At a recent rally in Nashville, Tennessee, Planned Parenthood organizer Julie Edwards looked out at some of the “back-alley abortion” imagery on signs, including bloody coat hangers. Edwards reminded the crowd, driven into the streets by the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 decision on abortion rights, that it’s not like the old days before Roe v. Wade.
Nearly a decade ago, Edwards was a teenager and got medication from older friends to end an unintended pregnancy.
“I’m standing in front of you having had a self-managed abortion, having gotten abortion pills from people in my community. And I’m safe,” Edwards said to cheers. “It’s going to take all of us to keep each other’s secrets, to hold each other’s hands, to keep each other safe.”
