What You Can Do
This moment is crushing. For those of us who've had abortions, we are so deeply heartbroken and grief-stricken because the moment we always knew would come is actually here. No matter what — we will always show up for one another because people who have abortions are the future, and we deserve to be loved and protected. In the days and years ahead, We Testify will continue to invest in abortion storytellers to elevate their voices and expertise.
There are so many calls for us to vote and take action, and we should do those things too, but first, we must tend to our hearts and to each other. Take a breath and a moment to grieve. When you're ready to take action, we'll be ready for you.
Here are some things you can do to show up for people having abortions.
Share your abortion stories: Your abortion stories deserve to be heard. YOU deserve to be heard. When you feel ready and safe, tell everyone in your life about your abortion. Make them realize that everyone loves someone who had an abortion—and they love you! This is our moment to come together and increase the spectrum of abortion storytellers in the public sphere.
Share On Your Social Media Platforms
Need support? View our storytelling tips here: Preparing to Share Our Stories.pdf
Show up for your loved ones who need abortions: Practical support is essential to abortion access, especially as states impose more restrictions that force people to travel to access care. Provide direct assistance such as transportation, overnight housing, childcare, and translation. Offer emotional support, connect them with an abortion doula or volunteer as a clinic escort and help patients navigate safely past protestors. Showing up for people seeking abortions is essential.
Get Informed: Familiarize yourself with what it takes to get an abortion in your community and where the nearest clinic is, even if it’s in another state. Visit wetestify.org/abortion
Have the Conversation: Talk to your loved ones about why you show up for the people you love who’ve had abortions. Need support? View our guide to Courageous Conversations here: www.wetestify.org/blogwt/courageousconvos
Learn how to self-manage an abortion with pills: This is the moment to learn the protocol to self-manage an abortion. It is clear that our political leaders have no interest in protecting our lives and our access to healthcare. Unsafe abortions are a very real part of our past because of the criminalization of abortion, but they don’t have to be our future. We can care for each other, safely. Visit https://www.wetestify.org/self-managed-abortion to learn more.
Support Your Local Indie Clinic: One of the goals of abortion restrictions and bans is to close clinics down, so that even if these unlawful bans are finally struck down, there may be no clinics left to provide abortion care. Once a clinic closes, it is nearly impossible to reopen. Your ongoing support through donations—especially monthly donations!—to the Keep Our Clinics campaign is how we prevent that from happening. Visit KeepOurClinics.org to ensure that services are legally, financially, and logistically available to people who need them.
Support Your Local Abortion Fund: Abortion funds help provide financial and logistical assistance to people who cannot afford the cost of an abortion, transportation costs and other support services. Give your time and money, offer your homes to people who are traveling for care, and inform your loved ones that abortion funds can help them close the financial gap to accessing care. View a comprehensive list of abortion funds here: https://abortionfunds.org/need-abortion/
