Editorial: Abortion rights triumphed from coast to coast on women’s vote in 2012
“I am so proud! I cried! I am on cloud 9 now!”
As I sat in her apartment, surrounded by a veritable sea of flowers and surrounded by a veritable sea of love, my friend, Sarah, beamed, waved and spoke over the phone to her pregnant friend, Taryn, who she had just met that morning. Sarah, Taryn and I have known each other since high school, and Taryn has been part of my abortion activism for several years now. Sarah had recently had a miscarriage, and Taryn and I were there when she became pregnant the second time, in 2011.
Taryn and I, along with another friend, Kate, had just flown to San Francisco (which Sarah was also going to), and planned to stay for the weekend, before going to their respective cities to support abortion rights in court and on the streets.
This was their first time meeting each other again after all the years of friendship, and I was excited to see their faces again. We had not had a chance to do anything together for several weeks, and Taryn and Kate were making plans for a long weekend – in San Francisco, Kate told me later – that took them away from New Orleans and their lives together, to go to a play somewhere in California, and then to a local museum, where their two dogs, Tilly and Boo, would be with them for the evening.
I had a job to do, and so I came out to meet them at the airport. They were so welcoming – Taryn’s mother was there to greet me, and her family and her friends stood in the arrivals hall to see us off. I walked with Taryn, my camera and MacBook Pro in hand. I could see a few people in the waiting room, but most were at the back of the plane, and I felt comfortable, because my pregnancy and my life had always been the most open with the people of the world. I was carrying Taryn’s baby.
That night, with the four of us together, in San Francisco, we all went to a local restaurant to celebrate my daughter’s birthday, and also to celebrate a birthday for Sarah, whose birthday is the same day as my daughter’s. It was a beautiful night. I was on my