Push to ‘ destigmatize’ abortion
Online project solicits testimonials, while clinic promotes spa- like environment
With its natural wood floors and plush upholstery, Carafem aims to feel more like a spa than a medical clinic. But the slick ads set to go up in public transit stations across the Washington region leave nothing to doubt: “Abortion. Yeah, we do that.”
The clinic, opening this week in Friendship Heights, Md., specializes in the abortion pill and will be unique for its advertising. Its unabashed approach also reflects a new push to destigmatize the nation’s most controversial medical procedure by talking about it openly and unapologetically.
Plagued by political setbacks in recent years, abortion- rights activists are now seeking to normalize abortion, to put a human face — and in some cases, even a positive spin — on the procedure.
In Los Angeles County, groups recently sent women door to door in conservative neighbourhoods to talk about their abortion experiences in the hopes of changing minds. A series of Democratic lawmakers have publicly acknowledged to having undergone the procedure. And new online projects solicit personal testimonials, including from women who have no regrets about terminating their pregnancies.
At Carafem, staff members plan to greet clients with warm tea, comfortable robes and a matterof- fact attitude.
“We don’t want to talk in hushed tones,” said Carafem president Christopher Purdy. “We use the A- word.”
The campaign comes as the abortion- ri ghts movement i s struggling politically. Since 2010, states have enacted more than 200 laws restricting the procedure and dozens of clinics have shuttered. Groups on both sides agree that anti- abortion activists have the momentum, with a simpler message — “abortion kills” — and a gutlevel emotional appeal.
Even Americans who support abortion rights are often deeply conflicted about the procedure. Although a majority of Americans say abortion should be available in most cases, polls show roughly half of those surveyed also think abortion is morally wrong.
“Most people in this country do not think abortion is a good thing on its face, even if they deeply be- lieve it should be legal,” said Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, director of social policy and politics for Third Way.
Hatalsky praised efforts to “destigmatize” the procedure, which she said is attracting a passionate new crop of young activists to the movement. The effort to tell personal stories echoes a strategy successfully employed by the gayrights movement, she said, which helped change public opinion by coaxing people to come out of the closet to their friends, neighbours and colleagues.
Groups such as Planned Parenthood are trying to walk a fine line, appealing to these young activists while also remaining palatable to the majority of Americans who are conflicted, a group that Third Way refers to as “abortion greys.”
“We still do a lot of work with people who are less supportive of abortion, and one way we need to communicate is in a more empathetic framework that kind of says, ‘ Look, these are really complicated personal issues,’” Planned Parenthood spokesman Eric Ferrero said.
But “we also need to be unapologetic and bold,” Ferrero said, to connect with young people, whom he said have flocked to the 100- year- old organization. Since 2011, the number of college chapters has risen to 250 from 70.
Last year, Emily Letts, a 26- yearold actress and clinic counsellor, made waves after posting a YouTube video of her surgical abortion — filmed from the waist up.
“Not everyone is sad about their abortion,” Letts said. “We need to hear the full range of stories, and the positive stories are not being conveyed appropriately.”
Some mainstream abortionrights supporters have also turned to jaw- dropping tactics. Last week, Ohio Rep. Teresa Fedor, a Demo- crat, revealed her decision to terminate a pregnancy that resulted from rape. She delivered an emotional speech on the Ohio House floor during debate over a proposal to ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Fedor is among an estimated one in three American women who will have an abortion by the time they turn 45, according to a 2011 study by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights think- tank.
Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, a prominent anti- abortion group, said she thinks people will be “disgusted” by Carafem, the spa- like abortion clinic.
“Abortion is not pleasant,” she said, “and trying to put pretty wrappings around the procedure isn’t going to make any difference.”
Because Carafem will offer only the abortion pill, not vacuum aspiration or other surgical proce- dures, prospective clients must be no more than 10 weeks’ pregnant. ( Roughly two- thirds of all abortions occur in the first eight weeks of pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher study.)
After receiving counselling and some basic tests, Carafem clients will take an initial pill at the clinic. Purdy’s team expects to get them in and out quickly, within about 60 minutes. They will be sent home with a second set of pills to take the next day. The second dose induces the abortion, which resembles a miscarriage, typically within six hours.
By offering only pharmaceutical abortions, Purdy says, he can avoid purchasing expensive surgical equipment and keep prices low for clients. The average pharmaceutical abortion cost about $ 500 in the United States in 2011, Guttmacher figures show; Purdy plans to charge about $ 400.