It’s So Easy To Increase Compassion & Understanding

6 Free & Simple Ways to Fight Stigma

(1) We can take time to learn more about the complex situations that create accidental pregnancies.

Research shows that a majority of people who have abortions over their 35 long years of fertility become pregnant while using contraceptives, all of which have failure rates that compound over time.  Others have trouble accessing, affording, or physically tolerating contraception. For many, life events beyond their control affect their prevention efforts, such as intimate partner violence, job loss or a death in the family. Preventing pregnancies for 35 years of fertility is difficult. What this means is that abortions will always be necessary healthcare for people who have accidental pregnancies and we should do all we can to end the cruel stigma.

(2) We can stop saying “Repeat Abortion.”  Reproductive experiences do not repeat.

We do not use the word ‘repeat’ to describe any other aspect of reproduction. We don’t say that a person had a repeat pregnancy, a repeat miscarriage, or a repeat birth.  Each pregnancy and each outcome is a unique experience occurring in a different time and context. Abortions do not repeat.

What’s more, research shows that ‘repeat abortion’ sounds dangerously close to ‘repeat offender’ and makes people who have abortions feel they should have ‘learned their lesson’ even though they had been trying to prevent pregnancy.

(3) We can stop saying ‘Reduce Abortions” and instead say “Reduce Accidental Pregnancies.”

Accidental unwanted pregnancies lead to abortions, but also to other situations, including forced pregnancies and unwanted births. We want to advocate for reducing accidental pregnancies in a way that does not degrade the healthcare procedure that saves people in these situations.

We can work to prevent accidental pregnancies while also praising abortion providers and expressing gratitude for abortion healthcare. Otherwise, calling for ‘reducing abortions’ only increases the cruel stigma for a smaller number of people who will need the healthcare.

It’s exactly like how we talk about heart surgery. We strive to prevent heart disease — but at the same time we celebrate heart surgery, praise heart surgeons, and never shame and dehumanize people who need heart surgery. All reproductive healthcare is deserving of this mindset.

(4) We can say we are “Pro-Choice — Full Stop.” No other opinions are necessary. Even better — we can say we are “Pro-Abortion — Full Stop.”

Many people say, “I am against abortion but I believe in a woman’s right to choose.’ Or, “I would never have an abortion myself, but I am pro-choice for other people.” The truth is — roughly 100 percent of people who have abortions also say they felt that way, until they faced the very real situation of an accidental pregnancy.

While we are grateful to hear pro-choice support, these messages reinforce abortion stigma and feel like a slap in the face to people who’ve had abortions, who tend to hear this underlying message: “I would never do such an immoral thing as to have an abortion myself, but you go right ahead."

It’s so easy — and very kind and compassionate — to simply express support for abortion healthcare for all who need it and leave it at that. Because honestly — there are enough people in the world judging, shaming and shouting out their negative opinions about abortion healthcare and about people who provide and need abortions.

What’s even more important — many people do not have a choice when it comes to accessing abortion care. We know through people’s stories as well as research that Black people, Brown people, poor people and other marginalized people suffer most from the cruel barriers to abortions and all realms of reproductive and basic healthcare. Learn more about Reproductive Justice at SisterSong and check out the Declaration: Visioning New Futures for Reproductive Justice.

We are so grateful for people who have the humility and empathy to refrain from expressing abstract opinions that are not grounded in actual lived experiences. Read why @TheSweetFeminist on Instagram uses ‘pro-abortion’ language.

(5) We can avoid saying “multiple abortions” when possible, and instead say ‘more than one abortion.’

When we talk about pregnancies, miscarriages and births, we rarely use the vague and academic word ‘multiple.’ Instead, we use the specific number: “I’ve been pregnant twice. I have four children. I had two miscarriages.” 

Ideally, we should all be able to talk about abortions in the same way. But until the stigma is ended, an alternative is to say ‘more than one abortion.’ 

The danger of the term ‘multiple abortions’ is that it divides people into two groups, creating a good-versus-bad binary. People who have ‘an abortion’ are viewed as acceptable, while people who have ‘multiple abortions’ are unjustly stereotyped as deviant even though having more than one abortion is very common.

Also, people commonly use “multiple” as a synonym for quantifiers like “many” or “ lots of,” or “ legion.” This gives the false impression that people who have abortions are ‘out of control’ when in reality they are dealing with normal, common, human reproductive situations.

(6) We can use the plural ‘abortions’ more often instead of always saying ‘an abortion.’ Here are 6 reasons why there is power in the plural:

6 Reasons to Add S to AbortionS

1. Millions of abortions take place around the world each year. That’s a collective plurality.

2. Millions of people have two or more abortions in their lifetime. That’s an individual plurality.

3. Abortions are provided in several different ways. That’s a medical plurality.

4. People’s experiences of abortions are as varied as the people themselves. That’s a plurality of realities.

5. People’s feelings about their abortions are as varied as the people themselves. That’s a plurality of emotions.

6. When people only see and hear the singular, they get the wrong idea that abortions are a big, bad monolith, that they are one-dimensional and the same for everyone. Abortions are complex and diverse, and so are the people who have them, provide them and fund them.