The procedure that dare not speak its name

There are a lot of words women aren’t supposed to talk about. The use of “vagina,” for example, can get a commercial banned from TV, even if a euphemism like "down there" is employed instead. “Feminist” has the suffix “nazi” tagged on, turning it into a dirty word. But perhaps the most volatile word, the one that makes skin crawl on the Right, is “abortion.” This legal medical procedure has become closeted, imbued with shame, and the term has morphed into a taboo unto itself. But more than a third of American women will have an abortion by the age of 45. It’s time women take the word back.

Steph Herold recently decided to use Twitter as a forum to connect women who had had abortions by using the hashtag #ihadanabortion. As soon as the media sniffed it out, commentators raised their eyebrows about whether it trivialized abortion to talk about it alongside Justin Beiber. And then the anti-choice brigade found the hashtag, and it’s turned into a flame war. But the idea behind #ihadanabortion is to create a space for women to “come out” so that they can know they are not alone-- and so that the rest of the world can know it, too.  What some see as trivializing can also be normalizing. Herold herself explains, “Part of the risk of coming out is exposing yourself to the antichoice hatred that is on Twitter… But I've had many women tell me that the activity on the hashtag made them feel less alone in their experience with abortion, even if they don't feel comfortable tweeting their own story.” By talking about it, particularly in such an open space, it can feel less shameful. In many ways, this idea draws on the gay rights movement, mimicking efforts to shed light on private discomfort or shame, while making its members feel like part of a community.

There’s another lesson women can learn from the gay rights movement: working to de-stigmatize the words associated with the cause. Besides telling people they are homosexual, part of the movement's coming out success is reclaiming the word “queer." The organization Queer Nation, started in 1990, was one of the first that reclaimed the word, and since then it has evolved to signify not a social deviant, as it originally did, but a person of a certain sexual orientation. Now words such as “queer” and “gay” have been co-opted as positive signifiers, and with that the people they represent have make progress in claiming their rightful place in society as equals.

Abortion rights are slipping in the US, while using the word “abortion” has become a weapon of choice on the Right. As Amanda Marcotte writes for On The Issues, abortion is no longer used just to talk about a woman terminating her pregnancy. Because of the ickiness and downright revulsion the word seems to incite in some people, they’re using it to talk about contraception, health care reform, and even women’s rights. Marcotte points out that right-wingers have spread the idea that hormonal contraception causes a woman’s body to reject fertilized eggs and thus is a form of “abortion.” (In reality, this is complete nonsense. Birth control works by suppressing ovulation altogether.) But no matter how wrong the facts, the messaging has worked. Even some “rabid pro-choicers” think that birth control kills something, Marcotte notes. And much noise was made (and, sadly, is still being made) about the health care reform bill funding abortions with taxpayer money – something that just isn’t true unless you use a broader definition of abortion, Marcotte concludes.

Meanwhile, some politicians who are comfortable talking about access to mammograms are unwilling to say the word "abortion." We hear about family planning, a nice phrase, but one that doesn’t mention the reality of unplanned, surgically terminated pregnancies. President Obama likes to discuss his goal of reducing unplanned pregnancies through greater access to birth control and the need to protect women’s health, both important issues. But it is also a nice way to skate around the fact that women need greater access to abortion services, services that are drying up around the country, state by state.

Some of the outrage #ihadanabortion sparked was because of “the idea that abortion is so shameful it shouldn't be talked about in any venue,” writes Anna North on Jezebel. On AlterNet, Sarah Seltzer notes, “Many folks don't want to be reminded that it happens.” But it does happen, and we need to talk about it. We need to de-stigmatize the word. It refers to a legal, safe, and often necessary medical procedure, but has come to signify so much more. When a word becomes a slur, sometimes it's time reclaim it. Now is one of those times.

As a colleague of mine put it, abortion isn’t the tragedy. The tragedy is a lack of access to abortion services. It’s time to stop talking around the fact that abortions occur, are needed, and are legal and safe. It’s time to stop talking about expanding access to family planning and contraception without avoiding abortion. The stigma must be removed. -Bryce Covert

Bryce Covert is a journalist and blogger who writes on feminism, politics, and the energy industry. You can find her at www.brycecovert.com and www.twitter.com/brycecovert.