1 in 4 women has had an abortion, but no one talks about it.
This web-based video series breaks the silence and the stigma. Listen to these brave women—and one male doctor—tell their stories, and think about what America would be like for men and women if Roe v. Wade were no longer the law of the land: if there were NO CHOICE.
These videos are an ideal tool to stimulate conversation and inspire change, so please share via social media.
If you would like to directly embed the videos in your website or to plan a public engagement event using the stories, please contact Colby Kelly:
NO CHOICE is a winner in the 2018 TO THE CONTRARY About Women and Girls Film Festival.
Check with your local PBS station to find out when this episode will air or watch on the TTC website.
Gaylon Alcaraz
Gaylon Alcaraz grew up on the South Side of Chicago and attended a Catholic girls school where she didn’t receive comprehensive sex education. She was 17 years old when she first became pregnant. She knew she was not ready to become a mother, so she had an abortion. Today Gaylon, a mother of two, is a reproductive justice activist fighting for the women in her community.
Dr. Waldo Fielding
In the 1950s, Dr. Waldo Fielding was an obstetrician working at Harlem Hospital in Manhattan. He remembers women from the community coming to him—many terrified they would be reported—with complications from backroom abortions. After Roe, he remembers the protestors at his Boston clinic and the harassment women endured just to access medical care.
Lynne Hanley
When Lynne Hanley was studying English at Cornell, she fell in love. When she tried to get contraception, she was told she had to be married to get it. After she realized she was pregnant, she went to a local doctor who lectured her, telling her she would be punished if she tried to end her pregnancy.
Danielle Lang
Today, Danielle Lang is a voting-rights attorney. But at the age of 22, when she was studying for law school, she became pregnant because of a contraception failure. She and her partner felt they were not ready to be parents. After her abortion, Danielle found herself confronting the stigma surrounding her choice.
Valerie Peterson
When Valerie Peterson became pregnant with her third child, her doctor told her the child wasn’t developing properly. The grim diagnosis meant Valerie had a choice to make. She could carry the pregnancy to term and deliver a stillborn baby, or she could have an abortion. Living in Texas, Valerie faced access and scheduling restrictions that made her decision to end the pregnancy much more difficult than she anticipated.
Marge Piercy
Marge Piercy is 81 years old. She grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Detroit. In 1953, during her freshman year of college, she fell in love. In those days, contraception was illegal in most states, and it was certainly illegal for unmarried women. She had dreams of becoming a writer. She didn’t want to have a baby.
Holly Alvarado
Today, Holly Alvarado is a proud US military veteran. But in 2009, as she was getting ready to leave for a tour of duty in Iraq, she realized she was pregnant. She wanted to end the pregnancy and deploy with her team, but she couldn’t get an abortion from a military doctor because of a federal law restricting military abortions.
Liz Young
Liz Young was the first person in her family to go to Berkeley. While there during the free speech movement of the early 1960s, she experienced new freedoms and political ideas that she had not encountered in her sheltered traditional Chinese upbringing. At the age of 22 she accidentally became pregnant, and found herself in the underground world to get an abortion.