How Our Attitude of Shame Towards Abortion Endangers Women

In March, Philly.com reported on Kermit Gosnell's Abortion Clinic as "The Clinic that Fell Through the Cracks." For years, Gosnell had been providing dangerous abortions while violating all sorts of medical and legal rules. Many women were severely injured at Gosnell's clinic; one woman lost her life. "Falling through the cracks" is not something that should happen when a procedure is both common and legal (like abortion). Yet the culture of shame and secrecy surrounding abortion makes it more dangerous, and allows clinics like Gosnell's to get away with years of bad, dangerous, and even fatal service.

"If abortion were talked about as the normal, common, experience that it is," wrote Charlotte Taft, Director of the Abortion Care Network, on RHReality Check, "bad abortion providers would go out of business the same way bad restaurants do — because people would tell each other not to go there." Sadly, there is so much shame and judgment associated with abortion that women are unwilling to speak out. One lawyer who tried to bring suit against Gosnell's clinic ran into trouble when former patients changed their minds upon learning that they would have to provide medical records and present themselves at a hearing.

In addition, women can internalize the shame that society ascribes to abortion. While some women may use bad clinics and not report their experience because of guilt or fear of going public, others may actually believe they don't deserve good, professional care. All women absolutely deserve caring and professional abortion services, just like with any other medical care.

Clinics like Gosnell's survive by preying on society's weakest members: poor women, immigrants, and youth. Because Medicaid — government provided health care for the nation's poor — will not pay for abortion services, low-income women are forced into clinics with poor services and have little recourse when their abortions go wrong. Karnamaya Mongar, Gosnell's 41-year-old patient who died last fall after being illegally prescribed and then overdosed with subscription painkillers, had immigrated from Bhutan only 5 months earlier. What recourse did she have, and who has the power to stand up for her now?

There are many reasons that clinics like this one "slip through the cracks." First, these clinics are regulated on a state by state basis. We need strong federal laws to make sure they are rigorously and regularly inspected. Second, we need to make sure that bad clinics are closed so that poor women have access to quality care. Lastly — and most controversially — we need to start talking about abortion in an open, accepting, and nurturing way.

It is a controversial yet fairly successful tactic — a kind of peaceful protest — to discuss your personal abortion stories. Because of the culture of shame, and even bodily danger, some women face when people find out they had an abortion, I don't feel comfortable urging women to speak out about their abortions. But, I do believe that if women talked, it would have a significant impact. When Harvey Milk fought the anti-gay Briggs Initiative on on the California ballot in 1978, he forced people to come out to their families and friends. Putting a human face on abortion — like homosexuality — would go a long way to ensuring its acceptance and respect. And from there, it's safety.

As Taft noted, "In a room with 10 women, at least three of them have had an abortion — and all of them have known and loved someone who has." The shame of abortion is perhaps where conservative culture warriors have gained their most significant victory. All women suffer, but disadvantaged women suffer more. That seems to be the way it goes. For me, its stories like those of Karnamaya Mongar and the Gosnell clinic remind us not to accept the status quo.

Photo: Fibonacci Blue's Photostream