Name: Lily Rosenthal
Social Justice Group: 2022-2023, Reproductive Rights/Abortion
Date of Fieldwork: January 20, 2023
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Jane Kaufman
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :
On Friday January 20th, we interviewed Jane Kaufman, an abortion provider in NYC. She has worked there since November 2014 and loves what she does. Jane talked to us about who she works with and the people that she has provided abortions for. In the state of New York, minors are not required to take an adult with them to get an abortion, although most she worked with did come with one. She has performed abortions on women as young as eleven years old and as old as fifty. One patient even came with a friend from Texas where abortion is now illegal.
Jane is demonstrating activism by performing a service that isn’t legal everywhere nor accessible to all. By working on a sliding scale she is also helping make abortion available to those who can’t afford it. This also reminds me that activism can happen behind the scenes; it’s not always something one can see.
