On December 9th, 2016, my group and I interviewed a lady named Anne Bailey. Anne is a young woman who works with an organization called Pro-Choice America. Pro-Choice America is also known as NARAL. Anne is Pro-Choice America Deputy Field Director. NARAL is an organization that is made up of pro-choice women and men across the United States. Those men and women work on protecting and expanding reproductive freedom.

During our interview with Anne, my group and I asked her many questions. For example, we asked Anne how she felt about Texas burying aborted fetuses and do you think that it should be a law in Texas? She responded by saying that she believes that it isn’t a right law because it is used to shame women after they have an abortion. Anne also stated that some women go through difficult situations when it comes to having an abortion and making them bury the fetus remains is inhumane. I agree with a lot with Anne and her belief against Texas wanting to bury fetuses. The fetus is already disposed of in a safe and clean way. This is something that doesn’t relate to women and their health. Like Anne said, the law was just something made to shame women. Many women go through a lot and it is hard for them to have an abortion. Making them bury the fetus would be so hard for them. It would make them feel guilty and that is an incredibly wrong thing to do. I think that I really want to look into this future Texas law because it can hurt women in so many different ways. I want to look into how my group and I can help end it.
Also, we learned about a volunteer opportunity that my group and I can be involved with. Anne explained to us at some abortion clinics, there are people that wear vests and they escort women to the clinic. They do this because there are some people that are against women having abortions outside of clinics and at times they could put the woman in jeopardy. Sometimes women are yelled at by anti-choice supporters. Clinic escorts are used as “shields” and protect the women from any potential danger. My group and I learned about this and thought that it was really interesting and perhaps as a future fieldwork, we can volunteer as clinic escorts. We would love to help women safely have an abortion.
My group and I discovered a lot of information about current events such as how we can help women who are having abortions and more. I definitely think that my social justice group and I could use a lot of the information that we gained from this fieldwork. One thing that I am definitely keeping in mind is how Texas’ future law is actually shaming women about having an abortion. I think that it is something that shows others that people are very devoted to making women feel ashamed about their decision. It is something that really shows why our topic is important and why people shouldn’t be able to control someone else’s body. I would love to keep researching about Texas’ law and see what will happen for the women who live there. I would also like to research the other states and their laws. I would like to know what laws they already have, will make, why and when! Interviewing Anne has helped us gain more knowledge about women’s reproductive rights and had a lot of fun talking to her.

This is NARAL Pro-Choice America’s logo. This is from their website called prochoiceamerica.org. Anne Bailey works here!