“Can we finally stop whispering about it?”, asks Elizabeth Kissling at the start of From a Whisper to a Shout: Abortion Activism and Social Media (p. 12). Although abortion has been a constitutional right in the United States for 46 years, Kissling argues that the procedure has become even more stigmatised and shamed since Roe v. Wade – the US Supreme Court case overturning criminal abortion laws and restrictions based on the right to privacy – was decided in 1973. This book proposes to define abortion stigma and review the feminist organisations and social movements actively combatting stigma through abortion storytelling.
From this premise an important distinction must be made between stigma, which is socially imposed, and shame, which is felt at an individual level. Kissling’s somewhat blurred distinction between the two emphasises how inextricably linked these concepts are. Yet stigma and shame are not exclusive to abortion. Rather, Kissling argues that there is a “norm of silence” around all reproductive experiences that challenge patriarchal notions of motherhood, such as miscarriages and childlessness (p. 38). This important point highlights that it is not abortion itself that places women’s reproductive bodies at the centre of social and political debates, but rather entrenched societal expectations of femininity and womanhood. Nonetheless, Kissling refers in this first chapter to the political power of abortion stigma, which facilitates legislative changes that are detrimental to reproductive health and rights. It is these outcomes, as well as the scale of negative emotions felt by the stigmatised, that prompt Kissling to dedicate this book to five case studies in the fight against abortion stigma.
In chapter two, Kissling identifies what ties the five case studies together: raising consciousness through storytelling (p. 44). She cites a strong tradition of feminist movements telling stories to mobilise for a cause and push for major policy changes. Kissling argues that disclosing one’s abortion in private or public “has become a vital mechanism of stigma busting in the twenty-first century” (p. 46). Although this is an accurate introduction to the significance of the recent movement to destigmatise abortion, this chapter reads more like a manifesto – albeit a compelling one – than a theoretical framework within which to analyse her case studies.
The case studies of #ShoutYourAbortion (SYA) and the Lady Parts Justice League (LPJL) are given a chapter each. Despite the space given to these case studies, Kissling’s discussion is more “tell” than “show”. While SYA’s tweets and LPJL’s satirical videos are evidently methods of consciousness raising, the connection between these activities and abortion stigma could be more explicit in the text. Indeed, the word “stigma” is not used in chapter four until the final page (p. 120). Although tacit in parts, Kissling uses this space to make strong arguments in response to abortion stigma: “[even tweets] that erroneously label abortion ‘murder’ or ‘baby killing’ are more focused on shaming women for having abortions than justice for dead babies or restitution” (p. 81). It is in these ardent – almost emotionally charged – declarations that Kissling is most effective.
The penultimate chapter encompasses the three remaining case studies: We Testify (a programme of the National Network of Abortion Funds), The Abortion Diary podcast and the 1 in 3 Campaign. Similarly to the discussions of SYA and LPJL, Kissling explains their organisational strategies and how they are influential. Her hurried review of these case studies prevents Kissling from fully applying her conceptual framework to abortion stigma, but it does allow her to emphasise the scope of ongoing destigmatisation efforts, which is perhaps the overall intent of From a Whisper to a Shout.
Kissling concludes by asking “who tells the [abortion] story?” (p. 158). In this final chapter, she discusses the #AskYourMother hashtag, which encouraged people to ask their mothers if they had an abortion to promote open dialogue about the procedure. Kissling argues that this approach is invasive and takes ownership of the abortion narrative away from those who have had abortions - like abortion stigmatisation in popular culture and the frequently hostile working conditions of abortion clinics. These examples underscore her main point that abortion storytelling is necessary to end abortion stigma. This argument is an effective summary of the question that From a Whisper to a Shout attempts to answer: is abortion destigmatisation an end, or a means to an end?
From a Whisper to a Shout offers a way forward from the post-Roe abortion stigma: abortion storytelling. Kissling insists that “silence lets abortion opponents write the story” (p. 172) and the interspersed discussions of US abortion restrictions demonstrate this reality. Although the connection between storytelling and social change is not fully developed, this book has an undeniable sense of reclamation. From a Whisper to a Shout is a timely declaration that the abortion narrative will no longer be defined by those who oppose it.