Name: Penelope Schab
Social Justice Group: 2022-2023, Reproductive Rights/Abortion
Date of Fieldwork: February 9, 2023
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Tara Haelle
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?:
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.
