“when i was a teenager, i fell in love with a much older man. i thought we would be together forever, so when i realized i was several months pregnant i was sure he would see it as something to bring us together. i wasn’t shocked at the suggestion of an abortion, but the way he began to treat me as a transaction hurt. he took me to a different town across the state and spent the whole drive back explaining why it was my fault we had to break things off.

years later, i remembered the pain of that heartache but remain grateful that i was able to have the abortion. i couldn’t had had a child with that man, nor been able to be a parent. because of access to safe medical abortion, i was able to graduate from college and live my life as a transgender non-binary person. abortion is a transgender issue, too.”

jae is shown outside a real crisis pregnancy center in boston, similar to one jae’s mother volunteered at at the time of their pregnancy. jae is draped in white voile to represent the stifling isolation of abortion stigma.

joy mosenfelder is a non-profit communications professional and an aspiring photographer based out of boston, massachusetts. she is someone who has had an abortion. joy grew up in a small town, right on the coastline of lake michigan. she is proud to have turned her lifelong interest in human rights and social justice into a career doing mission-driven work and amplifying the voices of others.