Abstract

We're Not Sorry, Charlie

The author describes efforts to publicize the stories of women who do not regret having had an abortion. Last January 22, the thirtieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Patricia Beninato was annoyed. "I had an abortion," thought Beninato, a 37-year-old customer-service rep in Richmond, Virginia," and I'm glad I did. Someone should put up a website for women who had abortions and don't regret it. Thus, www.imnotsorry.net was founded--and has since gathered more than 100 stories. When she researched what was already out there before launching the site, Beninato found only anti-choice counseling outfits like afterabortion.com and Rachel's Vineyard ministry, which offer misleading medical information and propaganda. Indeed, the real voices of women who have had abortions are hard to find, despite the fact that there are more than a million abortions a year, and many millions of American women who have had one or more. Women are perhaps even quieter than they were pre-Roe, when at least a few hundred feminists held speak-outs and signed public petitions about their illegal abortions. Earlier this year, Norton McCorvey, the plaintiff in Roe, whose change of heart has made her the darling of the anti-choice crowd, included the affidavits when she filed a petition in court to have Roe overturned. Moved by Beninato's phrase, I have been working on a campaign to recast the Roe anniversary, January 22, as I'm Not Sorry Day. The response has been amazing. The January 22 event will also serve to garner support for the March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC, on April 25.