abortionclinicdays

abortion zine:call for submissions

i just heard about a new zine and want to pass the CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS on to all readers. never before has there been an opportunity for women (and men) who have an abortion story to have it posted on a bilingual zine! the announcement is self explanatory; please post it widely on other prochoice sites. the goal is to honor the diversity of experiences women and their support persons.

lou

Our Truths / Nuestras Verdades

Call for submissions

Our Truths, Nuestras Verdades is a brand-new zine produced in collaboration with the Abortion Conversation Project by a diverse group of women who are reproductive rights activists, social workers, counselors, feminists, writers and artists. While all support universal access to legal abortion, we also know that for many women and men their experience of abortion is connected to their beliefs about family, culture, religion and relationships as well as affected by their access to resources and information. This zine aims to help break the silence that many women face, providing a forum for women to share their stories about abortion, and to affirm their decisions and experiences.

We are looking for truth-telling and diverse selections of poetry, prose, essays, line art and photographs (to be reprinted in black-and-white only) in Spanish or English for the premier issue of Our Truths, Nuestras Verdades, which is set to launch May 5, 2005. The deadline for submissions to the premier issue is January 5, 2005. Submissions that are received after the deadline will be considered for the second issue of the zine to be released Fall 2005.

Submissions from women who have had abortions will be prioritized; however, friends and support people of women who have had abortions are welcome to submit work as well.

Please send submissions with a cover letter including your name (or pseudonym), mailing address and email address to:

Our Truths, Nuestras Verdades

truths_verdades@yahoo.com

or

Abortion Conversation Project

908 King Street

Suite 400 W

Alexandria, VA 22314

Please do not send original artwork or manuscripts, as submissions will not be returned.

For wide circulation

Our Truths / Nuestras Verdades

Convocatoria

Our Truths, Nuestras Verdades, es una nueva publicación producida, en colaboración con el Proyecto de Conversación sobre Aborto (ACP por sus siglas en ingles), por un grupo diverso de mujeres activistas en derechos reproductivos, trabajadores sociales, asesores, feministas, escritores y artistas. Todas defendemos el acceso legal y universal al aborto y somos concientes de que para muchas mujeres y hombres la experiencia del aborto está relacionada con sus valores acerca de la familia, la cultura, la religión y las relaciones sociales; además de estar determinada por el acceso que tienen a los recursos y a la información. Nuestra publicación tiene el propósito de empezar a romper el silencio que muchas mujeres enfrentan, proporcionando un foro en donde compartan sus historias relacionadas con el aborto, así como ser un espacio de reafirmación de las decisiones y experiencias personales.

Estamos buscando historias reales y selecciones diversas de poesía, prosa, ensayos, bocetos, dibujos y fotografías (que serán reimpresas en blanco y negro); en español o inglés para el primer número de Our Truths, Nuestras Verdades, que será presentado el 5 de mayo del 2005. La fecha límite para recibir contribuciones para el primer número es el 5 de enero del 2005. Los trabajos que sean recibidos después de esa fecha serán considerados para el segundo número de nuestra publicación que será distribuido en el otoño del 2005.

Los trabajos de mujeres que hayan experimentado un aborto tendrán prioridad, sin embargo, amigos y personas que han apoyado a mujeres que hayan vivido la experiencia son bienvenidos para participar con nosotras.

Los trabajos deberán ser recibidos con una portada que incluya el nombre o pseudónimo del autor, dirección para correspondencia y dirección electrónica a:

Our Truths, Nuestras Verdades

truths_verdades@yahoo.com

o

Abortion Conversation Project

908 King Street

Suite 400 W

Alexandria, VA 22314

USA

Favor de no enviar piezas de arte originales o manuscritos, ya que los trabajos recibidos no serán regresados.

Para amplia difusión

to amanda

hi amanda,

if you want to counsel at an abortion clinic, i suggest that you call all the clinics that are near you and see if they allow students to do a supervised practicum there. as you know, in order for you to be able to do a practicum, your college or university usually requires that there be a qualified supervisor on staff, someone with at least a master's degree. not all clinics will fulfill that requirement. we have supervisors on staff for social work, counseling, and psychology majors.

in our clinic, you would need a masters or equivalent to work as a counselor. the work is extremely rewarding but also very challenging in some cases. while most of the women who choose abortion are ok with their decision, some have real problems. for example, women whose families are pressuring them into the abortion are usually not going to do well afterwards. that is why we want our counselors to be skilled and experienced so that they do not make errors in judgment. at our clinic, we would strongly discourage women who are not resolved from having an abortion on that day, and would send them home with a decision making workbook (www.pregnancyoptions.info). in addition, women who do not have a good support system may not do well since love and support are a great help in getting all of us through the difficult times of our lives. also, women with a history of mental health problems, depression, etc might find abortion hard too. and even many women who are ok with the decision still experience feelings of loss or have spiritual concerns, which is normal.

since most women are not in the above categories in that they make their own decision, usually with a partner, most will do well. the statistic of 43% of american women having an abortion in their reproductive lifetime makes abortion the most likely surgical (including now non-surgical with the abortion pill) procedure that a woman is likely to have during her whole life. so it's actually quite a common experience for women.

but to get back to you and your question: as a student you would not be permitted to counsel on your own until you had many, many supervised hours, and then only in occasional uncomplicated cases. we view abortion as a life and death issue and give it all the consideration it deserves. i do urge you, if you are interested in becoming a counselor, to pursue your goals. working with and for women, helping them to achieve their dreams, to attain a better quality of life for themselves and their families, gives our lives meaning as well. not many people are lucky enough to see the fruits of their labors on a daily basis. we receive letters every day thanking us for being there, for the consideration we showed them and their support persons. i feel honored and blessed to have found this work and i hope you can find your way into it too.

lou

response

from time to time we are asked permission to be quoted and/or written about. anything we write is meant for public readership, meant to be shared and therefore, could be referred to in a newsletter. we love our work and are happy to share our experiences with you, our readers.

lou

a note sent to me

Bloggers, I am passing this on to you. I was about to write a similar message to all readers, but then I received this, which was entitled "a love note" and so I am passing it on to all of you. It says exactly what I would have said, but probably better than I could have said it. I believe that the upcoming election is probably the most important of our lives. Whoever wins will determine the direction of our country, affecting not only reproductive rights, but also our position in the rest of the free world. I beg you to vote, to work for what you believe in, to realize that this year more than ever, it really does matter.

Lou

All-
Just a little note to, well, every single person in my email address book--a Friday morning missive, for lack of a better description.

People, this is it. We have fewer than 4 weeks to save this country, and I'm not being overly dramatic. I went to see Howard Dean speak last night, and though I was never a Deaniac, the man said something that really hit home--if you want to wake up to a changed world on November 3, do not expect everyone else to do the work. We have the opportunity to save what is left of our democracy, but we ALL have to take part. If you don't work for change, you cannot complain when it doesn't happen. It's really that simple.

For those of you who live in swing states, there are more opportunities to get involved than I can possibly list (and I know most of you on this list are already working on this day and night, it's just a gentle reminder :) ). Practically every progressive organization is holding phonebanks, door to door canvasses and election protection activities, as are the campaigns themselves and groups like American Coming Together, America Votes, People for the American Way and Move On.

For those of you who live in a solidly red or blue state, there are still things you can do. If you have the means, take some vacation days and travel to a battleground state during the last four days before the election--we've gotten tens of thousands of new voters registered, but we need human power to get them to the polls on November 2, and we do not have enough volunteers to get it done. If that's not possible, join a phonebank or post-card campaign that targets a battleground state. Many of the same groups mentioned above are organizing those events is most non-swing states. At the very least, if you can do nothing else, write a check. We need bodies more than money, but, if cash is what you have to offer, that's great.

Whether your interest is reproductive rights, the environment, civil liberties, peace and justice, foreign policy, domestic or global economy, prison reform, it matters not--this election is absolutely critical, and it is incumbent upon EVERY ONE OF US to work on it. If not now, when? I know you're busy, we're all busy, but we have less than 24 days left to do this. Get moving.

the presence of god

both my co-writer and i have written about themes that seem to present on various days. today it was religious or spiritual concerns. as always, i am changing the names of the women to protect their privacy. first was andrea, a 24 year old woman who, like many other women, said that she was positive that abortion was the best course for her to take today because she was not prepared for parenthood. so, for her and her boyfriend, it was not a question of what to do. they had talked it over and decided long before the date of her appointment. what was upsetting her was that she longed to be able to tell her mother and have her support, but she knew that could not happen. when she, andrea, was a child, her mother used to take her and her siblings to an abortion clinic and make them march around with anti-abortion signs. remembering how it felt as a small child to be forced to do that filled her with confusion. today she said she knew that god would understand and that she would be forgiven, both for the past and for the abortion. but for the first time she had the opportunity to examine her mother's "use" of her and see that her mom, who said she was a christian, would not really be able to be there for her. this caused andrea to wonder how god felt about mothers who are so righteous that they abandon their children. while she was not asking me to compare, i felt that she herself was wondering if abandoning your child is not a "worse sin" in the eyes of god. certainly food for thought.

then louise and her husband nick came in. they had really struggled with their decision. they did not want to have an abortion and said that they were hoping for a sign from god about what to do. their financial situation precluded having a third child, they felt. yet, their own idea of god was one who would "never forgive" and they feared losing god's grace. currently they are actually homeless, but a friend is allowing them to stay for a while. they are hoping that somehow nick will be able to find a second full time job that will pay better than his current second job, which is working at burger king. they feared that having this third child could just push them over the edge financially and they have no family who can bail them out. i began talking about god being all forgiving, but they said that maybe that 's true, but not where abortion is concerned. they rejected my offer of pamphlets from various religious groups who do support abortion rights. i really didn't know what to do to help them since it had to be their own choice about what would be best for the children they now have.

last was shaquila, a single 22 year old mother of three. she recently extricated herself from an abusive relationship. she said that even though she really needed the financial help that having the father of her children in the house brought, she could not allow herself to be beaten and hospitalized any longer. she said that the beatings were getting worse and that the kids were getting old enough to show their fear of their dad. so, she had gotten herself out of the situation and is now supporting the family herself. she said she wakes up at 5 every day, dresses and feeds all the kids, takes them to daycare and then goes and works all day, picks up the kids, brings them home, makes dinner and puts them to bed. by the time she puts them all to bed, she said she is too exhausted to do much else since she has to wake up and do it all over again. her mother has problems of her own and is unable to help. shaquila said that, for her, she knows that god wants her to have the abortion, that it is the best thing that could happen for her children. what she did want to know, though, was how to release the baby and send it to god in a way that god would understand what she was doing and why. i told her that of course god knows her heart and then i proceded to tell her some of the things other women have told me that they did, things as simple as lighting a candle and saying a prayer to more complex rituals that included blessings from the mother as the baby left her body, blessings designed to speed the soul to heaven.

three different women, three different views of god's "opinion"of their choice. some see god as loving and forgiving, some do not. it does seem, though, that one's view of god could very well color one's emotional and spiritual healing after the abortion.

lou

having no doubts

some women have no doubts whatsoever that they are doing the right thing in choosing abortion. two women this week spoke of their situations in very similar terms. the first woman, whom i am naming shannon, was oh so clear that she was not yet secure enough in her recovery from her past drug problems to risk having another child. shannon told me of her previous middle class existance, her lovely three bedroom home, her two wonderful children and her hard working husband who finally had to give up on her. a back injury had caused her to start taking pain pills and before she knew it, she was dependent upon them. her addiction became so strong that she began lying, stealing, neglecting her children, all for drugs. after she lost her home, her family, she continued to go downhill until about a year ago when she decided that only by pulling herself up and getting off drugs could she begin the long road to recovery and getting back her kids. she now has been on methadone for almost a year and feels that perhaps in another year or two she may be able to wean herself off the methadone. to go off sooner, she fears, could send her back to her old life. and, she told me, anyone who has ever seen a newborn who is born addicted to meth knows that it is a most horrible sight. she could not bring herself to do that to a child. and, she said, she has to get her two kids back with her before she would even imagine having another. she feels that she owes that to them and wants very much to deserve to have them with her, have them trust her once again.

so, she said, she knew immediately that this was best for all concerned. in fact, she said, she told her counselor whom she still sees weekly that she knew what she was doing, what she wanted and had no guilt. she is determined to keep moving her life forward and knew that abortion would keep her on track.

the second woman was not a patient at all. she was someone i saw on MTV's pre-election special with christine aguilera called "choose or lose" about how important it is for all americans, but particularly young women and men, to vote. they pointed out that our current pres, bush, wants to make abortion illegal. his opponent, john kerry, believes that government should stay out of women's private medical decisions and let them decide for themselves whether or not they want to have a baby. one of the young women who was interviewed on the program said that she knew abortion was the best choice for her a few years ago because she was not ready to be a mother and did not want to do a bad job. she ended her time on camera with a great little speech telling everyone who was watching how important it is to vote this year, that their future choices about unplanned pregnancy could hinge on it.

sometimes i think that the media sensationalizes the stories of women who talk about their guilt from having had an abortion. and i bet that there are just as many who could say that they do not have guilt, that they thought their decisions through carefully and that they knew that this was not the right time, so it was refreshing to hear two stories from two very different women just a day apart who proved it.

lou