Controversial ‘Shout Your Abortion’ author in Mt. Airy

Posted 11/28/18

Amelia Bonow, the founder of #ShoutYourAbortion, will speak at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane in West Mt. Airy on Thursday, Nov. 29, 7 p.m. by Len Lear Amelia Bonow is either a …

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Controversial ‘Shout Your Abortion’ author in Mt. Airy

Posted

Amelia Bonow, the founder of #ShoutYourAbortion, will speak at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane in West Mt. Airy on Thursday, Nov. 29, 7 p.m.

by Len Lear

Amelia Bonow is either a courageous life-saving truth-teller or a demon from the underworld. You might say she is the Gloria Steinem or Susan B. Anthony of the abortion rights issue. In the current red state vs. blue state Trumpian universe, calling Amelia Bonow a lightning rod for controversy would not be giving enough credit to lightning rods.

Bonow, 34, who will speak at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane in West Mt. Airy on Thursday, Nov. 29, 7 p.m., is the founder of #ShoutYourAbortion who is coming east from her home in Seattle to launch the movement's first book, "Shout Your Abortion."

Unlike many women who have had abortions and prefer not to talk about them, Amelia will enthusiastically talk about her experience to anyone in the country who will listen without demonizing her. And people have definitely been listening.

“There have been many hundreds of thousands of responses to my Facebook post,” Amelia told us last week, “and they range from ‘This post saved my life’ to ‘You should be dead!’ Decidedly mixed … And the worst ones have been impossibly stupid!

“Abortion is normal. Our stories are ours to tell. This is not a debate. On Sept. 19, 2015, I blew up my life. Not intentionally. I was in Seattle, looking forward to finishing a master’s program in mental health counseling. In fact, I was supposed to be writing a paper when I found out that the House of Representatives had voted to defund Planned Parenthood.

“I kind of unraveled, sitting on my couch crying, wondering who’s standing up for the clinic workers? And for women who have abortions? I opened Facebook and without thinking, wrote, ‘Like a year ago, I had an abortion at Planned Parenthood ... and I remember this experience with a nearly inexpressible level of gratitude.’ I hit ‘Post’ 153 words later, and everything changed.”

As a result, Amelia became a full-time abortion activist and failed to finish the master’s program in mental health counseling. “I'm a couple quarters shy of completing the program,” she said, “and then I would need to do a year-long internship and practicum before getting licensed as a therapist.”

Although #ShoutYourAbortion has become a full-time occupation for Amelia, “In many ways, it does still feel like I'm working in mental health. It's like I'm facilitating a massive group therapy session, and the group includes the many millions of Americans who are realizing that they're finally ready to start talking about abortion because the pervasive silence surrounding the issue is making everyone sick.”

Even Fox News’ right-wing commentator, Glenn Beck, mentioned Amelia’s name — negatively, of course — on the radio. “I was grossed out that my beautiful name had been in his mouth,” she said, “but pleased that I'd made such an impression.”

After Amelia’s Facebook post about her own abortion, people she knew started writing about their own abortion stories. “I texted a screenshot to my friend, Lindy, who asked to tweet it. I said, ‘Sure,’ then ran out to catch a bus. After a couple of blocks, I looked at my phone and saw all-caps texts from her. The hashtag she added, #ShoutYourAbortion, had gone viral. Over the next couple of days, tens of thousands of women flooded social media to talk about their abortions.

“And I received abuse and threats; one site released my home address. I was inundated by media requests and had some tough conversations. My conservative 93-year-old grandmother wasn’t thrilled to hear Glenn Beck talking about me on his radio show, but after we discussed it for an hour on the phone, even she said she was proud of me.

“Anti-choice politicians have dominated the dialogue because many people think they don’t know anyone who’s had an abortion. But nearly one in four women has, and 95 percent have reported feeling that it was the right decision. The anti-choice movement wants it to be terrifying to speak the truth, because we can’t advocate for something we can’t say out loud. But the more of us who speak out, the clearer it becomes that all sorts of people have abortions, including people you love.

“The other day, I told the whole story to a guy in a bar, and he said, ‘What you’re doing takes real balls.’ I corrected him: ‘I think you mean ovaries.’"

Over the course of this winter Amelia will probably be in about 12 cities promoting her book. What does she see as the future of the movement she started? “A world in which talking about abortion is as normal as the procedure itself.”

What is the best advice she ever received? “Open your underwear drawer and take out all the underwear that makes you sad to wear. Throw all that underwear away, and get new underwear that doesn't make you sad.”

What is the hardest thing Amelia has ever done? “Doing an interview with the BBC after taking an Ambien.”

For more information about the Nov. 29 talk, call 215-844-1870 or visit shoutyourabortion.com

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