sexplanations

Made for curious minds

Published: March 10th 2016, 10:46:01 pm

This week's topic is self-induced abortions: How we've done them for millennia and the safest, easiest method we have for doing them now.

I've been working on this episode for about a month, since seeing the documentary Vessel. Vessel is about an organization called Women on Waves renting a ship to pick up women from countries where abortion is illegal, sailing them to international waters, inducing abortions, and returning the women home safely. The film moved me so much that I decided it was my responsibility to share the information with even more of an audience. You.

As it turns out we weren't able to get everything together for our regularly scheduled Wednesday upload and the video had to be pushed back a day. Today.

Today is National Abortion Provider Appreciation Day! the perfect day to release our video. Even though so many of the tactics we list in the episode (~100) are self-induced, meaning a person can do them without the help of others, providers are incredibly valuable in the experience of ending pregnancies. They are there to help navigate the decisions, answer questions, calm nerves, show respect, perform the abortion when necessary, guide the process, and hold space for the recovery. They are there when so much of the world isn't.

One of the things I learned from watching Vessel and my own research on abortions is that people want them. They will put their own lives and freedoms at risk to return to their menstrual cycles. They will induce abortions at any cost. So while their decision may be controversial, their need for safe methods is not.

Thanks for being curious about this. Thanks for supporting us even when it's controversial. You're awesome! 

Sincerely, 
Lindsey