Submissions wanted for a new zine on abortion.

[Bettie]

Hey, I write Anatomical Heart zine, a perzine about my mental illness among other things. After writing about my own experience with abortion and reading the experiences of others, I'm hoping to compile a zine on the subject. I appreciate it's a sensitive subject but I'd really love if some of you felt able to contribute in some way. You can be anonymous if you wish, but I would like to include your country as I've found procedures vary internationally. I'm mainly looking for a piece of writing about your own experience, but submissions of artwork, poetry, or anything you can think of are most welcome too.

Thanks for reading
Bettie xo

[Dan 10things]

Would you be interested in a story about an abortion from the guy/partner's perspective?

[ciaraxyerra]

re: partners contributing:

there is this annual reproductive rights conference out in western mass every spring, & they kick it off every friday with an abortion speak-out--women from all walks of life getting up & sharing their abortion experiences. it's pretty fascinating & amazing. a few years ago, some dude got up to share his abortion experience. everyone was kind of like, "what?" but no one said anything because, you know, he could be trans, he could have had an abortion, how do we know? he starts reading this poem for his "unborn son". not sure how he thinks he knows the sex when it was aborted at seven weeks, but moving on. the bottom line is that he was the partner of a woman who had had an abortion & it was all kinds of fucked up that he was appropriating her experience for his poetry & invading a space where women were there to talk about their personal physical experiences. i mean, i'm sure my boyfriend has his thoughts & feelings about my abortion, but he wasn't the one having his uterus suctioned out, you know?

okay, aside over. i guess at the end of the day, it's your choice, & hearing from partners could be cool. or it could be awful. or it could be both. meredith stern's "mine" abortion anthologies stuck pretty close to just sharing the experiences of women who have had abortions. if you haven't seen them yet, i'd recommend tracking them down to help you make decisions about what kinds of contributions you want. what if someone who has never had an abortion but works in a clinic wants to contribute? is that an interesting, fresh perspective, or does it dilute the power of women sharing their stories?