Call for writing! Your writing!
I am collaborating with the inimitable Camila Ochoa Mendoza, creator and host of the Abortion, with love podcast, to publish and record a series of love letters. And we want yours! We will start reading and recording on Valentine's Day, when we'll air the first love letter, and continue releasing every week until the end of April.
When you reflect on your abortion experience (or on the abortion experiences you have supported or witnessed), do you find that there are words left unsaid? Are there things you wish you could express, or a message you wish you could send:
-to yourself
-to your providers
-to your doula, partner, companion, or support person
-to the hotline volunteer who helped you find funding or a ride
-to the potential future lives that you released in favor of the life you're living now
-to your children, or the children you hope to have in the future
-to a spirit you have said goodbye to, let go of, or whose presence you still feel?
Writing a letter can be a beautiful, healing experience. It can be a way of processing your experiences, of finding or creating closure, of understanding yourself and connecting with your body. It can be a celebration or a memorial. And reading a letter from someone who has been through a similar experience can lift you and hold you, illuminating the collectivity and the universality of your perfect, messy, human life. Every abortion is different--singular and unique--but we can reflect and refract one another's light and darkness through our words, and find comfort and affirmation in our shared experiences.
We can’t wait to read your letters, and we know that there are people in the world who, at this very moment, need to hear you (or someone else) read them out loud. If you’re interested in creating and sharing a love letter, please send a message to me, or to Camila at abortionwithlove@gmail.com. We will be accepting your letters through the end of January. xoxo.