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'I had an abortion' T-shirt stirs debate
Some
offended, others empowered by declaration
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SCOTT WILLIAMS; Aug. 2, 2004
For
abortion-rights advocates, the latest strategy in bringing that element of
women's health care out of the closet involves something from inside the closet.
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 T-Shirt
Tangle |
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Jennifer Baumgardner designed
this T-shirt to make a political statement about abortion rights.
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Quotable |
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"It delivers a message that is intended to confront and subvert the sense
of shame." |
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~Lisa Boyce,
vice president of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin
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Quotable |
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"It's a sad day for humanity." |
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~Barbara Lyons,
executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life |
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A T-shirt emblazoned with the simple message "I had
an abortion" is becoming a hotly debated method of helping women overcome the
stigma often associated with ending a pregnancy.
Designed by a political activist with roots in
Wisconsin, the T-shirt is being marketed by Planned Parenthood, with about 400
sold.
Abortion opponents in Milwaukee and elsewhere are
horrified by what they perceive as women boasting cold-heartedly about ending
the lives of their unborn children. One local group bemoaned the tactic in a
recent newsletter to its followers.
But abortion-rights supporters say the T-shirt is a
statement to critics who heckle and belittle women for taking advantage of a
health care option that has been legal for 30 years.
"It's not a cavalier declaration," said Lisa Boyce,
vice president of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. "It delivers a message that
is intended to confront and subvert the sense of shame."
Originally designed for an abortion-rights rally
this year, the T-shirt later went into production and has stirred backlash in
recent weeks from opponents of abortion.
"It's a sad day for humanity," said Barbara Lyons,
executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life.
At Planned Parenthood headquarters in New York,
officials said they have sold more than 200 shirts in the past week, on top of
about 200 sold previously by the designer.
Designer is Lawrence grad
The designer is an abortion-rights activist who
once exercised her political activism on a Wisconsin college campus.
Jennifer Baumgardner, a 1992 graduate of Lawrence
University in Appleton, is now a New York author who writes frequently on
women's issues and has co-authored a book called "Manifesta: Young Women,
Feminism and the Future."
Baumgardner, 34, who grew up in Fargo, N.D., said
she got tired of hearing stories about how having an abortion left women feeling
embarrassed or scorned because protesters had called them "baby haters" and
worse.
The T-shirt, she said, is a bold statement that
having an abortion is a medical procedure for which no apology is needed.
"In any town there are women who've gotten
abortions," she said. "It's probably people we know and love."
Brady Nichols of Madison, an old college friend of
Baumgardner, was not surprised that she would be involved in something so
controversial. He remembers her demonstrating outside women's health clinics
during college, confronting abortion foes who were trying to disrupt the
clinics.
Nichols, a high school teacher who is supports
abortion rights, said he was impressed by her T-shirt design.
"I think it's a pretty brave thing," he said.
Baumgardner says her next project is a documentary
film featuring women telling about their decisions to have abortions.
The Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973 in the
Roe vs. Wade decision.
Abortion-rights supporters say the T-shirt, in a
way, answers the shock tactics of opponents who demonstrate outside health
clinics carrying large images of bloody, dismembered fetuses.
But even some women who applaud the empowering
message of Baumgardner's T-shirt are hesitant about walking down the street with
the words "I had an abortion" on their chests.
Robin Ringleka, 30, of Chicago said she bought a
T-shirt recently and plans to wear it to a women's issues rally. But she fears
that wearing it to the grocery store or the mall would provoke a harsh response
from critics, maybe even physical violence.
"This is so new, who really knows," she said. "I
imagine I will wear mine."
Planned Parenthood officials said they have
received no T-shirt orders from anyone in Wisconsin. The organization sells the
shirts for $15 on the Internet.
Peggy Hamill, executive director of Pro-Life
Wisconsin, said she hears far more stories from women who regret having
abortions than those who are comfortable and willing to broadcast it publicly.
Hamill said the T-shirt made her feel disgusted,
although she said it probably represents an effective political tool in the
ongoing battle over abortion rights.
"In trying to rub our noses in something that is
very distasteful, yeah, they're doing it," she said. "Looking at something like
this, I think we've still got a long way to go."
Job
31:13-15, “If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant,
when they contended with me; What then shall I do when God riseth up? and
when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
Did not he that made me in
the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?”
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