#abortionproviders

In the Bay Area? Come together with Cal students and others tomorrow evening to experience Trapped -- the new, heart-wrenching documentary that reveals the reality of the attacks on abortion, providers, and women. Meet others who are concerned and looking for a way to act.

This week I focused on researching an idea some colleagues and I had about creating a network of support for the post-abortion process. I found a lot of websites that allow women to discuss their abortions. So, I began writing about my experience as an abortion provider and I ended up writing at length and the content was extremely personal, instead of professional. 

On a professional note, however, I would like to stress a few things. One, abortion is not an appropriate topic for political discussion. No one should be denied abortion care and the process of seeking an abortion should not be stigmatized. I have worked with thousands of women and men who sought abortions. The reasons for needing this procedure are endless, but there was one common thread. That is, NO MATTER WHAT THE REASON IS, ABORTION MUST BE A PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY SAFE PROCESS. OPEN ACCESS TO ABORTION CARE AND THE RIGHT AND FREEDOM OF MAKING REPRODUCTIVE DECISIONS GOES HAND-IN-HAND. THE TWO CANNOT BE SEPARATED. 

While working as a healthcare worker at North Florida Women's Health and Counselling Services, NFWHCS, I held many discussions with our doctors about taking abortion out of the private clinics and placing them in the primary care offices. The argument can be made for the idea that abortion facilities are pigeon holed and singled out as being "conveyor belt" facilities. This means that patients often feel that they are taken through the abortion process as if they were items in a factory. It a dehumanizing thought.

Would abortion become more mainstream procedure, as in accepted by the public as necessary reproductive services, if women could seek abortion care from their primary physicians or OB/GYN? Would the standard of care be compromised more than if they continue to stay in specialized private offices? Further, does the nature of abortion prevent it from becoming seen as a simple medical procedure that is comparable to something so normal like a root canal? Why does the distinction make people uncomfortable?

This brings me to a recent thought process. A lot of issues are facing the global population is the idea that current infrastructure no longer has the capacity to hold our life systems. We need to overhaul our basic life-support systems and who the hell can envision such an undertaking without going completely mad?!

I look at any issue like the economy, housing market and job market. Everything seems underwater and over saturated. The political environment and the federal and state governments are predicated upon trajectories that are no longer relevant for the sheer size and velocity of the world's population. WTF do we do?