Six Innovative Projects Chosen for 2020

The Abortion Conversation Projects (ACP) has chosen six new projects that are experimenting with strategies to address the stigma surrounding abortion. “We want to invest in innovative grassroots projects that engage people in conversation about abortion,” says Peg Johnston, Chair of ACP.  The organization has now funded 73 Projects and offers support and expertise to both Grant Partners and applicants.

“Committed Citizen” is a new play in development by Abbe Tanenbaum. It centers around personal agency. The heart and inspiration for the piece are real letters written by women, pre-Roe and shortly after, seeking abortions from an underground clinic in New York. The international workshop will connect Three’s Theatre Company in Belfast, Northern Ireland and PACA in Erie PA. “The context of further developing the piece with actors in a country that has recently legalized abortion and those in an underserved city in the U.S. is extremely exciting to me,” explains Tanenbaum. “Powerful storytelling is one of the best tools to transform people’s understandings and facilitate compassion.” The performance on September 13, 2020 will be open to the public via zoom and be followed by a talkback. (For tickets, which can be free or with a donation go here.)

  “Vicenas Feministas” is an ambitious project involving reproductive rights groups throughout Latin America. According to Andrea Verceros, “Each Latin American country is in a different stage of opening up access to abortion services and we want our messaging to be coordinated. The twelve organizations collaborating point out that “There is a danger that we will inadvertently stigmatize in debating the half measures offered.” The project will bring together leaders from nine countries to have talking points that all can embrace.

            “Artivism” at Hartford GYN Center seeks to collaborate with patients and supporters in developing engaging artistic expressions, which will stand in stark contrast to the targeted harassment that has plagued Connecticut’s sole independent abortion provider for years. An installation of moveable panels with interactive components will welcome staff and patients into a beautiful and affirming space, while creating a constantly evolving mural that will generate conversations about abortion and breakdown stigma in unexpected places.

            “The Choice: VR” is the amazing project of Joanne Aśka Popińska and her partner Tom C. Hall, who have filmed in Virtual Reality 6 people sharing their abortion stories. “Storytelling in VR is moving, memorable, and very effective in breaking down stereotypes, as it can resemble having an actual conversation,” she explains.  Although this is a long and expensive project, ACP has been supportive of this innovation and hope to help them finish the editing so that these stories can be available. The team is currently working on releasing the first interview as the stand alone chapter that will be available to the audience. With this material, they will then seek resources to complete the full-scope project. 

Telling Truer Stories: Music Album aims to continue the success of Telling Truer Stories (An Anthology for Safe and Legal Abortion), by putting stories to music. Tentatively titled "Pasya" or “Choice,” it features the musical collaboration of artists with abortion storytellers in the Philippines “to move the topic of abortion out of the stigmatized horror genre it’s been caged in for decades, and deliver it to listeners in an audio experience that is fun, liberating, and ultimately, more realistic,” according to Kristine Chan.

In addition, ACP is working with Viva Ruiz of “Thank God for Abortion” to validate that religious people can affirm abortion and women’s autonomy. According to Ruiz, a performance and installation artist, “I believe God wants us to be happy. My faith is joyful and celebrates women’s lives.”

                        The Abortion Conversation Projects is committed to eliminating the stigma of abortion by supporting individuals and small groups engaged in innovative community-based projects that create new ways and opportunities to talk about abortion honestly and publicly. It has awarded 73 Grant Partnerships since the program started in 2012.  ACP fundraises approximately $12,000 each year to pay for seed grants and expenses. The ACP Board also offers consultations with people working on abortion stigma. For more information and to join the mailing list, consult ACP’s website at www.AbortionConversationProjects.org  or the Facebook page.

Black Lives Matter

All of us on the ACP Board have been encouraged about the tremendous changes brought about by the people of the Black Lives Matter movement who have enlivened every community in the U.S. In our conversations with each other and our friends, we found that the personal stories were the most compelling. Knowing people personally or hearing stories told at rallies and in the media brings home the pervasive racism and violence that Black people endure. This threat of violence is insidious and affects children and how parents must try to instruct and protect them. We have been re-telling stories that move us to deepen others' understanding, increase our empathy, and embrace the changes that Black Lives Matter stand for. 

We realize our strategies about change at ACP are also about conversation and the power of story-telling.  We encourage everyone, but especially white people, to listen to the extraordinary, and the everyday, injustices that Black people experience. We encourage the re-telling of those stories so that others understand the urgency of this historical moment. National polls are recording the shift in public opinion which is grounds for hope and we believe that the protests and conversations must continue until there are not only real changes in policy and practice, but also in attitudes.

Ultimately, a cultural shift has been underway on many fronts for a long time, with some successes and many backlashes. The forces that support both White Supremacy and the Radical Right are powerful and every step forward brings actual and rhetorical assaults. Those of us in the abortion world understand this trajectory all too well. More people favor abortion rights and the harm of abortion stigma and yet the number of laws enacted against access to abortion is unprecedented.

 The death of George Floyd, and the many deaths of Black people before him, have revealed the racist underbelly of the police, governments at all levels, and among segments of our communities. These revelations make room for change, hopefully enough changing of hearts and minds to create a cultural shift. Black Lives Matter has accelerated change. This work needs steady pressure and commitment to the long haul. We all need to be prepared for more backlash and not back down. Everyone who wants a better world, free of prejudice and stigma, needs to add their strength to move this change forward.

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Thurston's Vision: De-Stigmatizing More Than One Abortion

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The following is a speech awarding our Vision award to Karen Thurston March 2, 2020 at the Abortion Care Network Conference in Louisville KY.

The 2020 ACP Vision Award this year goes to a person whose singular commitment to eradicating stigma led her to an insight about a single missing letter—not even a word, but a letter. I am, of course, referring to Karen Thurston whose latest campaign is so simple, yet so far reaching in its impact: to add an “s” to the word abortion, so that those who have had more than one abortion would know that they are completely normal. For instance, instead of saying “women who have had an abortion,” say, “women who have abortions." We all know the power of language in our work and once again, we are invited to examine how we can lift up people instead of inadvertently stigmatizing them. 

This is not Karen’s first contribution to abortion stigma busting. Since 2014, she has been sharing her own abortion and stigma stories in a range of public venues, including in an essay published in The Sea Change Program’s Untold Stories project. She also wrote and narrated the Sea Change video What Happened When I Talked About My Abortions, which won an ACN award in 2015. Karen has recorded her story on The Abortion Diary Podcast, and was featured in an MSNBC.com documentary about the podcast in 2015.

She took part in the on-line abortion speak out hosted by the Advocates for Youth 1 in 3 Campaign.  She is a former Board member of the Abortion Conversation Projects, a clinic escort, and volunteered with the ARC-South East abortion fund. A former newspaper, freelance writer and school teacher, Karen holds a Master of Arts in Journalism.

Karen’s most recent silence breaking campaign is on the website 2 plus abortions.com and also contains an international storytelling project directory.  She has engaged the abortion care community worldwide to eradicate stigma-inducing language by “adding an ‘s’ to the word abortion. The Abortion Conversation Project is proud to partner with her and have created “This is not my first abortion” posters and handouts, which are free to clinics.

As an individual woman telling her story, Karen has unleashed her power to create change. Adrienne Rich reminds us “Women have often felt insane when cleaving to the truth of our experience. Our future depends on the sanity of each of us, and we have a profound stake, beyond the personal, in the project of describing our reality as candidly and fully as we can to each other… When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her."

Karen accepted the award remotely, with these words: “Thank you from my deepest heart for this beautiful award. I wish I could give a piece of this beautiful award to each and every person who has helped me learn and grow on this journey, because so very many people with intense dedication have educated, inspired and influenced me. 

 All of you at ACP have been the innovators and world-changers. You all have remained steadfast in your belief in the power of one, the power of small groups, the power of everyday people to transform the way the whole world talks and feels about abortion. 

 The progress in reducing stigma that traces directly back to all of you is incalculable! That's been the real honor for me -- joining along with you and being part of the grassroots stigma-fighting movement that you all have fueled for so long with your own amazing dedication.

 Thank you to everyone who provides and advocates for abortion care. The biggest honor and privilege is to wake up each day to fight along side you for a future with no stigma and no barriers.”

Abortion Stigma Busting in Virtual Reality: Change That is Already Happening

Reproductive freedom is under constant attack - we all know that, and we take all measures to repel this attack. Many of us do the grass-roots work, by talking to people, spreading scientific information, and busting myths and stereotypes.

Artists and filmmakers have made many films dealing with the topic of abortion, both fictitious and documentary. And now Joanne-Aśka Popińska is using new virtual reality technology to let people tell their stories of abortion experiences in The Choice VR.

At the Abortion Conversation Projects, we hear from all kinds of people who are using their creativity to shift stigma and Joanne’s vision caught our attention. We have followed her progress over the last couple of years and have been impressed with the impact of this technology. Says Popińska, “For my project, I interview women who have had abortions, and they share their stories for the first time in Virtual Reality. This approach creates a very natural feeling of talking to a friend, someone we know, not an activist or “professional” advocate.”

The filmmakers presented The Choice VR at various conferences, meeting with both very enthusiastic reactions, but also with criticism from some anti-choice audience. They then invited this audience to try the demo version of the project, and the reaction was surprising even for them. Listen to their experience with VR testimonies:

One of very openly anti-choice VR developers, initially commenting in a very loud manner and making sure that the whole room heard his opinion, suggested that we should film a fetus being dismembered in VR - giving people a “true picture of what abortion is.” After 20 minutes of rage on “defending life,” he put the headset on, to hear the story of Elizabeth, a homeless girl living on Toronto streets. When he finished, we quietly waited for another rage, and it was a great surprise to hear him saying: “Wow, this is something, truly… Congratulations, this is important!” And at another event, a few months later, we heard him praising our work, saying how important it is.

Another similar situation happened at a conference in Poland, a very conservative country with a very large Catholic influence that in recent years has been growing. Popińska presented The Choice at a Women’s Rights Conference there, and again one of the audience members raised some doubts about abortion, portraying it as bad politics initiated to annihilate the Polish nation, and expressing some other questionable opinions. So, again, he was invited to put the headset on and meet one of the storytellers. When he finished, he was silent for a while, and then he said: “OK. She made me reconsider…”.

According to Popińska, “The change is happening so quickly because it is often the first opportunity for those people to actually listen to a person who had an abortion. Virtual Reality is incredibly powerful in making us feel present in this conversation, making us feel that it is happening, instead of watching or reading some distant story. It is incredibly powerful for everyone, but especially for people who have never had an opportunity of talking about abortion with a person who had it. And this personal conversation leads to empathy - so much needed if we want to respect each other's choices.”

Popińska is a Polish Canadian who is now going to film in Austin, Texas in March. She is looking for some help, both with securing the interviewees and with financing it.

Her goal is to address various stereotypes surrounding abortion, as well to show the different obstacles women face when deciding to terminate their pregnancy: state barriers, financial limitations, but also stigma, isolation, and personal feelings. This varies, depending on one’s socio-economic, cultural, ethical background. Says Joanne-Aśka Popińska, “I would love the interviews to show this variety of potential challenges.”

As she is an independent filmmaker, financing the work herself, she is also looking for potential partners and collaborators, as well as organizations that could help with financing her work.
To be able to film the interviews in Austin in March, check out her fundraising campaign on GoFundMe. Help spread the word and donate if you can to bring Virtual Reality to bust abortion stigma.

Report from Reproaction on Starting Conversation During Protests

This project received a Seed Support Grant from Abortion Conversation Projects to reduce abortion stigma.

“Abortion Conversation Projects gave us funding that allowed us to print bold, positive, abortion-forward T-shirts that we use to motivate and draw activists together as we protest abortion opponents. We were pleased and grateful for this opportunity.”

–Erin Matson, ReproAction

Reproaction has a deep commitment to direct action, and we fully believe in its ability to make real, long-lasting change. Direct action is a meaningful way to build community, spread information, and challenge abortion opponents. If you want to stand up for abortion access and shine a light on ‘pro-life’ hypocrisy, you should protest outside of your local fake clinic.

You may remember anti-abortion fake clinics from when they took center stage during the Supreme Court case, NIFLA v. Becerra. ‘Crisis pregnancy centers’ are anti-abortion centers that, despite marketing themselves as real reproductive health centers, exist to deter women and people from seeking abortion care. There are roughly 2,700 fake clinics in the United States, outnumbering real abortion clinics. Despite many fake clinics presenting themselves as innocuous low budget operations, anti-abortion fake clinics are often affiliated with larger networks that provide funding and resources.

Fake clinics are notorious for employing a variety of scare tactics, including giving people misinformation about how far along their pregnancy is, lying about what is involved in an abortion procedure, and shaming people for their sexual history. Unlike abortion clinics, fake clinics are unregulated in most states, and how they use their funds, some of which is taxpayer money, is often unknown.

In a narrow 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of fake clinics in June 2018. Despite the setback, activists have continued to spread the word about fake clinics through public education and direct action.

Reproaction activists spread the word about anti-abortion fake clinics in Virginia and Washington, D.C. Activists created flyers with information about fake clinics and resources for people seeking abortion care. In Fredericksburg, Virginia, Reproaction worked with University of Mary Washington students to organize a protest outside of a fake clinic that was known for preying on students at their campus. It didn’t take long for abortion opponents to notice and try to interact with the large group of activists outside. Much to our surprise, people in the neighborhood came out of their houses to talk to activists, learn more and support our action.

Taking direct action outside of a fake clinic is a great way to have conversations about abortion and access in your community. It also moves conflict with opposition from the doors of abortion clinics to their doors. At all of our actions, activists sported our new ‘pro-abortion, pro-family, pro-justice’ T-shirts designed to catch attention and boldly spread the message of support for abortion and reproductive justice. As this message encourages conversation, activists also successfully led conversations with members of the community about access to reproductive healthcare. Compiling community resources in an accessible format, such as a flyer, helped activists spread the word about where people can access real abortion care and find unbiased local resources for information about reproductive health.

As activists, it is our responsibility to ensure that people seeking abortion care can do so without fear, shame or intimidation. It is more important than ever that we mobilize for abortion access in this country and at the same time have conversations in your community.

Ready to learn more and take action?

• Identify anti-abortion fake clinics near you with Reproaction’s Fake Clinic Database!

• Learn more about the tactics fake clinics use with our Taking Bold Action Against Crisis Pregnancy Centers Toolkit!

• Spread the word about fake clinics with Reproaction’s Your Need-to-Know on Crisis Pregnancy Centers Fact Sheet.