Recently, I had an abortion in the United States. Lining the street in
front of the clinic were a dozen or so protesters. They held up large
banners with anti-abortion slogans, religious iconography, and images of
dead babies.
Just past the bulletproof security doors, the graphic nature of that
imagery haunted me in the waiting room. What would my abortion look
like? I decided to secretly document my abortion with my cell phone.
My intention in documenting and sharing my abortion is to demystify the
sensationalist images propagated by the religious and political right on
this matter. The use of lifeless fetus photographs are a propaganda tool
in the anti-choice/pro-choice debate in which women and their bodies are
used as pawns to push a cultural, political, and religious agenda in the
United States.
At 6 weeks of pregnancy, my abortion looked very different than the
images I saw when I entered the clinic that day. Experiencing my own
abortion and photographing the result was a sobering experience. As a
woman, I reckon with the power of images every day. But after my
abortion, I realised images are literally being used as a weapon to
petrify and assault viewers into fear, shame, and isolation. The
protesters’ heartless use of lifeless foetus images made me feel
cheated, lied to and manipulated. It was just propaganda: intended to
shake the core of my deepest biological, intellectual and emotional
foundation.
In the last month since launching thisismyabortion.com, I received a
deluge of emails from men, women and couples all over the world
confiding in me their own courageous and unique abortion stories. Some
told tales of horrific self-inflicted abortions in countries where
abortion remains illegal. Others expressed sincere gratitude for my
documentation, either because it mirrored their own experiences of safe
abortions or, in some cases, because they had always associated abortion
with the same grotesque images I had encountered while entering the
clinic. I was contacted by women in Turkey that feared that their right
to make a free choice for their body was potentially at risk. These are
women that stand in solidarity with the larger movement of women and men
that hold the right to choose as a basic human right.
I believe we are the majority, and we hold the power to demand the
right to make educated choices for our bodies and our families. I hope
thisismyabortion.com will be used as a tool to bring a fair, honest,
balanced view of safe abortion. We, together, can take a stand for the
truth, women’s rights and reproductive justice internationally.