in breaking silence—Shout Your Abortion, AVOW in Texas, Repro Rights Freedom Walk, the WIN Fund Book Club, Focus on Abortion (book and exhibit) and many of the other 91 projects we have awarded seed grants to since 2012. 

ACP feels that pulling people out of the river is a good thing, a necessary thing, particularly now. But we also know that it's vitally important to walk upstream and see what's going on--that this foundational, yet simple work of getting people to talk openly about abortion is also essential.

If we don't talk about abortion, we've already lost. 

And we know-- with 91 projects and a decade of funding stigma busting under our belts-- that if we don't talk about abortion, we've already lost. 

So, we are working with groups globally, enthusiastic folks who have innovative strategies to engage people in abortion conversations. Starting on Giving Tuesday we begin our End of Year fundraiser to raise money for next year’s stigma busters. Your donations are our only source of funds for this work. From now until the end of the year we’ll be sending regular emails about some of our Grant Partners. 

You can donate anytime on our website or on Act Blue where you can even split your donation!

Thank you for your support, your conversations, and your commitment to abortion rights and access. 

________________________________

—Peg Johnston is a long time ACP Board Member and abortion provider since 1981.

Activists All Over the World Challenge Abortion Stigma

The Abortion Conversation Projects (ACP) has chosen nine new projects that are confronting stigma surrounding abortion even as access to abortion is threatened or outlawed. ” We received over 80 proposals, half of them from Africa, all using conversation as strategy to open minds and challenge people’s prejudice about abortion,” says Jeannie Ludlow, Chair of ACP.  The organization has now funded 91 Projects and offers support and expertise to both Grant Partners and applicants. 

“Ending Abortion Stigma” is a project in Haiti that will do a major outreach and education effort on abortion and reproductive health during International Safe Abortion Week in September and throughout the year. Abortion is illegal in Haiti and currently gang related violence has disrupted life there. 

ACP funded two projects from the Middle East/North Africa region (MENA) where abortion is largely illegal and there is very little public knowledge and information about abortion methods, policy and laws. Oppression of minority groups, ongoing violence, and political persecution complicate the problems for those brave enough to organize around abortion access and stigma.  “The Book of Abortion” is a project in Kurdistan that assembles vital information in one place for policy makers, academics, activists, and the public at large. “How to Terminate My Pregnancy” will make information about abortion access available in French, Arabic, and English to all MENA countries. 

Another Seed Grant was awarded to Clear Vision for Change in the DR Congo to do outreach and education in rural areas of the country. They are also working on a Safe App so that women can download information on abortion laws, access, and self care. 

In the U.S. two projects were chosen: AVOW-Texas for their outstanding “Let’s Talk About Abortion” efforts and “A is for …." a cultural organization that will produce a comic book about the need to travel to obtain an abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned. The collection of comics will be edited by New Yorker Magazine artist Emily Flake.                     

Several existing Grant Partners received further funding. The North Dakota WIN Fund Book Club will expand their club and continue to read books about abortion and discussing abortion stigma and will help ACP in promoting abortion book clubs.  “Colours of My Dignity,” a Kenyan project uses trained “influencers” on What’s App to educate followers about the facts of abortion and to counteract the prevalent stigma about abortion.  Another Kenyan project, “Haven of Dreams” conducts highly effective Values Clarification training in the community, and they will also be re-funded. 

The Abortion Conversation Projects is committed to eliminating the stigma of abortion by supporting individuals and small groups engaged in innovative community-based projects that create new ways and opportunities to talk about abortion honestly and publicly. It has now awarded 91 Grant Partnerships since the program started in 2012. ACP fundraises each year to pay for seed grants and expenses. The all-volunteer ACP Board also offers consultations with people working on abortion stigma. ACP also expects to sponsor “Conversations” in the Autumn with stigma busters to support activists and exchange ways of discussing abortion stigma. To stay informed with ACP, email abortionconversation@gmail.com.

STIGMA BUSTING IS GLOBAL

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, what does that mean for Abortion Conversation Projects and our partners? While all of us at ACP deeply grieve the Court’s decision, we also understand it as one severe manifestation of abortion stigma in a larger landscape of extreme stigma—a landscape that is variable in its geopolitical contours and global in scale. 

The overturning of Roe undoubtedly makes our work harder. But it also stands as an invitation to all of us in the U.S. who find ourselves in worsening legal terrain.

It is an invitation for us to look to other places and countries for tactics and inspiration where activists and everyday people have been, for many decades, reducing stigma and providing care in contexts where abortion is illegal or severely restricted. It is an invitation to greater unity, resourcefulness, and risk-taking. There is much to learn.

In the spirit of global solidarity, we’re honored to share excerpts from our recent round of grant applications—82 applications in all, from all over the world, the majority of whom are working to reduce stigma in contexts where abortion stigma is pervasive, harsh, and dangerous. While we don’t have the resources to partner with all of these applicants, every single one has reminded us of the incredible courage and creativity that are possible in even the most difficult contexts. Their ideas have poured in from Poland and Texas, Kenya and Iraq, Haiti and Puerto Rico, New York City and Ethiopia, Kurdistan and Tennessee. They show us gaps and fissures in current work. They show us new ways of taking action. These are some of their voices:

“[Our project] will mobilize community singers and composers, social workers, health and community organizers. These groups will help in designing educational songs which will address unsafe abortion [...] through traditional dances. The singers will be local singers, who will then be equipped with the information about safe abortion and where to get it.”

We decided to take responsibility for this issue [...]

because no other group or organization dared to speak out before.

“Since abortion in [our region] is illegal, and forbidden by religion, no institution takes charge of spreading awareness and opening platforms for a discussion on this sensitive and important topic. We decided to take responsibility for this issue and provide a theoretical ground for a discussion amongst the youth, institutions, the education and health sectors in order to achieve change in our culture [...] because no other group or organization dared to speak out before.” 

"After my experience of abortion as a queer and non-binary person, I felt isolated and didn't see my experience reflected in broader conversations about abortion. I desperately wanted to connect with other LGBTQ+ people who had had abortions so that I could know that I was not the only one. However, despite a lot of digging, I couldn't find an LGBTQ-centered support group focused on abortion to connect with." 

Anti-abortion extremists […] have been able to stigmatize abortion

so deeply that even supporters often feel

awkward or ashamed when talking about it.

“Anti-abortion extremists use the word ‘abortion’ 4 times more than pro-choice advocates do, which means that they have been able to stigmatize abortion so deeply that even supporters often feel awkward or ashamed when talking about it. Messaging matters because it can help move people from judgment to empathy. At the core, the goal of [this project] is to bridge that gap and empower our supporters to feel comfortable talking about abortion and then bring these conversations to their own communities.” 

There is no place available [in our province] for young girls of reproductive age and women to discuss safe abortion practices and therefore large number of girls and women becomes victim of forced pregnancies. [...] This project will initiate storytelling sessions with young girls of reproductive age and women and will foster dialogue through storytelling on the topic of safe abortion practices, challenges faced in accessing safe abortion, and recommendations for strengthening services for safe abortion in [our province.]" 

“We use gender neutral language and acknowledge the ways colonialism, misogyny and racism have shaped how we view our body, cultural wisdoms, and herbal abortion. We want to smash the stigma, deepen the conversation, and bring accurate, safe and appropriate information to people seeking to integrate herbs into their abortion experience.” 

“[Our organization] is establishing the first formal national abortion storytelling program for people who had abortions in the United States during the pre-Roe years through 1980. [...] At a time when anti-abortion politicians are in positions of power to roll back rights and access, it is crucial that elders speak up loudly and move in alignment with current demands for abortion justice. [...] In doing so, we affirm the complexity and autonomy of younger generations and our younger selves.” 

“[Our] project is intended to make school and community environments safe for the girl-child to prosper intellectually and utilize her potential to the maximum without any hindrances and intimidation.”

Despite the negative outcomes of unsafe abortion on health and well-being of women and girls in [our region] devastated by decades of civil wars, where rape and violence against women are used as a weapon of war, the majority of women choose to end their pregnancies in secrecy which endangers their lives.

“Despite the negative outcomes of unsafe abortion on health and well-being of women and girls in [our region] devastated by decades of civil wars, where rape and violence against women are used as a weapon of war, the majority of women choose to end their pregnancies in secrecy which endangers their lives. Despite these situations, abortion remains a taboo [...] When it is discussed, it is often from a moral, rather than a human rights perspective." 

“[Our] society is very patriarchal and conservative when it comes to the rights of women and girls. We were inspired by the struggles of feminists in Argentina to propose this project and begin our advocacy for access to abortion [...] we are proposing a week of activities in conjunction with International Abortion Access Day.” 

Breaking the silence around abortion is

important and can save lives.

“Through outreach to women and girls, teachers, religious leaders, and community members, the project will deliver key messages: Breaking the silence around abortion is important and can save lives.” 

“Stigma prevents women from accessing abortion services [in our country] even when they are legally allowed to. [...] This same stigma associated to abortion also dissuades nurses and other clinical officers from performing abortion services. 

—Compiled and edited by Abby Minor, ACP Board Member

Conversation with The Choice VR

An Interview with Joanne Popińska, director of The Choice

By ACP Board Member Abby Minor

“I think I can do something different—something nobody else can do”

I recently had the honor of talking with Joanne Popińska, a film director and current ACP Grant Partner whose newest project, The Choice, had its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam this past November. Popińska’s project blends techniques from traditional documentary storytelling, personal conversation, and animation, harnessing the power of Virtual Reality to bring special intimacy to abortion storytelling and listening. Now that The Choice is having its North American premiere at the prestigious South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, TX in March, I wanted to share excerpts from our conversation, which challenged me to think about technology and abortion storytelling in new and productive ways. 

Abby Minor: I’m a little bit of a Luddite and am sometimes suspicious of the idea that new digital and media technologies are always improvements. Why Virtual Reality for your project? Why is this an important piece?

Joanne Popińska: Lots of people ask, could we just make the flat documentary; isn’t the story very compelling on its own? But what we started to learn—when the viewer is immersed in this virtual space, sitting across from another person, talking to her and actually selecting the questions, seeing their hands typing questions—this has a very strong psychological effect on our audience. Unlike with traditional documentaries, they don’t feel like, oh, I just watched  a documentary—they feel like, this conversation, this interaction just happened to me. We know psychologically that watching a documentary movie can make you more informed, but not necessarily affect your behavior. But talking to someone, which VR simulates, can change your attitude, and your behavior.

AM: Right, so you have deeply considered the rhetorical effects of Virtual Reality and how that works in this film, and it’s very much informed by your own background in psychology and sociology.

We want activists to know that VR is not scary

JP: Yes, I went about making this film in part as a sociologist, understanding the power of one-on-one conversation. When you put just two people in the room and let them talk, then things happen. That’s the whole idea behind The Choice. Of course as a filmmaker I want this to be experienced as art, but I also want to get out the message to activists that VR is a powerful tool. We want activists to know that VR is not scary, and it’s not just for geeks and gamers! It’s a really valuable tool for the abortion rights movement. We have gotten really strong reactions from people, anti-abortion people who have had big changes of mind and heart.

AM: Another rhetorical choice you made is to highlight the story of Kristen, a Texan who had a very wanted pregnancy and later term abortion experience. Sometimes in the abortion rights movement, we caution against highlighting more dramatic stories like this one, and we talk about how important it is to represent stories that are a little more common and uneventful. Why did you choose this particular story?

JP: My background in sociology also influenced the story I chose to highlight. At first I started recording interviews in Canada, because I felt like I didn’t have to be afraid—versus whenever I visit Poland, even with my progressive friends I am always careful. Being in Canada allowed me to start and to very quickly find people who were willing to tell their stories. And then I started listening to the stories and I realized—they will not convince my audience. My target audience are people who are in the middle, not sure what they think and who they should support. My other audience is anti-choice people—if I tell the story of a young woman who wanted to finish college, they are going to see her as “selfish.” So those stories are not going to be very effective for that audience. 

As a sociologist, I started analyzing—what does the debate look like? What are the questions people are asking? What are the stereotypes? So for example, one of the stereotypes I identified is that abortion is anti-family. So how do you answer to that? I wanted to answer that as a filmmaker—so I knew I had to highlight the story of someone who was really wanting to start a family. 

I intentionally did not record an interview with an activist—it’s natural when you talk about something over and over you sound prepared. But for non-believers, it starts to sound a little bit fake. I wanted people to have the experience of talking to a friend who’s telling you her personal story, maybe telling it for the first time. 

AM: And ultimately you chose to tell a story of someone in the U.S.—

JP: Yes, in the U.S., as in Canada, the stories we were hearing involved this element of personal choice, but also all the obstacles that come from the fact of living in the U.S. So the story we chose for the first chapter is a U.S. story and a second trimester abortion story. I was showing it to an activist in Poland a couple months ago, and she was like, “oh, but everybody agrees on late term abortion.” But actually it’s not that easy. Kristen, in Texas and at that time, had the right to an abortion, but she faced all sorts of obstacles. She was lied to by her doctors—in Texas they had started to introduce a bill that would allow doctors to conceal information about fetal anomalies. And because the doctors had delayed and delayed, her life was in danger—and all the months of hormones and attachment and—she was really devastated by that experience. 

AM: I’m thinking about how, in the abortion activism community we hear a lot about how important abortion storytelling is, as though telling abortion stories automatically changes the minds of people who are anti-abortion. But we don’t really talk about this idea that, actually not all stories are going to be effective, or that different stories are effective for different audiences. If the goal is for people who have abortions to normalize our own experiences, then yes telling our stories has value. But if the goal is changing minds and hearts of a specific audience, then we do need to be strategic. 

JP: I have had the opportunity to see that a lot of anti-choice people are human, they have hearts. So I have thought a lot about, how do I convince these humans? Or maybe not convince, but give them a chance to see the other side. For example, I’m a vegan. I realized as a teenager when I was berating people about not being vegan—that I wasn’t going to get anywhere with that. My partner, he switched to being vegan because the food I cooked for him is tasty! I stopped making him feel guilty about killing animals, and instead I showed him a completely different aspect of being vegan. The analogy with abortion is—my quest is to show people who are anti-abortion or not sure about abortion that pro-choice people and people who have abortions are also people, they have feelings, and some very deep thoughts. And with Virtual Reality, I think I can do something different—something nobody else can do. As a sociologist, a psychologist, and a virtual reality artist—I think I can give people a chance to deeply experience the other side. 

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To get updates about The Choice, sign up for the newsletter here. 

To support or sponsor this project, visit www.thechoice-vr.com/support

If you have a VR headset (Oculus Quest), keep your eyes open for festival screenings, as currently The Choice is having its festival circuit. The nearest one is SXSW, and there will be an option for in-person and online participation. Find more information at the SXSW 2022 schedule.

Also, Joanne and her team are currently preparing for an impact campaign. They plan to visit various states and cities, meet with local activist communities, and talk about how the project can be used for activists’ every-day work. You can contact the team if you want to invite them for such meeting: info@infiniteframemedia.com 

Journalists who want to view The Choice can request a loaner headset through the mail; get in touch with the team at info@infiniteframemedia.com or press@infiniteframemedia.com

Conversation with Dopo, Doula Trainers

“It’s important that we all don’t have the same roles.”

An Interview with Zachi Brewster and Carly Manes,

co-facilitators of

Dopo’s Abortion Doula Training

By ACP Board Member Abby Minor

This month I’m talking with abortion doulas Zachi Brewster and Carly Manes, two of ACP’s newest Grant Partners. Together, Brewster and Manes have created and piloted a six-week online abortion doula training that’s already made big waves. The training takes place under the umbrella of Dopo—an inclusive community platform, created by Brewster, that aims to redefine what a successful abortion looks like by centering people and their emotional and physical care before, during and after an abortion.

Those who take part in Dopo’s abortion doula training can look forward to powerful self-reflection homework; access to a strong community of established and burgeoning abortion doulas; one-on-one coaching on developing a doula practice; and myriad, diverse examples of what it can look like to be a doula and support abortion.

Now that applications are open through Sept. 26th for Dopo’s second training cycle, I wanted to hear about what Brewster and Manes have already learned and what their hopes are for this next training.

You’re working with folks who may go on to do a variety of things with this training under their belts—can you talk about some of the ways you’re seeing people put the Dopo training into action?

ZB: A range of people applied to the first training this past spring—teachers, social workers, people who are already doulas, people who worked in varying capacities in reproductive justice roles or organizations. Some people had experienced abortion themselves and some hadn’t. We also had several art gallery directors, psychologists, and researchers who work on reproductive rights and justice. So people show up to the training with diverse experiences and goals; the course isn’t just for people who want to be abortion doulas in the way Carly and I are. 

The ways people take the training back into their communities shows the diversity of what it means to support abortion.

What’s important and interesting is that there is not one single way that our training is being used in different countries and different settings. We do have people who are reaching out to clinics or who have already developed roles in clinics in their own communities, as well as those who have developed their own independent doula practices. But we’ve also worked, for example, with a teacher who wanted to be able to talk to students who were coming to her with abortion experiences. The ways people take the training back into their communities shows the diversity of what it means to support abortion. It’s important that we all don’t have the same roles.

CM: We’ve done a lot of one-on-one work with folks after the course—people trying to figure out what their role in supporting abortion could be. As Zachi said, some are reaching out to clinics, some are building social media platforms. We have a whole section in the course where we explore what kind of doula you want to be in your community and what kind of doula does your community need?

Has this diversity of ways that people wind up using the course changed how you’re approaching the training this fall?

ZB: We knew from the start that we didn’t want this to be an exclusive course—there is really something for everyone with an interest in expanding how they themselves view abortion and how they want to support abortions. We get a lot of questions, like: “I’m not sure I want to be a doula, I’m a teacher and my goal is to be able to reduce stigma around abortion in conversations with students—is this course for me?” The answer is always yes.

CM: Also, we’re really trying to integrate feedback from the last course. We’re working on doing a lot of pre-recorded content to make more room for conversation. Building community across 10 different time zones and sharing content over a 2-hour period each week is a challenge!

ZB: We don’t have all the answers and we make that very clear. We share experience, which is very valuable, but we welcome learning from people who join the course, some of whom have even taken other abortion doula trainings. We say, if anything this adds another tool to your kit but we really encourage folks to keep learning beyond us as well.

I’m wondering how your thinking about abortion stigma has changed over the course of your project—how has the way you’ve talked or thought about abortion changed?

ZB: It’s been very interesting for me, as much of my work as an abortion doula is working with people to tackle abortion stigma. Although I knew that a lot of what we would be talking about and teaching about in the training is tackling abortion stigma, for the first time I saw it intersecting with my work in a new way. The training really reminded me that abortion stigma is not just about abortion and how  we need to widen our view and understanding of what abortion stigma is. The Reproductive Justice framework can help us to do that, and is the foundation and inspiration for this training.

Putting together this training—from the organizational side, to looking at compensation, even trying to find some sort of balance and diversity in the people who take our training— in all of these scenarios and more, we see how they connect with abortion stigma and wider RJ issues. A good example of this is how we charge for the course and how that allows people to enter into this space, or could stop people from entering into this space. Economic justice is linked to reproductive justice and that is linked to abortion stigma.

CM: Yes, for example we just had someone who requested a reduced course fee because their parents are supporting them right now and they can’t ask their parents to support this form of education. So, everywhere in this course we learn that abortion stigma goes beyond just the procedure—it goes into how people think about spending their money, how they think about how they spend their time, how they talk about what their hobbies are.

ZB: I also think about how one of the big pieces of feedback from the spring cycle is that we were asked to expand upon self-care in this work, largely because of abortion stigma. Because people don’t always have a place they can go to reflect with someone about their experience of taking part in the training or their work developing their practice. In addition to this some people also had to check in with us on what platforms we were using to run the training on to ensure that their safety in their community or country was not compromised. We’re committed to building this community of people who do this work so they can receive community care and self-care, because they may not be able to receive that in their lives—whilst prioritizing their safety as best we can.

A lot of folks who come to our course have thought a lot about abortions, have had abortions, have done values explorations in the past—and we still need 5 hours to do that exploration because our own internal abortion stigma is always evolving in relation to things that are happening in the world and your community.

CM: On the first day of the course we do a values exploration. A lot of folks who come to our course have thought a lot about abortions, have had abortions, have done values explorations in the past—and we still need 5 hours to do that exploration because our own internal abortion stigma is always evolving in relation to things that are happening in the world and your community. So I’ve come to understand that abortion stigma can evolve, fade, come back, and so on.

What are some of the things that happen in a typical 2-hour weekly session?

CM: We always do a community welcoming. Zachi and I both have a deep passion for eating and love food dearly, so we always welcome folks in with a song and share something lovely we ate that week. We ask folks if there’s anything they’ve been thinking about that they want to share with the group. In one course we talk about what actually is an abortion—with medication, with an in-clinic procedure, with herbs. Another course looks at what is an abortion doula—in a clinic setting, in a context that is legally restrictive, in a setting that is not legally restrictive. We talk a lot about what is the role of a doula and what is not.

Additionally, there’s always an interactive piece, we do breakout sessions. And we always close out with a deeper learning—folks get deeper learning prompts and have a Google doc where they are always responding to the deeper learning prompts.

And—also, a lot of magical things happen

that I feel like I can’t put words to.

Z: We really respect people’s time, but sometimes we do allow an extra half hour for extra conversation, because people do want to share and reflect together. Hence why we’re changing the way we facilitate the training this time around so there is more time for conversation. We try to find the balance between, for example, participants listening to us or guest facilitators and having rooms where participants can talk just to each other. We’re focused on building a community of learning but also a community that can continue to be supportive and a source of resources after.

Is there anything you want to say that we haven’t talked about yet?

CM: A couple things feel really important that have continually come up. The first thing is, it’s really hard to run this course according to our values and also in the structure of capitalism. For example, someone has reached out to us who doesn’t speak English fluently and—translation and interpreting content and live speech costs money. 55% of people who’ve applied for the fall training so far have asked for financial support, and we are very committed to providing this course without money being a barrier. At the same time, it’s important that we compensate our speakers and ourselves. So we’re continually trying to evolve our practice to meet our values.

The second thing is, we are very aware of the fact that we are two folks based in western countries—me in the U.S., Zachi is based in Italy but works also in a UK context and with folks mostly in western Europe. So we are missing grounding in the reality of what abortion is like in east Asia, South Asia, throughout Africa and all throughout South America. We try to be upfront about that even though we have folks join from all those places. We are figuring out what it means to make ourselves accessible to all folks at the same time knowing that we carry our particular experiences.

Part of what we’ve come to is the reality that we’re not going to be the right course for everyone and that’s okay. We want to help others develop their own content and curriculum for the communities in which they’re based, and we also work with others to make our content as accessible as we can to people all over the world.

ZB: We are constantly changing and evolving. We’re just constantly doing our best with the tools and information we have now, but with the viewpoint that it will be different every time. So as much as we are teaching this as a training, we are also learning—from situations, from experience, and also from the people who choose to journey with us in the 6 weeks and beyond.

Learn more about DOPO’s second virtual abortion

doula training course and apply here!

This is the third post in ACP’s 2021 blog series featuring conversations with recent grant partners. We started this series in order to highlight some of the many questions, tensions, and insights that animate the complex work of destigmatizing abortion. We also launched this series for the simple reason that here at ACP, we’re always up for abortion conversations! If you are, too, please join the conversation in the Comments below.

ACP Chooses Nine (!) Projects

    The Abortion Conversation Projects (ACP) has chosen nine new projects that are experimenting with strategies to address the stigma surrounding abortion. ”At the same time abortion access is under attack in the US and in other countries we are amazed that there are so many people finding creative ways to challenge the stigma that fuels anti-abortion policies,” says Peg Johnston, Chair of ACP.  The organization has now funded 82 Projects and offers support and expertise to both Grant Partners and applicants.

            Three of the new grantees are working in countries where abortion is illegal or severely restricted and greatly stigmatized. Manodiversa works with LGBT and non-binary people in Bolivia and has found a great deal of intersectionality with abortion access. They will produce a booklet of first person stories that will increase awareness not only in Bolivia but will be distributed thoughout Latin America. Beyond Stigma will bring values clarification tools to a group of social workers and health care workers in Kenya and help them understand the reality of people seeking abortion.  Also in Kenya, Colors of My Dignity will use trained “influencers” on What’s App to educate followers about the facts of abortion and to counteract the prevalent stigma about abortion.

            Dopo Doula Training has already completed a successful international 6 week course to train doulas who help women through reproductive experiences including abortion. Zachi Brewster and Carly Manes expect to train another cohort in the Fall and offer discounts to those who need them. Abortion: My Body, My Sacred Decision is a project of Soul2Soul which supports Black Womxn through the full spectrum of reproductive experiences in the Denver Metro area. They have a variety of weekly support groups that empower women and give them a safe space to discuss their experiences.

            Found (abortion) Monument has an installation at Unison Art Center, New Paltz, NY, as part of the land-based exhibition “Owning Earth.” Their installation is a meadow with naturally growing abortifacient plants and they are educating the public about the ancient history of women trying to control their fertility.  So I Had an Abortion is an ongoing project in Canada that engages people through workshops and storytelling in English and Spanish in mutually beneficial ways.

            Two existing Grant Partners received further funding. The North Dakota WIN Fund Book Club will continue reading books about abortion and discussing abortion stigma. They have been tracking results of how book discussions shift stigma and hope to collect further data.  Lena Hann, who previously produced a Fetal Tissue Viewing Guide for clinics, will now produce accurate photos of fetal development for both patients and staff.

The Abortion Conversation Projects is committed to eliminating the stigma of abortion by supporting individuals and small groups engaged in innovative community-based projects that create new ways and opportunities to talk about abortion honestly and publicly. It has awarded 82 Grant Partnerships since the program started in 2012. ACP fundraises approximately $12,000 each year to pay for seed grants and expenses. The ACP Board also offers consultations with people working on abortion stigma. For more information and to join the mailing list, consult ACP’s website at www.AbortionConversationProjects.org or the Facebook page

Applications Open: What's Your Idea?

What is ACP looking for?

ACP’s new cycle of grant applications is now open, with a deadline of May 15th and we hope to hear from lots of different people about how they want to challenge the stigma surrounding abortion. At a recent board meeting, we discussed what kinds of things we were looking for in a grant application. Our answers were varied, and to be honest, sometimes subjective, but we want to share these with people who want to apply.  

One feature that ACP offers is a connection with our Grant Partners to provide whatever expertise, encouragement, or resources that we can. So, we also want to evaluate our own interests, skills, and capacity to offer helpful assistance to a project. For instance, one of our board members had experience in community murals and we knew we could help others who wanted to paint murals.

Having funded 73 projects so far, we are also interested in what strategies will generate conversations that lead to shifting attitudes about abortion. Does the proposed strategy align with ours? In other words, does it promote conversation, preferably on a one-to-one basis in a community setting? Do proposals offer a new innovative strategy to get people talking? Or does the proposal take a proven strategy to a new audience? An example from a recent project is establishing a book club that reaches into a rural state. There is ample evidence that in the discussion of books, people can shift their opinions as others share their experiences.

ACP Board members also look at the more usual stuff:

• Is the budget realistic?  Is the amount ACP can offer just a small part of the entire budget? If so, how will you get the rest or, how will an association with ACP help you achieve their goal?

• Is the project viable?  Do we think this can actually be done in the time specified, with the people involved and with the proposed budget?

• Are there impediments to success because of technology?  Does the project use current cutting edge technology to reach an audience?  

• Do we think the organization has the ability to follow through on the project and provide us with the required documentation and financial receipts?  Do we have a way to easily re-imburse through check or PayPal?

• How will you determine the success of the project?  ACP encourages innovative as well as traditional ways of evaluating a project. We have found that considering this question in your initial planning makes evaluating your project straight forward. More information, including a webinar here.

  APPLY BEFORE MAY 15TH

DEADLINE MAY 15TH APPLY HERE

Conversation with Abbe Tanenbaum, Playwright

A conversation between Abbe Tanenbaum, author of the play Committed Citizen, and Abby Minor, ACP Board Member

This is the first post in ACP’s new 2021 blog series featuring conversations with recent grant partners. We started this series, which is facilitated by ACP Board Member Abby Minor, in order to highlight some of the many questions, tensions, and insights that animate the complex work of destigmatizing abortion. We also launched this series for the simple reason that here at ACP, we’re always up for abortion conversations!

At the end of January I had a chance to talk with one of ACP’s most recent grant partners, Abbe Tanenbaum. Abbe received a 2020 ACP grant to produce Committed Citizen, a play she wrote after she came across a set of powerful letters written decades ago by women seeking abortions. The play, which explores the relationship between an eccentric older feminist activist and the young actress she hires to clean up her wildly disorganized apartment, was sparked by Abbe’s own experiences. Committed Citizen, which enjoyed a digital performance on September 13th, 2020, reflects on intergenerational feminism and the legacy of older feminisms.

I talked with Abbe, who lives in Northern Ireland, from my home in Pennsylvania. We had a long trans-Atlantic conversation over Zoom, touching on subjects such as being an artist, the different ways people come to abortion destigmatizing work, and why we love hearing abortion stories. Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.

AM: How did the work of addressing abortion stigma come into your life?

AT: My play, Committed Citizen, is based on real-life letters written by women seeking abortions in the 1970s. These letters, which came from all over the east coast, came into my life through someone I met while I was living in New York, pursuing a career as an actress and working as a personal organizer. One of my clients had worked as a counselor at an underground clinic in the 70s. This person had been very involved in the feminist movement, and she sparked my interest—in many ways she showed me different ways of thinking. She would mention a name, like Flo Kennedy, and that would launch me into research and reading—so I was learning through conversations. And then when she showed me these letters, they stayed in my mind. They stuck with me and eventually propelled me into writing this play. They gave me permission to move from being an interpretive artist to being a creative artist—they launched me from being an actress to a playwright.

AM: So for you, the work of destigmatizing abortion and coming into your identity as a playwright have been synonymous. I wonder if the way you’ve talked or thought about abortion has changed over the course of this project? 

AT: I’ve always been pro-choice, but doing the research has helped me to be more specific as to why—I’ve become better at defending my position. Initially I would shy away from telling people this was a play about abortion—but I realized I wanted to try to normalize it even in the tiniest way that I could. So I try to talk about abortion in a way that’s normal, in everyday conversation—like how I talk about what I had for lunch, or my period. Even if it makes other people feel uncomfortable, I’m learning not to project that discomfort back to them. Even if I myself am feeling uncomfortable, I try not to project that. I’m going to fake it until I don’t have to fake it anymore!

“I realized I wanted to try to normalize it

even in the tiniest way that I could.”

AM: I get that! I was writing a book about abortion for years, and I often struggled when people asked me what I was writing about. Do I tell them? Do I not tell them? Sometimes I felt bad for not being more comfortable, even after years of doing this work. But I like what you’re saying—we aren’t always going to feel totally at ease, for obvious reasons. We might have to fake it, and that’s okay—even if we’re faking it, projecting comfort around abortion itself is a form of destigmatizing. That’s work we are doing, even in just one small exchange. I’m also wondering, aside from conversations about the play, how did you approach talking about abortion within the play? What kind of research did you do to figure out how you wanted to talk about abortion?

AT: I sought out documentation of people talking about abortion in the most private way they could—so, not public testaments, but videos where people are just talking to the camera, in public solitude. I read books like The Choices We Made and Judith Arcana’s Hello. This is Jane. I also did research to help me understand New York City in the 70s and the contours of the feminist movment at that time, including the role of Black women in the feminist movement. I read Assata Shakur’s Assata: An Autobiography, Ain’t I a Woman by bell hooks, and Abortion Rap, which documents the NYC trial that tried to nullify the state’s 1828 abortion law. That trial was one of the first that actually allowed women who had abortions to be expert witnesses as opposed to just doctors and nuns. Flo Kennedy was one of the lawyers, so I also read her autobiography, Color Me Flo. Once you start talking about abortion people start sending you articles. And at one point there had been a part in the play that took place on an anti-abortion picket line, so I also read anti-choice blogs. I wanted to know, how do these people talk about their perspectives? 

AM: Can you tell me about a moment you felt really proud of your work during this project?

AT: I felt really proud when I was Venmo-ing all the participants their payment, when I was paying all the actors and artists who worked on it with me. I felt really proud I could create that space with them, especially during COVID. It felt good to say, ‘your art and your voice were important.’ So often artists are asked to do things for free—it felt really great to be able to do that for them, thanks to the grant from ACP.

AM: If you could wave a magic wand, what’s one aspect of normative abortion conversations or rhetoric you’d change? Is there a word or concept associated with abortion you’d delete from the conversation if you could? 

AT: Hmm, I think—I think what I most hate is blame. I hate things like, ‘you put yourself in this mess.’ I would love for abortion to be treated with more compassion. We all are on our own journey, and if that’s not part of yours, then that’s not part of yours. It doesn’t have to be inherently positive or negative. It just is. I would definitely get rid of the notion that there is some ‘kind of person’ who has an abortion. Any person with a uterus can have an abortion. 

AM: Could you talk about something that felt like an important discovery for you, in terms of talking about abortion and stigma? 

AT: A big discovery for me was realizing that part of the stigma busting was how I was interacting with people who might not even see the show. It was not just that I got this money and got to put on the show, but that it was an opportunity for me to talk to people I wouldn’t normally talk to about abortion. It gave me a platform for that. I got the opportunity to make the conscious choice that I wasn’t going to shy away from discomfort or conflict. I still have those moments when someone asks me what the play is about and I ask myself, are you going to really tell them? more often now I tell them.

I’ve also discovered that I love hearing people’s abortion stories. It cuts through the shit so fast. It cuts through the small talk. 

AM: That’s so true. It sounds like you’ve spent a lot of time sitting with other people’s stories. I’m wondering—forgive me if this is too forward—but do you have your own experience with abortion? I’m just curious, because so many people come to this work from their own experience, and it sounds like perhaps it was others’ experiences, in the form of these letters, that really led you into this. That’s interesting to me.

“I felt really proud when I was Venmo-ing all the participants their payment. It felt good to say, ‘your art and your voice were important.’”

AT: I don’t have a personal experience with abortion, and that’s something I sometimes feel self-conscious about. Often when I tell people about my play, they wind up sharing their own story with me, and it’s such a powerful thing to be trusted with. Sometimes I wish I could trust them with something as equally vulnerable and important.

AM: Well as someone who’s on the other side of that exchange sometimes, I can honestly say that the biggest gift someone can give me when I tell them about my experience is the gift of showing me they are totally okay with abortion! Like, way more than whether you have had an abortion, I am looking to see if you are deeply supportive. And I think you are making that very clear with all the work you are doing. Unfortunately there is sometimes this ‘team’ rhetoric with different reproductive experiences—people who have this experience vs. this experience. The truth is, there are a lot of different experiences you can have with a uterus, and we all have some combination of those. The most important thing, it seems to me, is honoring all those experiences, and trying to make each one as dignified as possible for each other. On that note, I wonder how you would you describe your ideal abortion conversation? What would that look like? 

AT: First of all, I would definitely want somebody there that understands the language around it. I wouldn’t want to be the monitor, I would want people who have facilitated these conversations a hundred times to do it. What I love is when people—and it happened after the digital reading of the play—I love it when people feel like they can share their abortion story. I love creating a space where people feel comfortable to do that. That is the beginning. if you’re unable to talk about it, that means there is probably some shame at play. And by creating a space where people can share, we can reinforce the fact that it’s not shameful. To be able to create that space for people who maybe are carrying a little of that cultural shame, which is so understandable, maybe this can be a step in the direction of letting that go. No one feels bad for having their appendix taken out. So I think the ideal conversation, for me, is one that’s happening at all! Just to create the conditions for the conversation, that’s my goal. 

AM: Yes, right--like, it’s hard to go speak our stories in front of elected officials, or petition to change the way abortion is represented at a cultural level, if we aren’t even able to tell our own stories in a safe space with trusted listeners. I have often seen folks want to jump to those other levels of addressing stigma without first doing it on the individual and communal level. I get that desire to leap right to addressing stigma at the institutional level, but my own experience tells me that’s a lot easier once you’ve had the chance to process with yourself and in safe spaces. So I think the kind of space you’re creating is really important--just bringing abortion to the table as something that can be named and talked about at all.  

As you go forward, what are you still hoping to learn about fostering abortion conversations—and how are you hoping to do that learning? 

AT: I’m really interested in how to foster these conversations in Northern Ireland. Doing that as an outsider and doing it in a way people feel comfortable to share, that’s the challenge. I live in a small community, and there’s a sense of there not being much privacy. I want to figure out a way that I can make the people involved feel comfortable and that there is privacy, that we can have these conversations in an intimate way, that first step, without feeling like we’re having them with the whole world. You can’t go from not ever having told anyone, to telling the world. I’ve love to watch experienced abortion conversation facilitators do their work, pick up the language they use. That’s the next step for me.

AM: How is the title of your project significant to you? What is a ‘committed citizen’?

AT: I love that Margaret Mead quote—"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.” I think that’s true. I saw that embodied in the character of Nora [Committed Citizen’s main character], in this second wave feminist character, feeling so driven to change a culture. To get out of your house and go and march, and disrupt. If you do it alone, nothing’s going to happen, you’re just a crazy person. But if you get a group of committed people to march next to you—which is such a feminist idea, that we’re stronger as a collective, versus this masculinist idea that, ‘I’m going to be the best, I’m going to scale the mountain first.’ If we all work together, we can get to the top.

AM: Where have you felt that in your life? 

AT: In theater, when you’re putting on a show—everyone is working together. When you can’t be strong, you know someone else is going to be strong for you. 

AM: And what’s your dream for this play?

AT: I would love to see it fully staged, to put on a fully produced production. I would love to see it in Northern Ireland and also to tour it. In my wildest fantasy, it’s a cultural revolution.

Six Innovative Projects Chosen for 2020

The Abortion Conversation Projects (ACP) has chosen six new projects that are experimenting with strategies to address the stigma surrounding abortion. “We want to invest in innovative grassroots projects that engage people in conversation about abortion,” says Peg Johnston, Chair of ACP.  The organization has now funded 73 Projects and offers support and expertise to both Grant Partners and applicants.

“Committed Citizen” is a new play in development by Abbe Tanenbaum. It centers around personal agency. The heart and inspiration for the piece are real letters written by women, pre-Roe and shortly after, seeking abortions from an underground clinic in New York. The international workshop will connect Three’s Theatre Company in Belfast, Northern Ireland and PACA in Erie PA. “The context of further developing the piece with actors in a country that has recently legalized abortion and those in an underserved city in the U.S. is extremely exciting to me,” explains Tanenbaum. “Powerful storytelling is one of the best tools to transform people’s understandings and facilitate compassion.” The performance on September 13, 2020 will be open to the public via zoom and be followed by a talkback. (For tickets, which can be free or with a donation go here.)

  “Vicenas Feministas” is an ambitious project involving reproductive rights groups throughout Latin America. According to Andrea Verceros, “Each Latin American country is in a different stage of opening up access to abortion services and we want our messaging to be coordinated. The twelve organizations collaborating point out that “There is a danger that we will inadvertently stigmatize in debating the half measures offered.” The project will bring together leaders from nine countries to have talking points that all can embrace.

            “Artivism” at Hartford GYN Center seeks to collaborate with patients and supporters in developing engaging artistic expressions, which will stand in stark contrast to the targeted harassment that has plagued Connecticut’s sole independent abortion provider for years. An installation of moveable panels with interactive components will welcome staff and patients into a beautiful and affirming space, while creating a constantly evolving mural that will generate conversations about abortion and breakdown stigma in unexpected places.

            “The Choice: VR” is the amazing project of Joanne Aśka Popińska and her partner Tom C. Hall, who have filmed in Virtual Reality 6 people sharing their abortion stories. “Storytelling in VR is moving, memorable, and very effective in breaking down stereotypes, as it can resemble having an actual conversation,” she explains.  Although this is a long and expensive project, ACP has been supportive of this innovation and hope to help them finish the editing so that these stories can be available. The team is currently working on releasing the first interview as the stand alone chapter that will be available to the audience. With this material, they will then seek resources to complete the full-scope project. 

Telling Truer Stories: Music Album aims to continue the success of Telling Truer Stories (An Anthology for Safe and Legal Abortion), by putting stories to music. Tentatively titled "Pasya" or “Choice,” it features the musical collaboration of artists with abortion storytellers in the Philippines “to move the topic of abortion out of the stigmatized horror genre it’s been caged in for decades, and deliver it to listeners in an audio experience that is fun, liberating, and ultimately, more realistic,” according to Kristine Chan.

In addition, ACP is working with Viva Ruiz of “Thank God for Abortion” to validate that religious people can affirm abortion and women’s autonomy. According to Ruiz, a performance and installation artist, “I believe God wants us to be happy. My faith is joyful and celebrates women’s lives.”

                        The Abortion Conversation Projects is committed to eliminating the stigma of abortion by supporting individuals and small groups engaged in innovative community-based projects that create new ways and opportunities to talk about abortion honestly and publicly. It has awarded 73 Grant Partnerships since the program started in 2012.  ACP fundraises approximately $12,000 each year to pay for seed grants and expenses. The ACP Board also offers consultations with people working on abortion stigma. For more information and to join the mailing list, consult ACP’s website at www.AbortionConversationProjects.org  or the Facebook page.