Shout Your Abortion isn’t trying to be ‘woke,’ these women say. They’re trying to expand perception

When Planned Parenthood came under attack in 2014 for providing abortions, plenty of people came to the organization's defense by pointing out the wide range of healthcare offered by its clinics.

But at that same time, Seattleite Amelia Bonow says she wasn't hearing anyone defending the organization because it offered abortions. So Bonow made a Facebook post that went viral, courtesy of a hashtag added by Lindy West: #ShoutYourAbortion.

Shout your Abortion Full length conversation between Amelia Bonow, Alana Edmonson, and Bill Radke.



Read more: This coffee table book is not ashamed of its 43 abortion stories

The movement yielded a book co-edited by Bonow, which features an essay by student and reproductive rights activist Alana Edmonson. Both women joined Bill Radke in studio for a conversation at full volume. Transcript has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity . Bill Radke: Alana, was there a time when you had felt silenced about your abortion? Edmonson: Normally when I'm talking with family I could tell, initially, it felt like it was something that I was supposed to be silent about, and that we weren't supposed to talk about. Just kind of like like politics at the dinner table or something like that. But a little bit darker. We didn't all know why we weren't talking about it, we just knew that we weren't supposed to. So that kind of made me confused because I felt good about my abortion. I felt powerful and in control of my over my own body and my future. But I felt like I was being told to feel a different way, and that was confusing at first for sure.

Radke: Well, maybe some of our listeners are not used to hearing ‘I felt good’ or ‘I felt great about my abortion.’ What do you want listeners to know about your abortions? I know of two that you wrote about. Edmonson: Yeah, I did have two. Basically, I had my first one when I was 21 years old. My partner at the time was 30. I was in denial about being pregnant for a while, and then when I finally owned up to it and took a test and found out I was pregnant, I called him and he just yelled the F word into the phone and hung up on me. At the time I was letting go of my Christianity — I’m still spiritual, I’m just not Christian. But I had a lot of conflicting feelings. I felt that to have an abortion would be denying something the right to live. But at the same time I didn't feel like I was ending a human life. So I explored actually all of my options. I considered adoption. One of my older sisters offered to raise the child herself. And I ended up in a crisis pregnancy center (CPC) also — that was confusing. Going to a place for help, to discuss all of my options, and then leaving with baby booties and a baby blanket… Radke: These are places that have no intention of assisting you toward your abortion at all.

Bonow: They’re fake abortion clinics which target pregnant people who don't know what their options are. And they're often like signs on public transportation and places like that but just say like pregnant need help free ultrasound free pregnancy testing here. The implication of course is that a person will be able to see and hear like about all of their options. But in reality, their sole purpose is to persuade people out of having abortions using a litany of misinformation and of psychological manipulation. CPC’s will tell folks that they are further along [in their pregnancy] than they are and that they won't be able to access abortion at the point in their pregnancy that they are even if that's not true. It's just a trick. In many states, these CPC’s are federally funded. There are tons of states where there are way more CPCS than clinics. I would say probably most or are all states, I think. Radke: What happened next? Edmonson: I figured out that if I carried a baby to term, I would not be able to give it away. I would end up having it and I would keep it.

Radke: You decided that for yourself? Edmonson: Yeah. I knew that if I gave birth to a child, I was taking it home with me. I’m a black woman — I have so many odds against me and I don’t need a baby on top of that. I already have so many struggles just to achieve the success that I want, or that I’ve seen for myself, that I know that I can have. It didn’t seem like an obstacle I needed at the time. There’s already so much to deal with. I don’t need to also be a mother before I’m ready to. So I chose to get an abortion. I went to the Planned Parenthood on Madison [in Seattle], which is also my doctor’s office, and I had a hard time the night before. But by the time I woke up, I felt so resolute, so calm and ready. The experience was really positive. It didn’t hurt. I didn’t feel any negativity. I was grateful that I had access and the means — abortions aren’t cheap — to control my future and to steer it where I want it to go. Read more: I don't regret my abortion. But I wish there had been another way

Credit: Shout Your Abortion/Elizabeth Rudge