The Beyoncé of Abortion Storytelling

season 1, episode 8

January 19, 2021

Illustration by Carla Camoglio

On this episode, Renee Bracey Sherman, founder of We Testify talks about abortion storytelling and why it is so important to center the experiences of people who have had abortions, particularly those who have been historically marginalised in reproductive healthcare. In this episode, we’ll be discussing the intersection of abortion and race, challenging narratives of the anti-abortion movement in the USA, and looking at how abortion is represented in TV.

Renee Bracey Sherman (she/her) has been hailed as the ‘Beyoncé of Abortion Storytelling.’ She’s a Chicago-born, midwest-raised activist, writer and reproductive justice activist committed to the visibility and representation of people who have abortions in media and pop culture. She is among the most vital voices in the elevating the conversation about abortion experiences, and using creative and innovative strategies to shift the conversation centering people of color and other marginalized identities. She’s popularized the phrase “everyone loves someone who had an abortion,” coined ‘abortionsplaining,’ and created the #AskAboutAbortion campaign which has led to U.S. presidential candidates being asked questions about their plans to increase abortion access. Her work is so influential that the right-wing website Twitchy recognizes her as “the queen of all abortions” and once wrote that Renee “never met an abortion she didn’t love.”

Links:
Renee Bracey Sherman
Renee’s instagram: @reneebraceysherman
Twitter: @RBraceySherman
We Testify
What is Reproductive Justice? Sistersong
Abortion Onscreen Research Project by Gretchen Sisson & Steph Herold
Movies & Series mentioned: Insecure, Dear White People, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Unpregnant, Little Woods, St. Francis, Please Like Me, Little Fires Everywhere, Scandal, Claws