Liberating abortion, p.46
Liberating Abortion, page 46
Ellington Taylor D., Jacqueline W Miller, S. Jane Henley, Reda J. Wilson, Manxia Wu, and Lisa C. Richardson. “Trends in Breast Cancer Incidence, by Race, Ethnicity, and Age Among Women Aged ≥20 Years—United States, 1999–2018.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reporter 71, no. 2 (2022): 43–47. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35025856/.
Evans, Jonathan, Neha Sahgal, Ariana Monique Salazar, Kelsey Jo Starr, and Manolo Corichi. “How Indians View Gender Roles in Families and Society.” Pew Research Center, March 2, 2022. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/03/02/how-indians-view-gender-roles-in-families-and-society/.
“Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Programs: Harmful and Ineffective.” Guttmacher Institute, May 2021. https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/abstinence-only-programs.
History of Sex Education. SIECUS, March 8, 2021. https://siecus.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-SIECUS-History-of-Sex-Ed_Final.pdf.
Hu, Cathy. “What We Know About Intimate Partner Violence in Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities.” Urban Institute, May 31, 2018. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/what-we-know-about-intimate-partner-violence-asian-american-and-pacific-islander-communities.
Lee, Christine, Denise Yen Tran, Deanna Thoi, Melissa Chang, Lisa Wu, and Sang Leng Trieu. “Sex Education Among Asian American College Females: Who Is Teaching Them and What Is Being Taught.” Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 15, no. 2 (April 2013): 350–56. https://www.doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9668–5.
“M. Joycelyn Elders, Controversial Views on Sex Education.” Video. Interview by the National Visionary Leadership Project, March 17, 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bMk8oAyUiE
McCammon, Sarah. “Abstinence-Only Education Is Ineffective and Unethical, Report Argues.” NPR, August 23, 2017. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/08/23/545289168/abstinence-education-is-ineffective-and-unethical-report-argues.
McVean, Ada. “The American Plan to Win World War I: Incarcerate Promiscuous Women.” McGill Office for Science and Society, February 17, 2023. https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history/american-plan-win-world-war-ii-incarcerate-promiscuous-women.
Nelson, Kate. “Sacred Rites.” New Mexico Magazine, June 25, 2019. https://www.newmexicomagazine.org/blog/post/mescalero-rites/.
Pember, Mary Annette. “‘Honoring Our Monthly Moons’: Some Menstruation Rituals Give Indigenous Women Hope,” Rewire News Group, February 20, 2019. https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2019/02/20/monthly-moons-menstruation-rituals-indigenous-women/.
“The Puerto Rico Pill Trials.” American Experience. PBS. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-puerto-rico-pill-trials/.
Rodriguez, Michael A., and Robert Garcia. “First, Do No Harm: The US Sexually Transmitted Disease Experiments in Guatemala.” American Journal of Public Health 103, no. 12 (December 2013): 2122–26. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3828982/.
Sex Ed State Law and Policy Chart. SIECUS, July 2022. https://siecus.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2022-Sex-Ed-State-Law-and-Policy-Chart.pdf.
“State of the Period 2023.” Thinx, Inc. and PERIOD. Accessed March 7, 2024. https://period.org/uploads/2023-State-of-the-Period-Study.pdf.
Vargas, Theresa. “Birth Control Pill History.” Washington Post, May 9, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/05/09/guinea-pigs-or-pioneers-how-puerto-rican-women-were-used-to-test-the-birth-control-pill/.
Wexler, Tanya, dir. Hysteria. Amazon Prime Video: Sony Pictures Classics, 2011, https://www.amazon.com/Hysteria-Hugh-Dancy/dp/B009CPGQHA.
Chapter 10: Seeing Ourselves: Abortion On-Screen
Allport, Gordon W. The Nature of Prejudice. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co, 1954.
Azeem, Saleha, Biah Mustafa, Aman Salaam Ahmad, Sumara Rashid, Minaam Farooq, Tariq Rasheed. “Impact of Medical TV Shows on the Surgical Knowledge of Non-Healthcare Students of Lahore, Pakistan.” Advances in Medical Education and Practice 21, no. 13 (2022): 1341–1349. https://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S377808.
Bonavoglia, Angela. The Choices We Made: Twenty-Five Women and Men Speak Out About Abortion. New York: Random House, 1991.
Bracey Sherman, Renee. “Hollywood Rarely Tells the Truth About Abortion. ‘Little Woods’ Is Different.” Washington Post, April 23, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/23/hollywood-rarely-tells-truth-about-abortion-little-woods-is-different/.
Chow, Ronald, Jaclyn Viehweger, Kehinde Kazeem Kanmodi. “Many Hours of Watching Medical TV Shows Is Associated with Greater Medical Knowledge.” International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 33, no. 1 (September 2018): https://doi:10.1515/ijamh-2018-0026.
Condit, Celeste Michelle. Decoding Abortion Rhetoric: Communicating Social Change. Urbana and Chicago: Univ. of Illinois Press, 1990.
Conteh, Mankaprr. “It’s Quinta Brunson’s World and We’re All Just Laughing in It.” Rolling Stone, June 28, 2022. https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/quinta-brunson-abbott-elementary-interview-1367384/.
Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43, no. 6 (1991): 1241–1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039.
Fang, Marina. “Shonda Rhimes’ Shows Treated Abortion Matter-of-Factly When Few Shows Did.” HuffPost, June 15, 2022. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/shonda-rhimes-abortion-greys-anatomy-scandal_n_62a6b9a7e4b0cdccbe5214ba.
Flores, MJ. “Naya Rivera: Because You Told Your Abortion Story, I’m Telling Mine,” Rewire News Group, August 30, 2016. https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2016/08/30/naya-rivera-abortion-story-telling-mine/.
Gomez, Stephanie L., and Megan D. McFarlane. “‘It’s (Not) Handled’: Race, Gender, and Refraction in Scandal.” Feminist Media Studies 17, no. 3 (2017): 362–76. doi:10.1080/14680777.2016.1218352.
Greene, Bryan. “The Unmistakable Black Roots of ‘Sesame Street.’” Smithsonian Magazine, November 7, 2019. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unmistakable-black-roots-sesame-street-180973490/.
Guttmacher Institute. “Induced Abortion in the United States.” September 2019. https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states.
Harrington, Anne. “Psychiatry, Racism, and the Birth of ‘Sesame Street.’” Undark, May 17, 2019. https://undark.org/2019/05/17/psychiatry-racism-sesame-street/.
Herold, Stephanie, Natalie Morris, M. Antonia Biggs, Rosalyn Schroeder, Shelly Kaller, and Gretchen Sisson. “Abortion Pills on TV: An Exploratory Study of the Associations Between Abortion Plotline Viewership and Beliefs Regarding In-Clinic and Self-Managed Medication Abortion.” Contraception, February 29, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2024.110416.
Herold, Stephanie, and Gretchen Sisson, “You Can’t Tell This Story Without Abortion”: Television Creators on Narrative Intention and Development of Abortion Stories on Their Shows.” Communication, Culture and Critique, 16, no. 3 (September 2023): 190–197. https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcad016.
Herold, Stephanie, Gretchen Sisson, and Renee Bracey Sherman. “‘I Can’t Believe Your Mixed Ass Wasn’t on the Pill!’: Race and Abortion on American Scripted Television, 2008–2019.” Feminist Media Studies 22, no. 4 (December 7, 2020): 932–948. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2020.1856908.
Israel, Lee. Miss Tallulah Bankhead. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1972.
Jones, Rachel K., and Doris W. Chiu. “Characteristics of Abortion Patients in Protected and Restricted States Accessing Clinic-Based Care 12 Months Prior to the Elimination of the Federal Constitutional Right to Abortion in the United States.” Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 55, no. 2 (June 2023).
Lauzen, Dr. Martha M. “The Celluloid Ceiling: Employment of Behind-the-Scenes Women on Top Grossing U.S. Films in 2023.” Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, January 1, 2024. https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-Celluloid-Ceiling-Report.pdf.
Martins, Nicole, and Kristen Harrison. “Racial and Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Children’s Television Use and Self-Esteem: A Longitudinal Panel Study.” Communication Research 39, no. 3 (2012): 338–357. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650211401376.
Moreno, Rita. Rita Moreno: A Memoir. New York: Celebra, 2014.
“nobody came/cuz nobody knew”: Shame and Isolation in Ntozake Shange’s “abortion cycle #1,” College Language Association Journal 62, no. 1 (March 2019): pp. 22–40. https://doi.org/10.34042/claj.62.1.0022.
Ralph, Lauren J., Diana Greene Foster, Katrina Kimport, David Turok, Sarah C.M. Roberts. “Measuring Decisional Certainty Among Women Seeking Abortion,” Contraception 95, no. 3 (2017): 269–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2016.09.008.
Rivera, Naya (@NayaRivera), “Beautifully written ❤️ xo,” X, August 30, 2016, 3:27 PM, https://twitter.com/NayaRivera/status/770704561254174720.
Shabo, Vicki, and Stephanie Herold. “Re-Scripting Depictions of Abortion on Screen.” Better Life Lab at New America and Abortion Onscreen, October 19, 2023. https://www.newamerica.org/better-life-lab/briefs/re-scripting-depictions-of-abortion-on-screen/.
Shange, Ntozake. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. Scribner, 1997.
Sisson, Gretchen, and Stephanie Herold. “Abortion Onscreen.” Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, University of California, San Francisco. https://www.ansirh.org/research/ongoing/abortion-onscreen.
Sisson, Gretchen, and Brenly Rowland. “I Was Close to Death!”: Abortion and Medical Risk on American Television, 2005–2016.” Contraception 96, no. 1 (2017): 25–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2017.03.010.
Sisson, Gretchen, Nathan Walter, Stephanie Herold, and John J. Brooks. “Prime-Time Abortion on Grey’s Anatomy: What Do US Viewers Learn From Fictional Portrayals of Abortion on Television?” Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 53, no. 1–2 (2021): 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1363/psrh.12183.
UCLA Social Sciences. “The Hollywood Diversity Report 2020, Part 2: Television,” October 22, 2020. https://socialsciences.ucla.edu/hollywood-diversity-report-2020/.
Warner, Kristen J. “The Racial Logic of Grey’s Anatomy: Shonda Rhimes and Her ‘Post-Civil Rights, Post-Feminist’ Series.” Television & New Media, 16, no. 7 (2015): 631–647. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476414550529.
Washington, Kerry. Thicker Than Water: A Memoir. New York: Little, Brown Spark, 2023.
Weingarten, Karen. Abortion in the American Imagination Before Life and Choice, 1880–1940. Rutgers University Press, 2014.
The Writers Guild of America West. “Inclusion & Equity Report 2022.” April 7, 2022. https://www.wga.org/uploadedfiles/the-guild/inclusion-and-equity/Inclusion-Report-2022.pdf.
Chapter 11: What to Expect When You’re Expecting an Abortion
Henkel, Andrea, Sarah A. Johnson, Matthew F. Reeves, Erica P. Cahill, Paul D. Blumenthal, Kate A. Shaw. “Cabergoline for Lactation Inhibition After Second-Trimester Abortion or Pregnancy Loss: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Obstetrics and Gynecology 141, no. 6 (2023): 1115–1123. https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000005190.
“State Funding of Abortions Under Medicaid,” KFF, accessed May 6, 2024, https://www.kff.org/medicaid/state-indicator/abortion-under-medicaid/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D.
Chapter 12: Affirmations for People Who Will Have Abortions
Rea-Tucker, Becca. Baking by Feel: Recipes to Sort Out Your Emotions (Whatever They Are Today!). New York: Harper, 2022.
About the Authors
RENEE BRACEY SHERMAN is a reproductive justice activist, abortion storyteller, and writer. She is the founder and coexecutive director of We Testify, an organization dedicated to the leadership and representation of people who have abortions and share their stories at the intersection of race, class, and gender identity. She is also an executive producer of Ours to Tell, an award-winning documentary elevating the voices of people who’ve had abortions, and cohost of The A Files: A Secret History of Abortion, a podcast from The Meteor. She lives in Washington, DC.
REGINA MAHONE is a writer and editor whose work explores the intersections between race, class, and reproductive rights. As a senior editor at The Nation magazine, she edits articles on a range of topics, including national politics, and runs Repro Nation, a monthly newsletter about global efforts to protect reproductive freedom. She and her coauthor, We Testify Founder and Executive Director Renee Bracey Sherman, are cohosts of the podcast The A Files: A Secret History of Abortion from The Meteor. Regina has written for publications including Cosmopolitan, Elle, Rewire News Group, Romper, The Nation, and Truthout. She lives in New Jersey with her partner and two children.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Praise for Liberating Abortion
“Liberating Abortion is an unabashed defense of abortion as an essential part of reproductive justice, inextricably tied to our right to parent on our own terms. Based on compelling stories of people of color who had and advocate for abortions, Bracey Sherman and Mahone contest the racist, sexist, and unscientific myths that stigmatize abortion, and they issue a no-holds-barred manifesto for abortion care—for anyone, anywhere, at any time, and for any reason. This book is the rebellious call for reproductive freedom we need right now.”
—Dorothy Roberts, author of Killing the Black Body and Torn Apart
“In a deeply consequential moment in our struggle for abortion justice, our Liberating Abortion storytellers, Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone, meet the moment with powerful insight and testimonials. Abortion care is health care. And together, we will work to build a nation where anyone who seeks abortion care can receive that care with dignity and support.”
—Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley
“Part manifesto, history lesson, and urgent call to action, Liberating Abortion is a powerful and razor-sharp road map to a just, liberated future where abortion is for all.”
—Karlie Kloss, model, entrepreneur, and advocate
“To read this book is to be invited into a conversation with Black and Brown activists, artists, leaders, scholars, people who have had abortions, and people who have unapologetically provided this essential care throughout history. Liberating Abortion skillfully weaves together personal stories, political analysis, and practical advice to tell a story that’s both unflinchingly candid and fiercely hopeful. In writing the book they wish they’d had, Renee and Regina have given a gift to future generations.”
—Cecile Richards, author of Make Trouble
“Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone do the urgent work of mapping out history that many of us have never been taught, weaving in representational, familial, religious, racial, and sexual analysis that is in turns surprising, enraging, and hopeful. Centering voices who have too often been silenced, Liberating Abortion provides a generously corrective view of our past and a compassionate glimpse of what a freer and more collective future might look like.”
—Rebecca Traister, New York Times bestselling author of Good and Mad and All the Single Ladies
“A visionary must read for people who have abortions and the people who love us. Using intersectional framework of reproductive justice, this book combines comprehensive structural-level analysis with a wealth of abortion stories told with unwavering care and respect. It is a balm against abortion stigma, and an antidote to white supremacist myth-making that ignores the vast wisdom and myriad experiences of the majority of people who have abortions. By centering Black and Brown people, Liberating Abortion replaces false histories and offers a clear vision for what people who have abortions should and can have, instead of what we can’t.”
—Becca Rea-Tucker, abortion storyteller, author of Baking by Feel, and creator of @TheSweetFeminist
“Liberating Abortion combines experience and history, research and personal narrative. It gives its readers an honest understanding of human nature and leaves us hopeful. A must read.”
—Molly Jong-Fast, author, special correspondent for MSNBC and Vanity Fair, and host of Fast Politics
“Liberating Abortion is a path-breaking book and a work that we most need now. With great sensitivity, depth, and compassion, Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone do the finest storytelling by lifting up voices of those seldom heard. They are masterful. In doing so, they are building the future of reproductive justice by reframing the cultural narrative and setting forth a new agenda. In the process, they are reclaiming history and reigniting the power of storytelling.”
—Michele Goodwin, author of Policing the Womb
“Prescient and beautifully written, this is the book we need at just the right time. Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone have created an accessible text that addresses the void often created by the pro-choice movement. This book is a primer on abortion and reproductive justice, a sex education manual, and history book all in one. This remarkable book is one of a kind and should be on your reading list.”
—Alicia Gutierrez-Romine, PhD, author of From Back Alley to the Border
“In a crowded field of books about abortion after Roe, Liberating Abortion offers something totally new. Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone tell the whole history of abortion and reveal the racism behind antiabortion, and even pro-choice, political movements. The experiences and contributions of Black women and other people of color haven’t been fully recognized and appreciated until now.”
—Dr. Diana Greene Foster, author The Turnaway Study
“Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone have given us a beautiful, and crucial, history of abortion, told through the stories of Black women and people of color. By honoring the abortion experiences of Black and Brown folks, Liberating Abortion also serves as a glaring reminder that the predominant abortion experience we have been taught is from a white, often privileged, perspective. By giving us this rich history, this book offers the education and compassion we desperately need to achieve true reproductive justice.”
