abortionclinicdays

Archived

Hi-- Holy Cow it's 2014, three years since we last posted! We are leaving this up, with some expired credit card interruptions in case someone wants to access some of these stories. They are remarkably similar to what happens everyday in our clinics so if anyone is interested in what goes on in an abortion clinic, these stories are still pretty accurate.

Unfortunately, the pressures on clinics in some states has made it more difficult for women and their loved ones as well as for abortion care workers. Clinic resources have gone into expensive and unnecessary clinic renovations like a $60,000 Air Conditioner at a Pennsylvania clinic. These are all challenges to quality abortion care but the providers we know try hard to keep their patients' needs--emotional, physical, and spiritual--in focus.

Thanks for your interest!

The Word that Dare Not Speak

Someone forwarded me a link to a blog about those 40 Days of Prayer that we posted here the other day. Fascinating conversations ensued. Basically, blogger Corey Waters re-wrote the prayers omitting the word abortion.

The original 40 Days of Prayers were written by Rev. Turner of Faith Aloud in response to the anti abortion "40 Days of Life" which means that they picket, harass, shame women at abortion clinics. Before I go on to Corey's post I want to mention how important these one-a-day prayers have been to abortion providers. As you can imagine we often feel beleaguered and stigmatized by the anti's and even those of us who are not particularly religious, having someone pray for your safety or recognize the real work you do is beyond affirming. So a big shout out to Rev. Turner!

It strikes me as true and honest that the topic of abortion is polarizing in everyday relationships which is what Corey spends most of her time talking about. I have friends who have confided in me that they won't bring up the topic of abortion with the mothers of their kids' playmates--"I can't afford to!" they say. So, the difficulty of discussing abortion in the real world is not lost on me but I guess it is worth asking, "Why?"

Who is doing the stigmatizing such that we have to eliminate the word abortion from our vocabulary for fear of someone taking offense?  After all, 37% of all women will have an abortion in their lifetimes. And, you may be a good contraceptor or even infertile but that will not protect you from the possibility that you will be in a situation where you might have to think about abortion. (In fact, it happens every week in my world.) You could be blissfully happy in your marriage but does that mean you erase the word divorce from conversation?

Thinking people have to come to grips with the fact that there is a well organized campaign to shame women and everyone else associated with an abortion experience. And well funded too--two recent expensive ad campaigns "Abortion Changes You" (doesn't everything, especially pregnancy?) and "Black Children: An Endangered Species?" And that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of picketing and in some cases extreme harassment at clinics (See the Enough! Basta! videos). Or one of the most effective lobbying forces ever known. This campaign to make abortion a word that cannot be spoken has been going on for 30 years and is very strategic.

So, I can really see why Corey would try to find a middle ground by just omitting the offending word. And, it must be said, she opened up some ground for her readers to talk about their abortion experience.

But what is the cost of purging the A word? Or as someone else commented, "When we try to talk about 'common ground' while politely ignoring abortion, we dismiss, ignore and invalidate the experiences of millions of women who have chosen that path. We also dismiss the millions of men, parents, friends and loved ones who have found a way to love and support their wife, daughter, girlfriend, sister or friend through an abortion decision, even if it evoked deeply conflicted feelings for them.  We know that our patients, as they struggle to make moral, ethical and sane decisions about their pregnancies, are not afforded the privilege of avoiding the issue. If a 15 year old can walk into my clinic and tackle these complex moral, spiritual and ethical issues head-on, why can't Ms. Waters?"

I suspect that is a more complicated question than it appears. They've done quite a job on us.

--Bon

Twittering your abortion

You probably have seen the YouTube video or Twitter account of Angie Jackson's medication abortion. Here's the link to an article in Newsweek. It does seem that the more people "come out" about their abortion,  or a friend's or loved one's abortion the less the anti's have on all of us! Perhaps we need more T-shirts and buttons and bumper stickers that generate thoughtful conversation.

--bon

The Audacity of Goodness

Charlotte Taft wrote this piece for RhRealityCheck.  We think it's worth reprinting here. Now is the time for women to speak up about their abortions and not let themselves be intimidated by the hatemongers!

Lu

The Audacity of Goodness

When abortion provider Renee Chelian created a video called “Every Day, Good Women Choose Abortion” for her Northland Family Planning Clinics, all she was thinking about was what would be good for her patients.

Chelian, a long time member of the Abortion Care Network,  is the Executive Director of three clinics in Detroit. She has spent the last 33 years offering the highest quality medical care, combined with compassionate attention to her patients’ emotional well-being.  On her website a letter to patients includes these words:

The discussion that centers on a woman’s right to an abortion is so much bigger than any debate OR any law. It’s about my heart, a woman’s heart, and both the right and responsibility of bringing a child into the world... women of all ages need to make these decisions with people who care for them, people they trust.

A sign in the clinic reads: “We do sacred work that honors women and the circle of life and death. When you come here bring only love.”

Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973,  over 45 million women have had legal abortions in the United States. It is estimated that one in three women will have an abortion during her lifetime.

And for 36 years the anti-choice forces have waged a well-financed and nearly unopposed war of words to shame and demean women. They don't even try to hide their hatred and disdain for us. Outside our clinics the ‘sidewalk counselors’  scream "The blood from your crotch will rise up against you, you whores" , “Satan will drink your baby’s blood and you will die”, and "Loose women burn in Hell."

We can see from the shame and silence of 45 million women that the propaganda has been effective.

So, for Chelian, it only made sense to remind women of their own basic goodness. Her video reflects the truth that abortion providers know:

"Every day,  good women choose abortion", and "To have an abortion is a normal experience."

It reminds us that goodness is:

Courage, honesty, wisdom, risking for what you believe is right for you, making choices that you believe are good for yourself. Goodness is not perfection, it is not obedience, and it is not martyrdom. 

If you have made the decision to have an abortion, and are having a hard time feeling good about yourself and remembering that you are a good person, let us remind you and help you see the goodness in yourself and your choice.

She put the video on her website. But she wanted to reach more women.

When Renee posted the video on Youtube the anti's went ballistic.
The XM Satellite radio station WILCOW-XM has been playing the recordings over and over and telling their listeners to call and complain, which of course is jamming the clinic's phone lines.

The antis have bombarded the clinic with vile, unprintable attacks over the phones directed at the staff.  Comments on Youtube included:

“If you are ripped to shreds...just like the unborn children you’ve murdered...it would be just” and “Bottom feeding serial killers of unborn children with no voice to protest their murder!” and  “This is a very shallow attempt at pandering to weak minded people who would rather kill their children when it is inconvenient so the clinic can make more money.”

LifeSite, an anti-abortion on-line newsletter, headed its article “Michigan Abortion Facility Advertizes Abortion as ‘Sacred Work’”. Of course their conclusion was that “The videos are just the latest attempts by Northland to make abortion seem as attractive as possible.”

The fear-based hatred has been overwhelming.  For now Chelian has taken the video off  YouTube, but the horrible calls continue.  She is seeking help from authorities. The video  is still on her website, and will also be shown to each patient in the clinic.

Abortion providers have known the kind of people who make these calls for years. The rest of the country has just been introduced to them as they stalk health care, vilify and threaten the President, spread their bile and display their hatred. It is very important not to abandon women and the men who care about them to the cruelty of the anti abortion forces.

Their arguments are based on their belief that women are stupid--that we don’t know that abortion is about life and death---and that we do not recognize that it is not just our right, but our responsibility to decide whether and when to bring new life into the world through our bodies. Theirs is a bankrupt movement of moral hypocrisy. They lost even the claim to their own name when they started shooting us.

Whether it is Rene Chelian's "Goodness" videos, a banner that says, "When You Come Here Bring Only Love", a poster that reads, "We Honor Your Dreams", putting our patients' words in hearts on the walls, making patient journals available in our waiting rooms, or our willingness to acknowledge that of course abortion is a complex emotional experience, the antis react by attacking us because there is nothing else they can think of.

But America needs to hear from us.  When the experience and voice of independent providers and the women we serve is truly part of the national conversation about abortion we will see a transformation.

In 1964 the poet Muriel Rukeyser wrote “If one woman told the truth about her life, the world would split open.” She may have been over-optimistic about the power of the voice of just one woman.

But how about 45 million?

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Obvious Child

I know we're usually ultra serious about abortion in this blog, but I wanted to let people know about a romantic comedy that features abortion in a positive yet humorous light. It's called Obvious Child (and the Paul Simon song by the same name is featured) and it's about a young woman (Donna) who is dumped and in the consolation drunk hooks up with a guy and gets pregnant. Sort of like Knocked Up except the guy is basically a good soul.

Donna is not too conflicted about her decision--she doesn't even remember the guy's name-- and chalks it up to temporary stupidity. That allows for a certain light hearted inevitability. She confers with her girlfriend and asks, "Will it hurt?" She replies, "Not as much as the break up."

Unlike Juno (which I loved in spite of this scene) the abortion clinic is neutral, and the actual abortion is just her nodding off. The "recovery" has women not meeting each others' eyes (ah the stigma shows up) and I guess that happens, although in my experience recovery rooms are fairly friendly.

So check out Gillian Robespierre's Obvious Child and tell your friends. It deserves a wide audience. (in case the link doesn't work http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/a_rom_com_about_abortion/)

--bon

Supreme Court Travesty

The abortion clinic world has been has been turned upside down by the latest upholding of the "Partial Birth Abortion Ban." Doctors and clinic administrators are struggling to understand the gray areas of the law so that they will not be prosecuted for doing regular abortions. Remember, in some states it is an exceedingly hostile environment and it wouldn't take that much to create a case against someone. The accusation would not stick, but the defense costs would bankrupt most clinics.

There are lots of commentators who are saying that this doesn't mean a thing, and it won't affect any real women, and it's all extreme politics. Basically, they are saying that this is not a significant precedent. The thing to remember is that IT WAS NEVER ABOUT ANYTHING REAL. From the made up name of "partial birth abortion" which does not describe anything doctors know about, to the widespread, deliberate misrepresentations that it only applies to third trimester abortions, or "late term abortions," another misnomer. It has been a fund-raising/PR strategy of the Far Right from the beginning, and it has succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, and our wildest nightmares. Although this is not reported on CNN or in your local papers, the anti's have vowed to ban abortion, procedure by procedure. This is the first, and D&E is next. Justice Kennedy invites that, in fact, with his gleefully graphic description of a D&E "dismemberment" of the fetus inside the womb. The idea is that if enough people are horrified by a procedure it can be banned.

If you have the time I really encourage you to read the decision itself and watch for all the anti-abortion rhetoric and blatant disrespect of women, who are seen as creatures who need protecting from their own choices. And this is the really significant precedent that unravels 30 years of jurisprudence: no health exception for women. Instead, they refer any conflicts between medical opinions, you will love this, to the state and federal legislatures. No comfort there unless maybe you live in NY, but it is an unnecessary invitation to the states to pass all kinds of laws restricting abortion. Michigan had three new anti-abortion bills on Thursday.

So, I am not trying to cry wolf here. This decision blows an ill wind.
--Bon

how to stop the shootings

i received this from a colleague who is also an abortion provider.  her words speak for many of us who have lived with terrorism for a long long time.

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	Tue, Apr 17, 2007
As I read the paper and watch my TV, trying to take in the tragedy that has befallen the students, parents and faculty of Virginia Tech,  I am feeling sick and in shock.  I also feel a huge fear for my children.  I know and am reminded that I cannot protect them anywhere.   Maybe I am a conspiracy theorist, but I cannot help but look at the history of this kind of violence and link it directly back to the anti abortion movement.   They were the very first people to speak so hatefully and announce with pride their thoughts of justifiable homicide.  They were the first to post doctors' pictures on the Internet advocating killing, admitting who they were, yet there was NO PUBLIC CONDEMNATION.  Even so called religious people often beat around the bush refusing to say it was wrong or in fact said nothing at all. So the anti-abortion faction commited arson,  firebombed us, shot us and then one of them got brave enough to go out in broad daylight and shoot at 2 clinics (3?) in Boston.  And evade the authorities for how long?  One of them blew up a clinic killing a police officer and almost killing but maiming the nurse and what happened?  Nothing!   The White House under  President Reagan and the first Pres. Bush entertained Joe Scheidler as a guest, and and others I no longer remember who were certainly  themselves early terrorists or advocates of terrorism.  And still no public outcry. Finally, after the same bomber planted a bomb in Atlanta during the Summer Olympics, this got some attention.   When the school shootings started, Columbine and the rest, where did people think these kids learned their hate and their skills and the belief that is was ok to kill  people.  What did anyone with an ounce of sense think would happen to a generation of young people who saw others turn their heads from violence because it was aimed at a select few.  And it was controversial after all.    Of course, after  911, Domestic Terrorism was suddenly in the news.  But in print or on the news no one mentioned that abortion providers have been living with terrorism for a long time.  They pretended it was new. When the members of congress first started getting envelopes with possible anthrax in them, abortion providers already had booklets that the ATF had printed for handling anthrax threats in our clinics.   Many of us had gone through that kind of terrorism years earlier. Yesterday's actions may have been by someone who is mentally ill but where did the example, the idea come from?  We are all responsible for putting an end to hate.  Just last week some people still thought it was a fuss about nothing when hate talk against women athletes was allowed to continue.  Even when the shock jock was eventually fired, there were still a lot of people who thought it was funny.  Unless people of leadership and faith announce the connection and call for an end we as a nation are going to see ever more violence.   When a crazy man can stand outside my friend's clinic today and still say these hateful things and call himself a minister, a man of God, why doesn't the public rush to run his ass out of town.  If we want to see these shootings end it has to start there, with people like this minister, because they are the ones who started it all.   I am sorry if I am ranting especially because many of you have also  lived with this or something equally frightening or painful but I just needed to write it for me.  My rage and pain do not feel lessened but somehow I feel stronger. Thank you for listening to me.

what do students want to know?

recently i had occasion to speak by invitation to a few graduate school classes.  since their questions might be your questions, i thought i'd try to synopsize what we talked about.  i first told them how and why i love my work.  there are so few jobs that make a difference in women's lives, that are never boring, and that could provide one with enough work in the aspects of service delivery, the politics, and the law to keep a person as busy as she cares to be.  nothing is more real than dealing with life and death decisions on a daily basis, although rather than making the decisions ourselves what we do is bear witness to the intensity of the struggle of women and men to make a wise and honorable decision.  and it is just that.  most of the women either know instinctively because of their circumstances what their choice is or else they think long and hard about what they can best live with.  you have read many of the stories on this blog if you are a regular reader.  i gave the classes three examples from that very day:  one woman, age 25, already raising two children on her own, barely making it.  just recently, her mom, her aunt, her uncle died, pretty much wiping out her support system.  what she wanted, longed for, was to give life, but felt that she could not do it and raise her two children, so with tears, she put herself in god's hands and prayed for understanding.

the next story was of a younger woman, whom you would never imagine was over a year in recovery from a very serious heavy drug problem.  in order to get clean and stay clean, she had to leave her family and friends behind, because all of them are addicts.  that was the only life she has ever known but she wants a different life for herself.  for her, as for many, abortion is about just that, hopes and dreams for a better life.  this particular young woman still needs to go to daily NA meetings and does not feel strong enough to not use in times of stress.  she's proud of her recovery but not assuming that she can yet stay clean and sober.  what she wants more than anything in the world, is to someday feel confident in her ability to withstand the stresses of pregnancy and parenting, with a strong enough support system that she can have the children she longs for.

and i told them, too, of the woman i had just sent home because she was not sure of her decison.  at first i thought she was at the clinic just to please her boyfriend who let her know that he is not at all interested in parenthood.  i told her that that are plenty of resources should she want to continue the pregnancy and she, in turn,  told me that her mother wants her to have the baby and has promised to help her.  with such a degree of uncertainty, and the possibility that she was considering abortion only to please a boyfriend who might be out of her life soon anyhow, i sent her home along with a decision making workbook. LINK

the grad students were quite interested to hear that only 6% of our patients are under the age of 18, which is, of course a shock to most folks who assume that it is teens  who are most likely to become pregnant.  NOT TRUE.  also, about 55% of our patients already have at least one child at last count.  i suspect the percentage is higher these days.

i got a lot of questions about the mandatory delay laws in our state as well as the process by which a minor who feels she cannot or does not want to tell her parents can go to court to have a judge declare her mature enough to make her own decision.  in fact the kinds of reasons that a minor might choose not to involve her parents often is either because the parent would not grant permission or they don't have such a great relationship, or the parent is overwhelmed with their own problems, has a drug or alcohol problem or is caring for an ailing parent or partner themselves. my years of experience have taught me that the great majority of teens do involve a parent and the few who do not have very good reasons for not doing so.

whether or not the women were using birth control was also a question and of course, most were using some method of birth control, thinking that the pill or condoms could protect them, which it does in most cases, but not nearly as well as the better forms of birth control such as the Mirena IUD or Implanon, the two most effective (and long lasting) methods on the market today.

i very much appreciated the questions about what my life as a provider is like, asking how am i treated in social situations, and if i tell people what i do.  and of course i tell anyone who cares to hear about my work what i do as readers of this blog can tell.  this is my life's work.  i am proud of it.  my family, which is probably more religious than many, has come to accept my work, but only after many years of my being a provider.  at first i think they were concerned for my safety, but as i let them know that that was not my focus, they have come to see that my mission is much greater than just the provision of the service, that it is more about telling the women's stories, of their decision making, and of their wanting to stay in connection with their god, their religion.  my own children did suffer, but it was at the hands of anti-abortion threats against them when they were young.  i guess i never believed that anyone would kill them, but rather wanted to scare me.  and scare me they did.  more like terrorize.  my husband has always been supportive of my work; if he were not, i never would have made it.  he always believed in what i have chosen as my life's work, just as i respect his work.

i usually end my talks to grad and professional school students with a wish for them, a wish that they choose work for which they have passion, work that makes a difference, work that makes them want to get up in the morning.  i have been fortunate enough to feel that way and it allows me to put in more hours than most people want to work.  i encourage them to choose whatever will bring them the same joy.

lou

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one in three pregnancies planned

to me, the importance of this article is that women are having an even harder time preventing pregnancy at a time when they are not prepared to have a (or another) child.  the US continues to have the highest rate of unintended pregnancy in the developed world.  and THAT is a tragedy. 

lou


UNPLANNED PREGNANCY, ABORTION OFTEN HAPPEN

MORE THAN ONCE IN A WOMAN’S LIFETIME

New Guttmacher Study Notes Role that Government Has Played in Making It Harder—Not Easier—for Women Having Abortions to Prevent the Next Unplanned Pregnancy

About half of all U.S. women having abortions in 2002 had already had a prior abortion, according to Repeat Abortion in the United States, released today by the Guttmacher Institute. Moreover, one in three women have given birth to a baby they had not planned for, and one in 10 have had two or more unintended births. Repeat unintended pregnancies that end either in abortions or unplanned births occur among women from all economic, racial and ethnic backgrounds, the authors point out, suggesting that the reproductive health care system in general is failing to provide women with the services and counseling they need.

“Our study challenges the misperception that women who have more than one abortion are different from other women,” says lead author Rachel K. Jones, senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute. “The typical woman having a second or third abortion is, in many ways, like the typical woman having her first abortion—and in turn, all types of American women have abortions. This suggests that we need to do a better job helping all women better prevent unwanted pregnancies, so they can avoid having to decide whether to seek abortions or raise children they are not prepared for.”

In fact, the only notable differences between women obtaining a first abortion and those who had already had one or more abortions are that those obtaining repeat abortions tend to be older and to have more children. This makes sense, as older women have been at risk of unintended pregnancy longer than younger women. Overall, most women obtaining abortions are poor or low-income, and six in 10 are already mothers.

The authors found no evidence of women using abortion as their primary method of family planning. The majority of women having abortions were using contraceptives when they became pregnant, regardless of whether it was their first abortion or they had already had a prior abortion. In fact, women obtaining second and higher-order abortions were slightly more likely to have been using a highly effective hormonal method (such as the pill, the patch or the ring) when they became pregnant. These patterns suggest that most women who have abortions are trying to avoid unintended pregnancies but are having trouble doing so.

The time when a woman seeks an abortion is an opportunity to offer family planning services and counseling to help her prevent another unintended pregnancy. Yet a quarter of a century of government policies at the state, federal and international levels have impeded this process. For example, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania require strict separation between organizations providing state-funded family planning services and organizations providing abortion-related services. At the federal level, Title X–funded family planning programs must 
be “separate and distinguishable” from abortion-related activities. And in developing countries, clinics or hospitals where abortions are provided are prohibited from receiving U.S. assistance for any postabortion contraceptive services and counseling.

“The ‘wall of separation’ that the federal government has erected between family planning and abortion services is, paradoxically, leading to more abortions,” says Sharon Camp, Guttmacher president and CEO. “While intended to distance publicly-funded family planning clinics from abortion services, an unintended consequence is that it is getting in the way of abortion providers’ ability to facilitate women’s access back to family planning clinics. These policies interfere with the ability of abortion providers to ensure that, following an abortion, every woman has an appropriate contraceptive method and is able to use it consistently. And it is poor and low-income women in this country—those who have the highest rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion—as well as women in the world’s poorest countries, who are paying the price. We’re failing to prevent abortions because we’re letting down women in the greatest need.”

Click here for the full report Repeat Abortion in the United States.

For more information about this issue or about the Guttmacher Institute, please contact Rebecca Wind at 212-248-1953 or mediaworks@guttmacher.org.

famous anonymous

Hey, our blog is famous! Well, sort of. Some excerpts of this blog are appearing in a new book on abortion politics called Abortion Under Attack: Women on the Challenges Facing Choice edited by Krista Jacob with an introduction by Rebecca Walker. It will be released on amazon.com October 28, 2006, with an advanced discount, no less.

We submitted to this anthology because the editor, and publisher--Seal Press-- was working hard to collect new perspectives on what it means to be pro choice in this time. We felt strongly that if the abortion experience were not represented--albeit from a provider perspective--it would be a great loss to anyone hoping to understand abortion in today's context. It strikes me that there are still too few women speaking out about their abortion experience and still not enough safe places to speak the full range of experiences and feelings. I liked the Ms. Magazine "I Had an Abortion" petition, but it was just the shock value, not the detail rich stories. And there are talklines, notably Backline (yourbackline.org) and Exhale (4exhale.org) but that is not a public venue that we all get to listen to and take away information. So, until there is more safe opportunities and a kinder, gentler political environment, our patient stories will have to stand in for the hundreds of thousands of stories that don't get heard.

Buy the book. There's other great stuff in it.

--bon