Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
It’s been more than a year since Roe v. Wade was struck down, and abortion rights are clearly in a dire crisis. Fifteen states have total abortion bans in effect, and two others have six-week bans. Most of the Southeast and Midwest are now abortion deserts, and pregnant people are forced to travel hundreds, even thousands of miles to access abortion care.
I’ve watched the escalating attacks on abortion rights with a mix of horror and outrage. I’ve had more than one abortion in my life, and for a variety of reasons—because I was too young to have kids, or not in a stable relationship, or as a result of illness and complications early on. Each time I made that decision, I was sure it was the right one for me, and I was fortunate to have access to the care that I needed. I’m not ashamed of my abortions—I’m grateful.
Pregnancy is not always the magical miracle that antis would have you believe. It’s a complicated, messy, often dangerous medical reality that can have any multitude of consequences for a person’s life and health. I’ve been an abortion rights activist for years; I co-founded A is For, a non-profit organization that works to advance reproductive rights and eradicate abortion stigma, more than a decade ago. Now, in the tragedy that is post-Roe America, we are seeing the real-world costs of restricting and banning abortion. I’ve been steadfastly dedicated to this fight since I was a teenager because I know that without abortion access, bodily autonomy is a fiction.