This Woman Filmed Her Abortion to Show Other People it Doesn't Have to be Scary.

[Nine]

75. If I were to choose a public face for reproductive rights, this woman would not have been it.

I admire her courage. She has put herself at some risk by doing this publicly. She filled a void that existed. And having someone - anyone - open up about this and be willing to share video of the procedure is better than having no one do it.

All that said, there are aspects of her story that trouble me. Anyone can experience a birth control failure, but she was using NO birth control - perhaps not even condoms, depending on your interpretation of her words. Though some posters are spinning it as that she carefully weighed the medical information and took a calculated risk, her own words show a more haphazard approach:

It was my first pregnancy, and, full disclosure, I hadn't been using any kind of birth control, which is crazy, I know. I’m a sex educator, and I love talking about birth control. Before this experience, hormonal birth control scared me because of complications I’d heard about from friends — gaining weight, depression, etc. So I tracked my ovulation cycle, and I didn’t have any long-term partners. I thought I was OK. But, you know, things happen. I wound up pregnant...

I do feel a little irresponsible and embarrassed about not using birth control. I mean, Emily, wake up! What are you doing? I was going against the advice I give to patients all the time. So I had them put an IUD in after the abortion. I was able to learn and move forward.

I wish she came across as more mature and serious in the video. I wish her narrative didn't contain several head-scratchers about being a "birth junkie" or about the procedure being a "special memory" for her.

But this is coming from a place of fear. Fear that if we pro-choicers don't stick to a carefully crafted public portrayal of abortion, that those rights will continue to be chipped away at until they disappear. This woman is not a great "poster child" for abortion rights from the perspective of someone who learned that we should always say it was a decision we agonized over, that we don't see it as a substitute for responsible behavior, etc.

But maybe she is a good poster child after all - good in the sense that she reminds us that reproductive choice is a right we are entitled to, not a privilege we have to earn. Abortion isn't just for rape survivors, or those who used multiple methods of contraception and just got unlucky, or those who are carrying a child with severe medical issues. They're for any woman who chooses one. This woman is not apologizing for her abortion, and I find that refreshing.