An organization, Unite For Reproductive & Gender Equity aims to destigmatize abortion for women by hosting a tour where women inform the community of the right they believe they have.
Juanita Rivas, chapter leader of URGE, explained why women should live shame-free regarding their reproductive health decisions, even when others may disagree.
“Even in general people don’t like to talk about abortion and that’s why we’re here,” Rivas said at the Abortion Positive Tour, which took place at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Brownsville.
Rivas said URGE wants to change the conversation surrounding abortion, “when we change the way that we talk about abortion, we change the way that we feel and think about abortion.”
URGE said it’s important for women to live shame free regarding their decision.
“You should have a basic right to choose when to start a family and if you want to start a family,” Rivas said. “I think [by] not seeing abortion as something negative and seeing abortion as something positive and as a right that we have access to.”
A sexual and reproductive health study from the Guttmacher Institute, showed women in their 20’s are the largest age group to have an abortion.
“The stigma of feeling guilt and shame when making a decision about having an abortion, even when [women] finally make that decision, all the way to the end, when they get to the abortion clinic, they are protested by anti-choice protesters.”
Discussions and petitions is how URGE plans to change laws regarding abortion. The activists encouraged attendees to sign a petition regarding the Trump administration’s recent legislation that allows states to withhold federal family planning funds from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
“I think it’s just to talk about abortion, and get people to think about the different perspectives and realities of what it means to choose to have an abortion,” she said.
