USA – The New Faces of Abortion Rights

Democrats used to talk about abortion in abstract terms. Now Harris campaign volunteers are getting specific and changing the debate.

By Peter Slevin
August 9, 2024

The crowd that greeted Kamala Harris in a high-school gym outside Milwaukee last month was delighted to the point of delirium. People roared when she said that, as a former prosecutor, she knows “Donald Trump’s type.” They cheered again when she spoke up for affordable child care and an assault-weapons ban. But when she said, “We trust women to make decisions about their own body,” the response was so loud that it nearly drowned out the end of the sentence. She shouted above the din, “And not have their government tell them what to do.”

… To make that emotional connection with voters, Meghan Mohr has helped more than a dozen women to talk about their abortions on the campaign trail. The women, called abortion storytellers, have introduced Harris at events, and they are training others to give their own testimonies in the hope of highlighting the stakes in November.

Continued: https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-new-faces-of-abortion-rights


Ashley Judd speaks out on the right of women to control their bodies and be free from male violence

by Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press
April 29, 2024

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Actor Ashley Judd, whose allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein helped spark the #MeToo movement, spoke out Monday on the rights of women and girls to control their own bodies and be free from male violence.

A goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Population Fund, she addressed the U.N. General Assembly’s commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the landmark document adopted by 179 countries at its 1994 conference in Cairo, which for the first time recognized that women have the right to control their reproductive and sexual health – and to choose if and when to become pregnant.

Continued: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2024/04/29/ashley-judd-speaks-out-on-the-right-of-women-to-control-their-bodies-and-be-free-from-male-violence/


It can feel uncomfortable to keep telling our abortion stories – but it is still essential

Many experiences are like mine: unexceptional, not ‘deserving’ or ‘worthy’. The more of those testimonies we hear, the stronger we are in our fight to protect women’s rights

Emma Beddington
Mon 16 Nov 2020

One of the last things I did before lockdown was attend a rally supporting the protests against Poland’s constitutional court ruling that introduced a near-total ban on abortion. Hardening the country’s already terrifyingly restrictive current law, it would, if enforced, remove one of the few narrow exceptions still permitted: termination in the event of congenital birth defects.

The scale of protests in Poland has been extraordinary – and hopeful. With up to 100,000 people gathering nightly in Warsaw, they seem to have forced a pause in implementation of this appalling ruling. My damp, local version was less impressive – there were fewer than 100 of us (including dogs and babies), carefully distanced, in cagoules and masks – but no less moving, hearing young Polish women and men stand up and denounce a sclerotic, repressive ancien regime I’m desperate to see them sweep away.

Continued:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/16/it-can-feel-uncomfortable-to-keep-telling-our-abortion-stories-but-it-is-still-essential


USA – Ashley Judd Reveals She Had An Abortion After Being Raped — Because She Didn’t Want ‘To Co-Parent With A Rapist’

Ashley Judd Reveals She Had An Abortion After Being Raped — Because She Didn’t Want ‘To Co-Parent With A Rapist’

By Brent Furdyk
Apr 11, 2019

Ashley Judd has long been one of Hollywood’s most outspoken actresses, and now she’s disclosing an abortion she underwent when she became pregnant after being raped.

Judd, 50, spoke on Thursday at Tina Brown’s 10th annual Women in the World Summit in New York, discussing the state of Georgia’s recent legislation banning abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can occur before a woman realizes she’s pregnant.

Continued: https://etcanada.com/news/440694/ashley-judd-reveals-she-had-an-abortion-after-being-raped-because-she-didnt-want-to-co-parent-with-a-rapist/