Our Group met with Tara Haelle. She lives in Texas and used to be a high school teacher, but is now a Journalist. She told us about multiple experiences she’s had, but a lot of them relate back to her high school teaching experience. For instance, she had a student who was pregnant and who didn’t know what a IUD was, and when she tried to explain, the student asked where a uterus is, and when Tara finished explaining, there were nine students listening in. These students that she talked about came from a religious background, and would not have gotten an abortion anyway, but they didn’t even know what it was. This shows the importance of sexual health class because there are so many students that are just uneducated, and therefore do not consider the option of an abortion.

Another story that really struck me was the story of an ex-student of hers that came to her after she had stopped teaching there. What Tara told us is that this student had come to her after becoming pregnant by sex work. She said that this young woman’s life was practically falling apart due to her uncle dying and her aunt who was a drug addict sold the uncle’s house where she had previously lived, forcing her to go to the streets. She resorted to sex work and ended up getting pregnant. Tara was trying to help her get an abortion because they live in Texas where it is illegal to get one, and was considering flying this woman to a state where you could get one.

Tara also told us that one of her old friends had married a politician. She talked to us about what this person believed and how mind-boggling it was to her. The politician was trying to get a law signed saying that if you get an abortion, in this case specifically in Texas, the death penalty would be the punishment.

All of these examples really motivated me to learn more about this topic. All of these stories really impacted my understanding and passion for this topic.

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On January 20 my group interviewed Jane Kaufman about her experience as an abortion provider. For almost a decade she has been providing abortions to women in need, but has noticed a spike in requests since Dobbs was ruled.
Over zoom, my group and I talked with Jane Kaufman about the difference now that Roe has been overturned. Jane Kaufman told us about her experiences as a provider and a few stories about women in need. She told us two stories which really struck me.the first was that she once had to perform an abortion on an 11 year old girl, and the second was that she had to perform an abortion on a young woman who had come all the way from Texas, a state where it is illegal to get one. She also told us something really interesting that she noticed, which is that most people that come to get an abortion already have a child. When she came into this field of work she expected it to be more teenagers and people in college. These stories that she shared with us reflected the complicated complications people must go through when performing abortions or need one.
She shared with us the devastating impact that Dobbs had had on her and her co-workers. She had Covid-19 at the time that Dobbs was ruled, and when she got back to work everything was different. Everyday, she told us, pro-lifers stand outside of her work and terrorize her and her co-workers. She told us that everyone at that firm had to get security training to deal with the protesters.
Because of what she shared, my group and I were able to get a better picture of what it would be like to work at a job that is only legal in some parts of the country.

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