Thread by @monaeltahawy

It took me 25 years to write about my abortions. For as long as patriarchy can shroud abortion with silence, it will continue to stamp it in shame. So I broke my silence to break free of shame. 📷 @rerutled feministgiant.com/p/abortion-is-…

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1523312040382709760

A reason I decided to finally speak was to say what I'd long yearned to read: I had an abortion because I didn't want to be pregnant. That’s it. In so many of the abortion narratives I read, it was as if women were pleading for mercy & forgiveness that belonged to no one to give

it was as if they had to prove they were “worthy” of the abortion–whether by virtue of the pain they had endured in becoming pregnant (through rape or incest) or the pain they would endure by carrying the pregnancy to term #abortionstories

it was as if they had to prove their abortion was a “good” one because they were “good.”

And that was in the US, where abortion is (for now) legal. Imagine the compounded interest accrued in silence in countries where abortion is illegal feministgiant.com/p/essay-lies-s… #abortionstories

For as long as patriarchy can shroud abortion with silence, it will continue to stamp it in shame.

Listen to what the silence around abortion tells us and mute the shame. Disrupt the silence around abortion by flooding it with subversion.

feministgiant.com/p/essay-the-se…

Our stories are like guide stars that lead us toward solidarity. Gather here, they say, and banish loneliness.

feministgiant.com #abortionstories