When 22-year-old Jessy first learned she was pregnant, she was in shock. At the time, she was a junior at the University of California, Riverside, the president of her campus chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action, and a reproductive rights activist. Still, she said she never quite imagined herself as someone who might someday be fighting for her own right to have an abortion.
"I just didn’t know what to do for myself even though I knew what I would always tell others," Jessy told Teen Vogue. "Knowing that what was inside me kept growing as time progressed really did take an emotional toll on me, my grades, my social life… it wasn’t until after I got my abortion that I got some sort of relief.
Jessy was ultimately able to get an abortion, and now she is one of 13 young people between the ages of 17 and 24 who will be participating in Youth Testify. The new leadership program being launched by Advocates for Youth and the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) is specifically for young people who have had abortions and want to share their stories to change the conversation around abortion and combat misinformation. “Because of all the hurdles I had to go through with insurance, I had to play the waiting game for so long, and because there’s so much stigma surrounding abortion, I was ashamed and didn’t try to reach out for more help,” Jessy told Teen Vogue.
Having more accessible and comprehensive healthcare, that includes a clinic with abortion pill access near or on campuses, could make all the difference to young people who need more immediate abortion care, Jessy told Teen Vogue. Currently, many students have to travel off campus to obtain an abortion. It’s reportedly unclear how many campuses across the country offer students access to medication abortions, though a past survey of 139 schools found that only one college provided the health service. California could soon be the first state to require public campuses to provide medication abortions, however. At schools that don’t offer abortion services, students may have to travel long distances or spend hours on public transportation to reach a clinic, which may be a barrier to accessing the reproductive care. That’s why, Jessy said, she feels that it’s important for young people to not only have the healthcare they require available on campus, but also the tools to speak out about what they need.
Youth Testify aims to provide these resources, and simultaneously reframe the narrative around abortion by giving platform to some of the most vulnerable abortion storytellers — particularly people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with varying abilities and citizenship statuses. The goal of the program, according to the NNAF, is to show that young people who have had abortions are the experts on reproductive rights as well as the experts of their own experiences, and must be trusted with making decisions without anyone else’s permission. The participants come from states all over the country including California, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, and have had anywhere from 1 to 3 abortions. Through a range of trainings, including community organizing trainings, and teachings on how to bring attention to the financial and logistical barriers to abortion that young people, the participants will learn how to tell their own stories while gaining a deeper understanding of abortion and reproductive rights so they can uplift and fight for others who face challenging circumstances.
Truly accessible reproductive healthcare for young people is limited, according to a Tiller Fund report released in 2017. The report, based on funding data from the National Network of Abortion Funds, points to the fact that the bodily autonomy of young people suffers when access to abortion is restricted. Restrictions like parental consent laws make abortion care even harder for young people to obtain than for adults seeking the same or similar procedures. The report also shows that the cost to obtain an abortion is significantly higher for minors than for adults.
Veronika and Co, two other participants in Youth Testify who are both from Texas and were both under the age of 18 at the time they sought their respective abortions, both faced a barrier specific to young people seeking abortions. Both said they had to seek a judicial bypass in order to be granted the ability to get an abortion, and both sought and received help from Jane’s Due Process, an organization providing legal help for pregnant minors, to navigate it.
Through judicial bypass, a judge is ultimately held responsible for deciding whether a young person is mature enough to choose an abortion for themselves. According to Advocates for Youth, the procedures are based on “unclear legal criteria” and create a double standard for young people, by forcing them to prove they’re “mature” enough before they may choose an abortion but not have a child.
And although Veronika, a 19-year-old Latina woman, was ultimately granted the right to an abortion without approval from a parent or guardian, it didn’t make the process any less nerve-wracking. “It was stressful emotionally because I was really scared they would say no,” Veronika told Teen Vogue. But she also wants the world to know how much relief and joy her ability to get an abortion has brought her, and that she has no regrets. “It was the best, most mature decision I made in my life, because I got to determine my future. I made a decision for myself and for a child, that I wasn’t ready emotionally, mentally, or financially.”
Co, a 19-year-old black woman, also felt uneasy about having to seek a judicial bypass, but her faith in God, she said, is what carried her through. “At first even before I decided I was going to go through with it, I was like, ‘Wow this is crazy to do, why do I have to go to a judge to make a choice that’s already mine?’ I didn’t want to go through it because it was embarrassing,” she said. “It felt embarrassing to have to go to a stranger and tell someone about a decision I want to make with my life.” Still, after all was said and done, she was able to get the procedure, and now feels moved to use her abortion story to speak to other Christians or religious people who would try to shame people about seeking or having an abortion. “It’s about having faith and trusting [God]. But I would really just want to tell them you are not wrong for making a decision for your life,” she told Teen Vogue, explaining that she understands why religious people struggle with stigma surrounding abortion, but that she believes God trusts each person with their own lives, and ultimately, it’s no one else’s place to judge.
Due to the breadth of experiences the Youth Testify participants have faced, the cohort challenges more stereotypical narratives surrounding the “kind” of person who gets an abortion. Youth Testify untangles the narrative that any one “kind” of person gets an abortion. Additionally, providing the tools and courage to speak truth to power to young people from a variety of backgrounds and experiences makes way for more real, nuanced stories and gives space to the gray area where many different kinds of abortion stories have been shut out and kept in the dark.
Ultimately, the program gives its participants the confidence to tell the world what they want us to know — and the participants want the world to know that everyone who gets an abortion has a personal, specific experience.
Jordyn Close, a black woman and abortion storyteller from Ohio is especially passionate about dispelling the myth that finding out you’re pregnant and proceeding to get an abortion must be a harrowing or debilitating experience. For her, the process of getting an abortion involved simply waiting several weeks for her next paycheck to afford the procedure. From there, the process was relatively simple, and much more straightforward what many people go through.
For Jordyn, who went in and out, made casual conversation with her doctors while they performed the procedure, and then treated herself to Raising Cane’s for chicken before returning home to once again watch TV and relax, it was a mostly normal day. Although Jordyn recognizes that the way her abortion story panned out is not always the norm, the ease she experienced is what she ultimately wants every person to have the opportunity to have.
“I just want there to be accessibility and intersectional accessibility. If we’re talking about access, that means something completely different to me, or another black woman,” Jordyn said. “If there are more clinics, that’s great, but how are people paying? How are people getting to those? How are people taking care of their kids if they already have kids waiting at home? There’s just so many other aspects that people don’t think about.”
Beyond inaccessibility, the federal protection to legal abortion may be at stake. The potential appointment of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh could wind back the clock on years of progress for the reproductive rights landscape should the validity of Roe v. Wade come back before the courts.
Apart from investing in youth abortion storytellers' leadership and visibility, Youth Testify wants to set the record straight and challenge the notion that young people can’t speak for themselves.
Deb Hauser, President of Advocates for Youth, feels strongly about empowering young people in particular, which is why she has pushed to implement these kinds of programs. “Young people are leading the way on every fight worth having. Whether they are marching for gun control, police reform, immigrants’ rights, LGBTQ health and rights, racial justice or reproductive justice, young people are mobilizing for a more just and equitable world,” she told Teen Vogue. “Our job is to provide them with the tools and support they need to make their vision a reality.”
The program officially launches on September 12, 2018, and will run through July 2019. Yamani Hernandez, the executive director of Advocates for Youth’s partner in the program, National Network of Abortion Funds, said that young people have always been on the front lines of protecting abortion access throughout history, and now is no exception. “We’ve seen recently how young people like the young woman at the center of the #JusticeforJane case have had their age, as well as race and immigration status, used against them to deny them access to healthcare,”she told Teen Vogue. “It’s time that our movement leaves no one behind and centers those who are most marginalized, and uplift their voices in media and organizing.”
Related: Lady Parts Justice League Fights Anti-Abortion Stigma With Humor
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