This post was written by Sarah Moeller, Senior Director of External Affairs at The Brigid Alliance.
This week we’re mourning the passing of Gloria Steinem – who coined the phrase “reproductive freedom” and was a tireless force for feminism and abortion rights throughout her inspiring and impactful life.
As a journalist, Gloria reported on an abortion speakout in New York in 1969 and co-founded Ms. Magazine in 1972, which covered abortion restrictions nationwide and still, to this day, provides an important platform for people speaking out about abortion access, gender equality, and dignity for everyone. Her decades of leadership and dedication to reproductive rights and equality have been transformative, and her dogged persistence has personally inspired me in my own advocacy and work.
She dedicated her 2015 book, My Life On the Road, to Dr. John Sharpe, who performed the illegal abortion she had in London in 1957 while traveling to India at 22 years old for a fellowship that would shape the rest of her life and activism. For many years she felt guilt and shame, but later she realized there was no shame in taking control of her own life.
Nearly 70 years later, thousands of people are still forced to travel long distances for abortion care, but now organizations like The Brigid Alliance are there to provide logistical, emotional, and financial support to minimize trauma and hardship.
Every person we help get to care today is walking a path Gloria and others helped to pave. We get people to abortion care, whatever it takes – in part because of Gloria Steinem’s years of working hard, speaking out, and fighting for equality, without apology.
We will continue pushing forward and building on the legacy that Gloria leaves behind. May she rest in power.