A Powerful New Comic Book Takes Aim at Abortion Stigma

[niyad]

A Powerful New Comic Book Takes Aim at Abortion Stigma


Even where it’s legal and accessible, abortion can often be a difficult process. The procedure can be emotionally complicated and the stigma that hangs around abortion can make it feel fraught. In a powerful new illustrated book, Not Funny Ha-Ha, writer and artist Leah Hayes sheds light on what it’s like to get an abortion. As the title makes clear, this comic is not funny. But it is insightful, empathetic, and educational. Not Funny Ha-Ha follows the stories of two women who are getting abortions—one medical and one surgical—and weaves their personal thoughts around hand-drawn text explaining straight-forward information and science about how abortion works. This is likely not a light beach-read comic you’d pick up for fun, but a serious work that aims to ease anxiety and bring clarity to a procedure that one in three women will undergo during her life.

As a clearly educational resource, this book would be a welcome addition to Planned Parenthood waiting rooms and high school sex-ed classes. I also think it could help readers of all stripes learn about abortion through a non-judgmental lens: As numerous studies have shown, hearing stories about people who have gotten abortions helps reduce stigma against the procedure.

Not Funny Ha-Ha comes out in August, but Fantagraphics gave us permission to run a sneak-peek excerpt from the book. If you like this excerpt, you can pre-order the book here.



. . . . .

http://bitchmagazine.org/post/a-powerful-new-comic-book-takes-aim-at-abortion-stigma

[BlancheSplanchnik]

1. SAVING!

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Does it explain why recent Repugs have a pathological obsession with abortion ?

'Cause that's where real education is needed. (It wasn't always that way, you know.)

[canuckledragger]

3. Because it's a divisive issue that rakes in the campaign $'s

Politics of division is what the republican party is all about, and abortion is an emotional issue they can always rely on to divide people and get that cash flowing to their campaigns.

That, and they can get their religious conmen to rile up their followers and paint the whole thing in a bullshit good vs. evil fight.

Then there's the controlling women angle along with providing lots of desperate poor folks to fight their wars for them...

[niyad]

4. and don't forget the sheer, insane hatred for women that is the basis for this bs.