Our History:

The Abortion Conversation Project was founded in 2000 to create strategies to challenge the stigma surrounding abortion. ACP was originally conceived as the 501(c)(3) sister to the National Coalition for Abortion Providers, a lobbying and trade organization for independent abortion providers. In July of 2008, both organizations joined forces to form the Abortion Care Network, a 501(c)(3) not for profit that expanded the abortion care community around independent providers and harnessed the energy generated by our "open and honest" conversations.

In the first 8 years of its existence, ACP created several initiatives that addressed abortion stigma. With the co-sponsorship of Exhale, we brought together researchers, mental health professionals, clergy, and providers to create an agenda to promote post abortion emotional health, a term that we coined. From this came greater attention to the real needs of women post abortion and to assessing risk factors women may have for poor outcomes. Independent providers were eager to incorporate assessment tools and intervention strategies into their practice and the handout Healthy Coping After an Abortion has become an essential resource for clinic staff and patients. ACP collaborated with the Religious Coalition of Reproductive Choice to develop a curriculum on reproductive loss for their clergy training program. ACP also distributed the workbook, A Guide to Emotional and Spiritual Resolution After an Abortion for the Pregnancy Options Workbooks, www.pregnancyoptions.info.

Another initiative was the Mom, Dad I'm Pregnant project which resulted in a website www.momdadimpregnant.org and two handouts, one for parents and one for the young people involved in an unintended pregnancy. To our knowledge, it is the only resource for this particular crisis in family communication. Similarly, we worked with the creators of www.menandabortion.com to create a handout called Especially for Men. All three handouts are being offered to patients in member clinics of the Abortion Care Network and via the internet. They are downloadable in our articles section; for bulk copies contact ACN at www.abortioncarenetwork.org.

The Abortion Conversation Project sponsored Abortion Conversations in Texas, Florida, and the Northwest (2005-2007) in an effort to create a space where providers and prochoice allies, including clergy, activists, academics, students, and health professionals, could come together to talk openly and honestly about abortion. We have found that people need to understand each other's work and perspectives in a tolerant atmosphere where people can ask questions without risk.

The Abortion and Spirituality Working Group brought together clergy and abortion counselors to explore training aids, handouts, and strategies to assist women with spiritual concerns about an abortion experience. We offered several workshops on this topic. We are delighted to report that this initiative has largely been continued by Faith Aloud (www.faithaloud.org), a national "religious and ethical voice for reproductive justice."

In merging most of our activities and products into the Abortion Care Network, we have consolidated our previous efforts into training abortion providers and distributing our materials. In 2007, we sponsored Krista Jacob, editor of the anthologies, Abortion Without Apology and Abortion Under Attack to speak at the Abortion Care Network conference. We endowed a lecture by Kate Cosby Cockrill on stigma at the Abortion Care Network conference in 2010. Ms. Cockrill is a researcher at ANSIRH (Advancing New Standards In Reproductive Health) at UCLA-Berkeley.

Now we are re-visioning ACP's work in challenging cultural stigma about abortion. We expect to offer an interactive exploration of how stigma affects us all and how we can create cultural change on this intractable issue. To keep in touch with our plans, please sign up for our mailing list here.