How far will newly inaugurated President Trump go to further decimate abortion rights in this country? This week’s flurry of executive orders gave us one indication: In his anti-transgender executive order, Trump included anti-abortion language that would grant fetuses the same rights as people.
But we don’t yet know the specific policies the administration will pursue and what increased risks abortion seekers themselves will face as a result. This wait-and-see period is full of uncertainty for people wishing to share their abortion stories: For example, Project 2025, the far-right transition plan created by Trump alumni, calls for the tracking of abortion seekers. So, how can they protect themselves against government surveillance and legal risk in the meantime? I spoke with Renee Bracey Sherman, founder of We Testify and co-author of Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve, about why abortion storytelling remains urgent under Trump 2.0 and what people may want to consider when weighing going public with their experiences.
One of the goals of We Testify is helping people share their abortion experiences. Why is it important for people to feel empowered to tell their stories?
When I had an abortion, I felt like I couldn’t turn to anyone for support. But then I finally found other people, and I just felt freer, like, Wow, I actually can talk about this. We Testify is this space where people can be honest about it and get the support that they need. As the conversation about abortion has shifted and people have started to learn about reproductive justice, it’s led to a broader understanding beyond just the idea of choice or the right to have an abortion. It’s really important to keep that conversation going.
At the same time, anti-abortion people have realized that there’s so much power in our stories that they want to force us to stop talking about it. They have to push this idea of criminalizing people to make them afraid of sharing their stories and telling others that it’s okay to have an abortion. They’ve been filling this vacuum with lies for so long, saying that if you have an abortion, you’ll get cancer, or it’s the worst thing that’ll ever happen to you and you could die. We are countering the misinformation and straight-up lies that the anti-abortion movement has been putting out there.
How would you say abortion storytelling has changed since Dobbs?
It’s incredible that we’ve gotten to a point where we’ve had the highest number of candidates running for office who are sharing their own abortion stories. That is a huge shift, but we’re still dealing with the stigma of preferring certain types of stories over others. There’s still a focus on having abortions because of a medical or health diagnosis, and not on having an abortion just because you don’t want to be pregnant or your family is complete. All of those stories deserve to be heard equally. Politicians are not quite there yet.
We have also seen legislation that is looking to make it difficult for people to talk to their loved ones or people in their circles about wanting an abortion — criminalizing the helper, social-media companies turning over text messages and private communication to police, doctors and nurses turning people in after they disclose that they self-managed an abortion. That’s the goal: silencing us. And this is part of the larger history of abortion. The first time that you really saw abortion stories in the mainstream was newspapers writing about cases where police had coerced confessions from people whose doctors told them that they were about to die. Police would say, “If you don’t tell us who did this, we’re going to tell the newspapers your name. We’re going to tell your whole family and shame you.” People were scared and coerced into sharing information and testifying against their providers. When people died of septicemia and other complications, newspapers would print what they died of and their decision to have an abortion. It’s important for people to understand that the anti-abortion movement has always used these tactics to shame us into silence. But being able to speak freely about our abortions is a freedom-of-speech issue. It is a safety issue. It is a carceral issue.
Has We Testify changed the way it works with storytellers in light of all this?
We’ve always known that criminalization is a threat for our communities — especially because we organize with some of the most marginalized people among us. The threat was present before Dobbs and has grown since. So you don’t need to change strategies. We speak openly about the legal risks and ways to mitigate them. We have doubled down on telling storytellers about what is possible, making sure they have all the information about what risks they could face sharing their abortion story. Every situation is different. If there’s a storyteller who has an abusive partner, or has to engage with the state, or has been incarcerated or is undocumented, their risk level is going to look different. It’s up to them to make that decision. We borrow a lot from abortion counseling. We ask, “What are you concerned about? What kind of support do you need?” Some people are like, “I only want to do podcasts” or “I want to use an alias.” Some people are like, “Put me on TV,” and others say, “I only want to feel confident in being able to talk about this with the people in my life.” That’s all okay. There’s not one way to share your abortion story. They know their circumstances the best. It’s a matter of trusting them.
Trump is back in office. Not only is his administration stacked with anti-abortion officials, but he’s also emboldened conservative lawmakers across the country. What are your worries when it comes to the surveillance and safety of abortion storytellers right now?
The government has a lot that they can use to surveil us, and that’s quite terrifying. But people need to recognize that we can do a lot if we rise up and teach each other how to protect ourselves. It’s important that we use encrypted apps like Signal or talk to each other rather than texting everything. Don’t send messages about how to self-manage an abortion in Facebook Messenger or in Instagram DMs, because Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t fucking care about us. We know that Meta already turned over Facebook messages to the police. Those means of communication are not private.
I also think people don’t realize how much criminalization happens in a hospital. It’s really scary that providers will turn people in based on their own beliefs. Providers, nurses, social workers — all of them need to think about their role in the system. When someone is disclosing their abortion story to you, do you need to be documenting all of that? Do you need to collect information for the state? Can you stop your colleagues from turning that person in to the police? They will use whatever they want, but they can’t if we don’t turn each other in.
Post-Dobbs, there have been many women who very vulnerably, publicly, and repeatedly shared their stories of being denied abortion and miscarriage care, both to draw attention to the effects of anti-abortion laws and in hopes of getting Democrats elected. Do you think fewer will come forward in this political reality?
I don’t like reading tea leaves like that. People will make whatever decision they want. My mom kept her abortion a secret for nearly 50 years and didn’t even tell me until I’d been doing this work for four years. She then gave me the permission to include her abortion story — both in my book and in my congressional testimony, in which I shared the self-managed abortion protocol — because she was just tired of this shit. There are people who are going to look at the risk factors that they have and say, “This isn’t worth it. I’m going to keep myself safe.” That’s okay. And then there are people who are going to be like, “I’m sick of this. No, you don’t get to control me in this way.” We’ve seen an increase in people sharing their stories, and that has happened as restrictions have increased. People become more defiant.
One of the things we’ve spoken about before is the media overindexing on these stories of medical-emergency cases. Do you fear that the Overton window will continue to shift by prioritizing those cases in the public sphere versus the much more common experiences of other abortion seekers?
The media is looking for something that’s going to grab people’s attention, and those cases are out of the norm. People are having abortions because: I don’t want to be pregnant, my family’s complete, I don’t want a child right now. That is the norm. This is something that we saw pre-Roe in order to justify the legalization of abortion. There was a push to highlight abortion stories for pregnant folks when they took the medication thalidomide, which led to congenital disorders. It may have won us a part of legalization, sure, but I don’t think we ever really talk about what we’ve lost with this idea that there are only certain situations in which abortion is acceptable. We also damaged our relationship with the disability-justice community, because that narrative relies on this idea that some fetuses with disabilities are not worth saving. I believe deeply that everyone should be able to have an abortion at anytime, for any reason, anywhere in this country. And we can do a better job of sharing those abortion stories in a way that doesn’t harm people who are living with those disabilities today.
You already mentioned some of the practical ways in which people can protect themselves, such as using Signal. What are some other things they can do?
Think about the details that are essential or necessary. For folks who self-manage an abortion, it’s not necessary to name exactly who helped you. That could subject them to criminalization. Ask yourself: What is the essence of the story? What is the message that you want people to know? A friend showed up for me. My community had the resources and pills that I needed. You don’t need to say exactly what you did if you feel uncomfortable. It’s also important to recognize if there is any information in your story that others could use to harm you. Ask yourself what makes the most sense to share and what would keep you safest.
It’s your abortion story, and however much you decide to share is up to you. Every piece of it is valuable and a gift for you to share with other people. If you decide to say, “I had an abortion” and nothing else, that’s beautiful and more than enough.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
The Cut offers an online tool you can use to search by Zip Code for professional providers, including clinics, hospitals, and independent OB/GYNs, as well as for abortion funds, transportation options, and information for remote resources like receiving the abortion pill by mail. For legal guidance, contact Repro Legal Helpline at 844-868-2812 or the Abortion Defense Network.