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