Exploring Layers of Abortion Work
Mara Clarke is an abortion activist, charity founder, volunteer manager, media spokesperson and fundraiser. I connected with Mara in Instagram when I was drawn to her post about the genocide in Gaza and the pull between the very many social justice issues that need and deserve our attention.
Learn more here: www.supportingabortions.eu
Show Notes:
@supportingAbortions4ever
Finding the light.
Traveling for abortion.
87% of US counties didn’t have an abortion provider in 1987- “it was not perfect” before Roe was overturned
“I specialize in the dark”
“I specialize in the people who fall through the cracks…”
Passion activated through reading an article
“When did your penny drop”
“I never had a lot of choices. I did things because they were the right thing to do”
“Now we talk about women and pregnant people because we evolve”
Followed home by a friar
“No where my closest non-catholic hospital is”
Rawness that is also a richness
Abortion Without Borders
“Do this work with solidarity, not saviorism”
“Giving the people who contact us the knowledge and power to make their own choices”
“Push back a little bit so people can realize how little help they need”
“People are super surprised at how resilient they are, how capable they are of exercising their own choices and their own destinies”
No one needs to explain
“Whatever your reason is it’s valid”
“Sometimes you don’t have a minute to think about the fact that you’re having an abortion”
Post Abortion Stress Disorder IS NOT A THING the way people will lead you to believe, it’s used by anti-abortion activists
Antis “They think their so clever” “They all have the same playbook”
“Don’t put Santa out of a job” People are so people-y
Asking questions and acknowledging how complex and messy everything is
“Almost all of my posts are about abortion. But much of my heart is in Gaza.” Instagram post
“It’s very messy and also it’s been relentless”
“So much of the rhetoric out there is not factual”
“...also we’re gonna see the next big thing”
“We were getting people across borders when there were no borders open”
“We’re helping the grassroots activists who are helping people get abortions”
“The way I keep myself sane…”
“Here is the place I can make a change”
Community care- “talk about the feelings that come up when you’re doing this work and how to hold those without drowning”
“Doing this work is a privilege and not a right”
“If you need therapy, get therapy”
“Celebrate what we have done and also grieve what we haven’t”
“It’s not a coat hanger anymore”
What’s the widest circle I’m looking at and what’s the smallest circle I can come back to?
What’s the smallest thing I can come back to within that?
Giving yourself a hug
“It’s not always your turn… it’s okay if it’s your turn to take a breath”
“I have a lot of solidarity… but I can’t actually do all the things”
“I’m the abortion lady and I’m gonna stick to the abortions”
www.supportingabortions.eu
@mara.k.clarke
