We Had Abortions - Hire Us!

This letter was authored anonymously by 2 TX abortion storytellers and signed anonymously by 35 Texas repro workers, volunteers, board members, abortion storytellers, and supporters.

Dear Hiring Managers in Texas, 

We have had abortions, and we deserve to be in positions of leadership at your organizations. 

Abortion is no longer legal in Texas. That’s jarring. This year has been hard on us for many reasons - our right to bodily autonomy was stripped away, the threat of criminalization for our work is looming, our ability to help our community get the care they need is in jeopardy, and many of us who have had abortions have been triggered and overwhelmed by emotional turmoil. The gutting of Roe has thrown so many of us off track. To move forward, we must remember that hope for access in the future lies in a recommitment to who we must center in our efforts - those with the lived experience of having abortions. 

Our movement often talks about the importance of centering the people most impacted, but in our experience, that’s not always the case. As people who have abortions, we are the experts. We know what's at stake because we've lived it. We've shared our stories to help fundraise for organizations and put the issue front and center, but we haven't always felt supported. Our stories have been mishandled at best and tokenized at worst. Our expertise isn't valued in organizations as it should be. And right now, as thousands of people feel abandoned by a state that no longer provides abortions, you need experts.

The lived experience of any social justice issue is vital to the fight. We have felt the pain, and we are the best positioned to come up with the remedies. Our experiences should be treasured as keys to the solution to the lack of access to abortion care. We uplift people who have had abortions not simply by sharing stories (while that is also vital), but by elevating this expertise to where it belongs - in positions of leadership in the movement. We should be your next Executive Directors. We should be your organizers. We should be your interns. We should be all up the leadership pipeline.

And for those of us who had abortions before June 2022, we need to be in solidarity with anyone and everyone who has needed abortion care since the overturning of Roe and the people who need us every single day, especially in Texas. 

We acknowledge that hiring teams may have legal and ethical concerns about asking prospective hires if they have had abortions. And of course, candidates are never required to disclose their abortion stories or pregnancy history. However, if we create safe hiring spaces, namely ones that include others who have had abortions, many of us will share our stories and how our experiences brought us to this work. 

Of course, there is still a place in this movement for people who haven't had abortions. There's room for all of us. We are going to need all of us to liberate abortion. And, we've noticed the way in which our lived experiences are discounted as experience and expertise for leadership positions in the movement. The barriers to abortion are the same barriers to professional development and workforce experiences. We deserve the space to speak for ourselves and be in leadership roles in our own movement. 

Abortion stigma pervades nearly every system in our society. In order to transform the conditions we are currently living under, dismantle abortion stigma, and truly center people who have been and continue to be directly impacted by bans and restrictions to abortion care, people with lived experience need to be in leadership positions and given the proper support to make this work sustainable. We are in it for the long haul, and we know you are too. 

Seek us out. Invite us to apply for positions. Create hiring processes that feel safe and supported so that we can bring our whole selves and all of our experiences to the interviews.

Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.