An Abortion Story (FBF)
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I'm currently on my way to a preferred women's health center where women in charlie, north CarOlina, get abortions. It's a saturday. So the clinic is probably gonna be pretty busy.

Saturday also is probably went. A lot of protesters will be here. There's one episode of called her daddy that people should watch and listen to. It's this one.

in.

Woman's constitutional right to .

puts every single one of us in danger.

再次 起飞。 Did you choose right? You need.

Did you choose right? There's the all to stand down there. Just get part there to the.

Not going to find health. You're not going to find joy or his or any.

Ticked that are driving you, that bringing you into this building one.

There are a volunteer with the planet. yeah.

Sound sound of murder.

I want to to start off by having you introduced yourself.

I'm halhed ls. I am an executive to ever preferred my heth center. And this is my night fear being here.

So your parents started this clinic. yes. In what ways has your clinic been impacted by the of return of roadway?

This is easily the most desperate i've ever received patients, which is very frustrating. However, like we do focus on the fact that we are still helping patients live their best lives .

because like as the outsider just coming in and seeing the protesters immediately, like, holy shit.

this is hell and this is like an easy day. Once you get here in your driving to the clinic, you're driving passes folks who are calling themselves pregNancy councilors, but they are not with the clinic and they are specifically trying to stop patients to explain to them why they shouldn't have an abortion or what they can do. Instead, you're seeing these patients and their companions come in, and you start hearing people yelling at you.

And being leg, you're murdered. You, a slight moto, kill your baby. There are so loud that you can hear through the toys and through the walls. And IT is traumatic ing. One of the worst and most cultural feelings to have is when a patient comes in and like, is so destroyed, so upset, and you ask him what's wrong and they are like, and we're gonna die. Like, honey, why did you come in if you thought you're gna die and she's like, what I can have this baby. But the guy outside, I tells you that, like people to hear all the time, the fact that you felt like you are submit yourself to what you thought could be certain death .

is just .

so heartening.

Well, now that abortion laws can .

be determined by each state.

conservative amErica is tightening. Its great.

So we knew that .

the united a supreme court was gonna turn. Robi wade.

fuck. And I mean this with all disrespect in my heart. You twenty six days will ban abortion. You're talking about thirty six million women of reproduction age. I write to be thread and I came here because i'm hoping to not allow these government officials who think they have control over my body, to do what they're doing and take us back fifty years of .

fighting the day that the ruling came down, I had to immediately call up my staff and tell them to stop seeing patients. Because in alabama, we had a law that said that all abortion was illegal and anyone who was involved could be put in jail. I'm Robin marty.

I am Operation structure for west alabama, a women center. And until a few months ago, IT provided about half of the abortions in the state of obama. Now IT just does reproductive health care.

As we sit here today, how many states have made abortion illegal .

at this point? We have fortune states where there is no longer the abortion. Now that roby wade has been overturned, all of the states get to decide individually ly whether or not there will be legal abortion, and they don't have to have illegal in their state at all. A lot of times people think, okay, that means I have to go to the next day over in order to get abroad where i'm from in the south, in the gulf coast, there's no legal .

abortion anywhere. So is that when people are referring to like an abortion desert?

Yeah, an abortion desert means that you have hundreds of miles that you have to go through in order to bubble to access illegal clinic.

There have been bills in the number of states to ban common forms of birth control, not abortion, earth control. I think every woman in amErica needs to know this.

Should women be nervous and worried that birth control and plan b could potentially .

become illegal? So god, i'm so terrified of IT ama N A N Y contraction tion is going to be a banned. And we think this because right after the, right after the decision, there was a reporter who went through and asked all of the representatives whether they would consider ban an emergency contractor next.

The worst part was most of them responded, I don't really know what that is, but yeah, we're going to that sounds like a good thing to ban. I don't know how that works, but yeah, we should ban IT because that's what we're at. I don't know how IT works, but yes, let's get rid of IT.

Your baby car started beating in your room just below your own. If you can name by part about we, and if you on women's reproduction health care, you're not pro life for first. First, you are.

You are religion, not. And my jokes are you? We.

I drove up to the clinic while this protest is going on, and I I was shaking. It's fucking terrifying. There is so much shame.

As I was driving, a man just started streaming. Murderer, murderer. And a woman shopped her face, my car window.

And it's like, did you choose life?

Did you choose life?

Did you choose life? There is to all to and down there just got part there.

The shame that they're trying to inflict on these women, the confusion also of like how they make you feel. It's so overwhelming and it's I I cannot even imagine waking up in the morning to get an abortion and to have the fuck and deal with this full shit IT is it's in sense.

I am Christie Kelly my regular job is i'm a corporate account um and I have been volunteered ing and like some sphere reproductive justice for often on two .

ideas your job is escort and defender OK. So can you describe what those jobs do short?

So escorts job is to, you know, once the patients in the parking lot, you get them from their vehicle into the clinic door, in the whole point is just to shill them as much as possible, you know, to maintain their privacy, dignity and to try to shill them from, you know, a lot of the rhetoric. C and really nasty things.

Do the protesters ever provide misinformation to the patient?

A Better question would be, do they ever not provide misinformation? They try to say things that are not true, like, if you go in there, you will die and abortion is not say, and abortion is rediff ly say. IT is safer if you ever had a root canal or gotten your wish.

though you were in way more danger.

It's all care tactics. smash. yeah. Shame and fear is easiest thing to learn about, like the anti choice stop.

And all of that is not about babies. It's never, ever of that babies. It's about control.

We are having a comment .

and i'm trying .

to enlighten these nice boat, slight and need. About what .

you are you supporting .

the murder of children? How on? On the .

interstate and say.

I don't believe in mac truck .

one .

and so you are .

my god with a boss. I've always t yal course .

felt yal White man .

in quality of women and men.

Um I believe in equality of value. Yes, I believe in equality of function. Like literally, men and women have different functions with their, with their bodies, the bodies.

What is your goal when you shot to this place? Try to persuade .

people not to take the innocent lives of their children and all from alternative some.

Sue.

I, do you think of something? Is the man issue? Yes, men didn't take advantage of women and have sex with them outside of marriage. Then this wouldn't be a thing.

I think that would be helpful if men all at a Young age got the activities and then when they were ready to financial, be able to support a child, then they've get a reverse.

Are you suggesting that the government institute that as a, as a government program.

we're regulating the uteruses. We could also regulate the penises, right?

I mean, IT were .

force to have the kids.

I'm just asking .

you what you think that would help.

Um I don't know. I don't think you would be helpful for society.

I'm shane. I am the exec director of charcot for choice, which is a nonprofit that helps fend and equipage ents coming to the clinic.

What do you make of the term throw life?

I don't use IT because these folks are free. Life would be taking care of me. Children are born working with houseless population, helping others.

They don't. They also believe that you help yourself will give you everything you need up to two years of life. What the entire tell the patients.

We will give you a lavish baby shower for everything you need after two years. A lot. There's a little bit more about.

So let's think about this, R, V, because this is, this is crazy.

You know, you know, when your heart, that is a murder of your child, what is happening .

in the survey? What is the purpose of the R, V?

Have a free older sound and see your precious day.

Allegedly have an alter sound. Say they have a nurse that gives you ultra and and they try to get patient to come on.

The R, B, yeah, perhaps they give ulto sounds.

but what are doing that? They're trying to commit them as to why they need to continue .

the pregNancy.

They also use this opportunity to hopefully get the patients to not make their appointment, make their appointment time.

I can actually remember a time where an older sound from that puzzles accurate. I had folks come and say so they couldn't see anything like I was too early to be seen or you tell them they're far along to be seen to be again with there's there's real manipulation here is that really works to keep a patient from getting surfaces.

We don't take money for what we do. I don't watch you to have any other, but we have many choices, health for housing, food, a big baby shower for yourself that covers close to two years.

If you're going to tell someone we have resources for you, be honest about what those resources are. If you take resources of them, they make them sign this like really elorn contract. You have to give them access to going to medical appointments, to posting your image and your potential future child's image on social media.

They get to use you as a bargaining ship success story that's pretty gross. That's really, really exploitative. And there is a huge element of, we know White savior ism to IT two.

that is extra growth. IT does feel very relative.

right? Because they're going to say we have resources. We can do this this this business, they don't we look to those pampinea, they're the number to the local social services. It's how to apply for medicate, how to apply for food stamps, how is that helping someone?

Side that really you are not going to find hope.

We hear the religious right says that it's OK to do those kind of lies because it's for a good cause, it's for god.

And IT just terrifies me .

because when you feel every person who is for bodily autonomy is evil.

They don't believe people everything's .

justified. They believe that they are fighting the spiritual battle and we are the devil.

Yeah, how many of you come out here? I don't care how many times you come up here. People are gonna a, get abortion.

A port is still legal in north Carol, we are still free. You are whole White, the primacy, you are whole, the legacy of flavor. so.

How does religion play a part in the fight for women to have access to this type of health care?

Got, haven't come down. Their .

religion doesn't like women. When you look at all of the language in the decision that overturned robi wade, it's all hardening back to the fifteen and sixteen hundreds when women were possessions that were traded for cows and to make alliances. But they want people, they didn't have any control over their lives, and that's what they like.

They like the idea of women as possessions. They like the idea of women as something that they can move around and bend around, and i'll do whatever IT is if they want. And what Better way to do that than to have her exhausted and constantly pregnant?

Being able to control your own body gives you independence, and that's not something that they enjoy. That's not something they like. And apparently, it's not something that is part .

of their my .

name is .

Chris smith. My name's rona.

My names .

is nick. I'm a binary .

person. My name .

is jack. My pregnant.

I had abortion in taxes in two and seventeen.

The condom broke, I went to tt, a plan the that did not help. And when I found myself in that position, you know, the partner I had at the time, we had a really commodious and complicated relationship that was not healthy.

I was unemployed. I was just in a period of a lot of instability. I was living with a bunch of roommates. IT was like the worst time to find out I was pregnant.

I got pregnant just after my forty eighth birthday. Like many people who have abortions, I was already a mom at the time.

I have three kids, and last year and may found out that we were pregnant with our forth IT was unexpected, that we quickly got excited, and we found out I was a boy, and we named in case everything was perfect. And up until my twenty, we got her sad.

I knew from the moment that I saw the positive pregNancy test, I did not want to continue the pregnantly. I felt my heart sink to like the bottom of my stomach. And I I remember I was just crying, crying because .

I was afraid I knew him so that I couldn't watch case be born to struggle to breathe, to go through any type of pain, to just lay there and watch him dark. I just, I couldn't imagine. So as scheduled, I called the the clinic and D, C, and a scheduled .

an appointment for me. I was not a hard decision to have an abortion. I was already struggling to baLance work. And being a parent, I felt like my kids deserved one hundred percent of my attention.

I did have to face protesters on that day, and I made IT really hard, you know, IT honestly, was just really humiliating to have to listen to people scream about me and, you know, tell me i'm a bad person for making a medical decision that has nothing to do with them.

Having abortion is probable. One of the best things that ever happened, me having that access, is one of the best things that ever happening. IT gave me freedom.

IT gave me a life. I absolutely would not have been able to Carry that a turn. There is no way I would have survived that. I would have made sure I didn't survive that.

I do think about that pregNancy and think about what my life would have been like if I had added another child to our family at that point. And i'm very glad I made that decision.

I felt so relieved that I could finally move on with my life. I could finally heal. I wanted to graduate.

I wanted to study abroad. I wanted to do so many things. And because of my abortion, i'm now figuring those things out.

And IT changed my life for the Better.

Having the right to an abortion, having my abortion is saved my life. IT allowed me to become apparent when I was good and ready. Over a full decade later. IT meant that I could grow my family on my own terms according to my own timeline, with a PHD degree in hand and pursuing a career I care about deeply. I meant that I could live my life in the way that I knew was best for me.

They know who you are. Yes, you're pregnant. yes. Like, is that almost to them? Like, confusing. Like, oh, the woman that helping give abortion is pregnant now. Like, how do they treat you?

Some of them that really does radically fuck with their heads. Last time I was pregnant, I gave A, I gave birth during covin. And after I gave births, I at complications, my daughter complications.

And that information got out. And that LED to a lot of protesters being like this is, this is punishment. Your daughter going to die like this is gna be punishment for all those babies you killed. This is your carma. This is your retribution.

I used to take IT really personally, I don't as much anymore, just because of the fact that if you did, if you took you personally, like you would eat you life, and you think that's what they want, though they wanted eat you alive. They want you to quit. They want you to just make their lives easier.

You have been personally attacked because of the work you do.

Do you .

mind sharing what happen .

to and rally? So when I was still in rally, I had just got to school and move back down. And like most people who are new to area, you know, you make friends, you you go on dates and things like that. And unfortunately, when on date with someone who I thought was Normal and wasn't turned out to be a protester, who knew me and knew my family and knew what I did and had a lot of feelings about IT and in turn to get out on me, and I was attacked and assaulted.

你是谁？ Oh, no.

To save this way too many times.

I. I'm sad because I don't think people understand it's very hard. It's hard to be an open book. It's difficult to live life really publicly. And it's it's difficult when you know that there are people that want to cause you harm and cause is so unbelieved these brave and SHE just keeps coming back and he .

does IT over and over .

and over again.

Obviously, you're still working in this field, is very close to you and your family. But to have something happened to you like that, like how did you 没有 方案？

There is a certain level that you don't we've I will say that IT still comes up, a catches me off guard and so comes up. But obviously I was called of curing this conversation yeah because you log IT, you just log IT down and you keep moving. It's like that is a thing that happened and I have to not see patients who are in the exact situation too. So if I can use that to help them and understand them, one of the things that I do try to be kind of open about is and like I keep like rob and said, like I keep coming back and I keep being the open bucks because quite honestly, people need that and they .

need to know that they can talk about IT. We are not gonna be able to be.

I love in the church, I know the bible, I know the true love of jesus. Why do people they don't know of, they spread hate. They take his name in vain and spread a message of hate and discuss. And 回龙 没 吃饭， 回笼 比 别。

And they have submarine power over our body.

Our not prove their pro hypo cracks, pro birth and pro control. All they really care about is controlling and suppressing women.

Please let you know that this is our body that we want. We want. This is not exclusively .

a health care issue. IT has become IT is political. And in order to have autonomy over my own body, I need to get out there and vote. It's like, why do I have to vote to have control over my own body? How are we not progressed enough as a society where women have equal rights to men?

That's a fabulous question. How much should I get? I mean, everything about inequality, but also it's not just about women not being able to men.

It's about White, patriotic men who are terrified of the idea of losing power because when they grew up, they've always been the ones in charge. They have always been the ones likely to be running the board meetings. They're the ones that get call on the most class. They always been in charge.

So much of IT is about control, and that does take you back to the patriarchy. If you are not a sign mail at birth, you have less power in this country you used to do.

At some point, we're going to get to a place where people are going to have to chAllenge laws. And you chAllenged lize by breaking them is something that, quite Frankly, i'm doing at this moment by saying IT on a camera because I could get charged with conspiracy in my hometown ate of alabama. But everybody should have access to an abortion.

Everybody can get access to an abortion. And they can do that by accessing pills on mine. Every person can do that regardless at their state, by going to ate access stot org, ordering pills and having them.

Interesting the concept of breaking laws. And lets see, because if every single woman in america, if we all join together and we ve decide no, we're actually we do deserve abortion, is my fucking and body I going to do whatever .

the way there is an amazing protest where one hundred women got together abortion out in middle of public square. Um two of them we're actually doing actual pills. The rest of them we're taking thailand and or something nobody knew who was who and what was what. No one was arrested. That's a kind of ship we need to be doing.

What will happen when the government in alama sees this?

That's an excEllent question, and it's one that i'm ready for. At some point, you have to decide what you're willing to do in order to make change.

I don't think a lot of people understand what's going on, which is essentially a war against women. And our bodies coming here has opened my eyes, and I feel so grateful because there's never been a greater moment that daddy game can actually affect what's going on in the world, like we genuinely can make a difference and change.

And I hope this episode shows like this is us, this, we are the women that could potentially also be going through this one day. And so if we don't fight ourselves, who the fuck is going to? What would be? You're rally critical people in amErica that are listening to this in their dorms, at home, in their apartments, whatever they are listening. What would you say to them?

First off is fight. When you fight, you start building strength. When you start getting up, when you start getting my mental, when you start moving, you're getting ready to battle. And that that I hate to use that terminology, but that's that's what's going on. This is a very much a battle.

I know it's a broken system and that voting is such a hard thing in this country and so complicated, but it's a broken system we have. And to ignore IT just means downa faster.

The idea of hell had them fury like a woman. Scorn you just scorn a whole fucker nation of women, and they are coming for you. Like, that is the thing that gets me through every day is the thought of the reckoning.

I call IT the reckoning y in my head because, of course, idea. And it's going to be amazing. And I can't wait to watch IT. And your audience is who is going to change everything, because there are the ones who are going to be the most impacted by this. They are the first generation who is going to know what it's like to grow up without reproductive rights. That is going to have to face the idea that there are a bunch of men and power that think that they deserve less, that they don't deserve to have control over their bodies, that they don't deserve to have sex just for pleasure, like what good is a world without sex for pleasure? And they're gonna .

fight for IT.