Here you will find stories of individuals who have dedicated their lives to making abortion safe, legal, healthy, and accessible to women and girls. These people may be nurses, counselors, escorts, volunteers at abortion funds, or abortion doctors themselves. You will not see the faces of these providers to protect their safety. What you will see is the story they decide to share - how they came to abortion work, what their function is at their abortion clinic, or their personal abortion story. We want to humanize these individuals to convey the kindness, courtesy, justice, love, and respect they have for women and the health care choices women make. We share our stories in hopes of ending clinic violence, to alleviate the shame associated with the abortion experience, and as an homage to Dr. Tiller's outstanding and courageous life work.
Please respect this space as one of compassion, dignity and love. We do not cover our faces out of shame. We do so to recognize an unfortunate aspect of the lives of abortion providers -- we must always be wary of our safety. No one knew this better than Dr. Tiller.
We are all Dr Tiller in that our work is based in the values that he lost his life for. Abortion care is essential women’s health care and for too long has been marginalized and condemned. We believe what Dr Tiller bravely and publicly defended and will provide compassionate, kind and respectful abortion care to women. We honor Dr Tiller in our work and will carry on his message – Trust Women.
We are Dr. Tiller.
I am a 51 year old woman with 3 adult children. I am a minister.
For more than 20 years I have counseled women and their families who were facing a pregnancy that was not meant to be. I have held their hands as they prayed for wisdom. I have stood beside them as they walked through protesters who cursed them. I am a better minister and person because of them.
Here are a few women who have come to me: • a 42 year old with a son in college whose husband had just announced he was leaving her for another woman • a 30 year old who had been given the date rape drug at a party and had no idea who had impregnated her • an 18 year old with physical and mental disabilities who was raped by a man who lived down the street • a 34 year old excitedly expecting her first child who was told it had no brain
And the list goes on and on. These women are not exceptions to some “typical” woman who seeks an abortion. Every woman’s story is uniquely her own. No one else can tell her how to feel about her situation and what the most compassionate action is. There is not one right answer because every woman, every family, every situation is different. This is why the decision must belong to the woman and those whom she wants to involve in her decision. But it is none of the business of legislators, judges, and protesters who do not know her.
It is cruel to tell women in horrendous situations that every pregnancy is a gift from God. It is the ultimate misogyny for a man to tell a woman that she should willingly put her own life at risk for the sake of bringing a different life into the world. I have counseled women who have chosen to have an abortion, those who have chosen to become a mother, and those who have chosen to give their child to someone else. None of these choices is easy and none of them is selfish. Each of them requires a sacrifice. Only a woman can know the most compassionate and wise choice in her situation.
The very first chapter of the Bible tells us that women were created in God’s image. By this we know that women are moral beings, capable of wise decisions that are good for themselves and the earth. God loves all women throughout all their difficult choices. Dr. Tiller taught us that “Until one understands the heart of a woman, nothing else about abortion makes any sense at all.”
I am Dr. George Tiller.
I have been an abortion care provider for five years and still counting. It’s our body and our right to choose. Like Dr. Tiller said, abortion is a matter of survival for women. I am pro-choice for life.
I am Dr. Tiller.
Below is a photo of this writer’s daughter:
She writes: I am so proud to have a pro-choice Mom!
[No photo for security reasons]
I have been working for reproductive health and human rights for over 10 years. I work in abortion clinics and I educate people about healthy sexuality in their own communities.
This is work is about choice, freedom, and respect.
Thank you Dr. Tiller.
I grew up surrounded in a religious environment that constantly told me abortion was wrong. They told me it was murder and only evil, dirty women got pregnant outside of marriage and they were going to hell. They also told me homosexuals were evil, dirty people going to hell and so were Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc. It seemed everyone who didn’t look like them and think like them was going to hell.
As I got older I started asking the most dangerous question: “Why?” For the life of me, I could never understand why God didn’t love everyone – regardless of their gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other of those characteristics that make us all different and unique individuals. That one little word – why – got me in a lot of trouble and forced me to the other side of the picket line. Suddenly, I was looking at the religious fanatics I had known all my life from the outside. And it was terrifying.
I was now a target. The Bible I had read and loved was being used as a weapon against me. They threatened my soul and then they threatened my life. But fear motivated me. By sixteen I was actively reading pro-choice and feminist literature. I was writing to my legislators and campaigning for comprehensive sex education. I helped young women around me find access to the reproductive and sexual health resources they needed. In college, I joined feminist organizations and promoted open and honest discussion about sexuality. I took action wherever possible and in any way I could to make sure my voice was always heard screaming for justice and respect. Women’s rights became my passion and my driving force. So, I suppose it is not a surprise I went to work for a reproductive and health services provider after college.
Though I should already know what they are capable of, I am still constantly surprised by the outrageousness of the religious protestors I see outside where I work. The other day, I saw one had brought a little girl who couldn’t be more than five-years-old. They had covered her mouth with red duct tape so she could be part of the protest. I was shocked and worried for the poor, little girl who didn’t know what she was being used for or why she had been gagged. But there was nothing I could do. I had to walk away from the little girl and leave her with those who had taped her mouth shut and hoped I would close mine.
But I haven’t and I won’t.
Through all of this, I continue to believe in a Higher Power. And whenever the extremists try to quote the Bible at me, I remember a passage they always seem to forget: Matthew 5:44 (NIV) “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Because no matter what they say: God loves women, too.
I am a pro-choice male, and believe wholeheartedly that reproductive freedoms for every women out there, and I was truly shocked after hearing about what happened to Dr. Tiller.
I am always advocating for the freedom of women to make decisions about their own bodies, which is not exactly an easy task to do here in North Africa, but which I am often confronted with. During my childhood, I witnessed a baby of a local women being thrown in a dumpster for her lack of access to abortion. This made me an activist and sparkled my interest in studying medicine, hoping to help women in such situations by becoming an abortion provider.
I worked at Planned Parenthood for 12 years. And I am among the one third of American women who have had abortions. For both reasons, time to show my face and say my name (Laura L. Wilson).
Rest in peace.
I started advocating for reproductive justice as a young teenager. It came soon after my mother telling me about her abortion and thinking how fortunate she was to be able to make that choice. I volunteered in a local clinic’s education department until my junior year of high school. Now an adult, I have continued to fight for reproductive justice and am honored to be a volunteer for an abortion fund. Every week volunteers take calls from women all over New England who need help paying for their abortion. I am in awe of the volunteers I work alongside and their compassion and drive for this work.
My first job is in abortion care. I don’t think a lot of people in this world can say that their first job was in abortion care.
I am lucky to have been able to come across an ad seeking a phone counselor while I was on the hunt for a job, fresh out of high school. I wanted to go to college right after but due to financial difficulties, I decided not to go to school and go to work instead…
It has been two years since I started working as an abortion provider. I can say, waking up everyday and going to a place where I can help women all over the city is a wonderful feeling and I wouldn’t trade this for anything.
