| | | |  | | If you were to imagine a "typical" abortion patient, who would they be? Are they younger or older? Do they already have children? Are they religious? How do they feel about their abortion and, perhaps more important, the circumstances surrounding it? Is it someone you know? Is it you? This archetype of the "typical abortion patient" takes a lot of forms. In popular culture, she's a White teenager fretting over an unplanned pregnancy. In political discourse, she's an irresponsible 20-something, a traumatized would-be mother, a racist caricature. When our team was preparing for the Dobbs decision last spring, I couldn't stop thinking about these archetypes — and how far they are from reality. Statistically, most abortion patients are heterosexual women in their 20s who are unmarried and low-income. Most already have children, and a disproportionate number are Black women. An overwhelming majority tend to feel relief when the procedure is over. Though statistics and surveys can paint a broad picture, there are as many complex realities to abortion experiences as there are people who seek them. I wanted to find a way to tackle that perception gap — to reject those binaries and let abortion patients speak for themselves. The result of that reporting is a series of four comics depicting real people's abortions. I interviewed each person exhaustively about their experience, then turned our conversations into a script and story board for a comic series. I encouraged each source to dig into the complexities, contradictions and nuances that are often overlooked in politicized narratives of abortion. Each one is a reminder that abortion, as much as it exists in our collective imagination, is a real medical procedure that real people undergo every day. I'm honored to share their stories with you. | | | | | | Content from FX | | FX's Fleishman Is In Trouble |  | | Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody star in FX's Fleishman Is In Trouble, based on the New York Times bestselling novel. Streaming 11/17. Only in Hulu. | |  | | | | Three need-to-know stories | | | (Washington Post Illustration/iStock/Emily Elconin for The Washington Post) | 01.Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she has been "fighting like hell" to preserve access to abortion in Michigan at a "stark moment in America." Whitmer's Republican challenger, Tudor Dixon, has sought to play down the topic, saying that the procedure is "not an issue in the governor's race." The closely-watched race is nearing its end during a simultaneous push to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state's constitution through a direct vote, setting it apart from other marquee swing-state contests. 02.Oregon Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tina Kotek is one of two women who could become the country's first openly lesbian governor. But in this year's divisive climate, independent gubernatorial candidate Betsy Johnson has emerged as a third-party contender who, though unlikely to win, is appealing enough to left-leaning voters that she could siphon away crucial votes from Kotek. Oregon, recently considered a liberal bastion, may be at a political crossroads. 03.In addition to hundreds of congressional and state executive contests, voters will have the opportunity to weigh in on a variety of issues through ballot measures on Nov. 8. The measures range from enshrining abortion rights in state constitutions to recreational marijuana legalization and whether local governments can allow noncitizens to vote. Five states will vote on eliminating language in their state constitutions that allows slavery as punishment in prisons. | | | | | | | A story to make you smile | | | (Courtesy of Rosie Grant) | | The first time Rosie Grant baked a recipe she found etched on a stranger's gravestone, she made a batch of spritz cookies. From her kitchen in Takoma Park, Md., Grant mixed the batter in a big bowl. There were no instructions to follow, only a list of simple ingredients: butter, sugar, vanilla, an egg, flour, baking powder and salt. The cookies were heavenly. Since her initial foray into baking that gravestone recipe a year ago, she has made several other recipes she found in cemeteries across the country. Baking delicacies by the deceased has become somewhat of a hobby for Grant. It's unusual, to be sure, but fulfilling. She recorded the baking process and posted it on TikTok, "and it exploded," she said. She ended her TikTok with: "They're to die for." Read more from Sydney Page in The Post. | | | | | But before we part, here's someone to know | | | (Courtesy of Lauren Bulbin) | Lauren BulbinFeatures Photo Assignment Editor, The Washington PostWhat do you like about photography and photo editing? While I was training to be a fine artist, I was drawn to photography because it gives me the greatest ability to express my perspective of the world to others. Richard Avedon famously spoke about his photographs being more about how he saw his subjects rather than the truth. I think there is something inherently special about being able to show another person how you see them. More often than not, it's not how they see themselves. Ultimately, I became a photo editor to support other artists in achieving that same expression which originally attracted me to photography. What's your plan for midterm election night? My family and I will be watching the results, eating popcorn, and proudly wearing "I voted" stickers. Coffee or tea? Coffee, as much as humanly possible. | | | | | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment