Extremist judges will not stop endangering the lives of pregnant people or people who may become pregnant—overturning Roe v. Wade, attacking medication abortion, threatening the future of IVF, and this week at SCOTUS, emergency abortion care.
Our lawyers are waging strategic fights that make clear what is at stake for people who can become pregnant and seek to bolster our fundamental rights to control our lives, futures, and destinies.
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Hey there! If you care about abortion access—and we hope you do—you probably don’t want to use stigmatizing language about abortion. Our “Destigmatizing Abortion” series breaks down some of the mistakes a lot of us can make in our advocacy journey.
Today, let’s talk about the phrase: “abortion is always traumatic,” especially when used as an absolute.
There is no one abortion story, and it sure as hell isn’t “abortion is always traumatic.” Treating this as the absolute truth is straight from the anti-choice movement handbook.
It’s natural to want to be sensitive to people who see their abortion as a traumatic experience, and important that we make space for all types of experiences in our movement. However, framing *all* abortion like this is simply untrue! It’s health care—whether you have it at home or have a procedure in a doctor’s office. Abortions are safe and happen every day. Patients feel a range of emotions about their abortion, from joy to relief to sadness to anger to ambivalence.
So, abortion can be many things, but abortion is also self and community care, it can be love and family personified. Lead with that when you talk about abortion, not an anti-choice talking point.
