Destiny Lopez on the power of abortion storytelling at #CSW69

Transcript: Ten years ago, I would argue we weren't really saying the "A word."  

Because of abortion storytellers, we are now talking and saying abortion. We have people out there telling their stories. It's something that I believe is a win because of grassroots folks, folks who are willing to share their stories, groups like We Testify, groups like Advocates for Youth, who were out in front early with storytelling. And that storytelling not only powered the movement, it powered policy wins throughout this country.  

Again, I fear that we will go back. I think we'll still tell our stories, but I hope we won't exceptionalize stories. Right? I think there's a win there and there's a lot of lessons learned about how we cannot hide, because we will not win if we hide. And so I really draw a lot of inspiration from storytellers, from this notion that I think is really accessible to folks, that everybody loves someone who had an abortion and I think that that in some ways has really driven the uptick in the wins that we have had, whether that's on the state level or at the federal level. But I really do think that just seeing in the lifetime of my career within this movement, that shift where we took abortion out of the shadows because people took abortion out of the shadows, to me, feels like a huge victory.