Judith from the Emma Goldman Clinic, a non-profit feminist health clinic in Iowa City, emailed me about a project they’re undertaking. They are looking for women who have faced financial barriers while seeking an abortion in Iowa to share their stories. The stories will then be used towards work on a project that could result in greater financial access to abortion for women in the state. You can choose to tell your story anonymously or publicly, and can find more information here. Consider taking part if you’ve had this experience, or passing it along if you know another woman who has.
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They are looking for women who have faced financial barriers while seeking an abortion
More specifically, if you go to the informational link, you’ll see that they’re seeking only women who successfully obtained an abortion despite the barriers. For some reason, they’re excluding the stories of women who underwent forced childbirth due to financial hardship. I don’t know why — it would seem that the most compelling stories would come from those women who suffered a complete lack of access.
Henrietta –
That’s my mistake, and I apologize for the lack of clarity! I realise now looking at those header questions that “have you sought an abortion in Iowa?” would have been more appropriate. We are certainly interested in the stories of those women who ended up giving birth due to the lack of financial support needed to have an abortion, as well as those who were able to terminate their pregnancy. I’ll see if I can fix that wording and have our IT person repost the graphic – thank you for pointing it out!
Judith –
Thank you for being so responsive. If the graphic could make a separate and specific plea for stories from those who suffered all the way through their unwanted pregnancies, that would be terrific. I’m sure it would provoke an outpouring of heart-breaking entries.
Not directly related to the project, which I’m lucky enough to have nothing to contribute to, but I just wanted to say that when I lived in Iowa I went to the Emma Goldman Clinic several times for birth control and gyn care and they’re wonderful! Definitely the best and most compassionate gynecologic care I have seen anywhere.
It might also be a good idea to solicit stories from grandparents who are being forced to raise unplanned grandchildren after their daughters were financially compelled to give birth. Studies show that unplanned surrogate parenting is emotionally and physically draining. The generation gap is larger than between parent and child, questions regarding legal rights can cause complications, and the burden often leads to the abandoment of leisure and retirement pursuits.
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