On the Job on the Abortion Hotline

Listen to the people who actually listen to women who need abortions, and you'll listen in vain for any hint of the mythological sluts, prostitutes and victims of Planned Parenthood coercion that haunt freakazoid fever-dreams.

 

Kerry Sheridan concludes:

There were drawbacks, and the burnout rate was high. But I entered the job as a fervently pro-choice young feminist, and hearing the women’s calls only reinforced my view that abortion needs to be safe and legal and available to those who need it. I answered the calls for as long as I could, and eventually I had to move on.

My work on the hot line was almost half my lifetime ago. Thinking about it reminds me of a time when I bore witness to the terrible truths of womanhood in America. An unwanted pregnancy can hurtle a woman onto a perilous landscape where the laws of man don’t protect her. You don’t hear about this dark side of life very often in the daylight. But look around you. One in three women have been there.