At the 2022 Glamour Women of the Year ceremony, Aid Access founder and director Dr. Rebecca Gomperts was honored for her work providing tens of thousands of women with access to medication abortion across America—from her headquarters in Amsterdam.
The impact of the activist-doctor was perfectly summed up by actor and podcast host Busy Philipps, who presented Gomperts with her award at the Tuesday, November 1, ceremony. “I had this realization a long time ago, but simply existing as a woman in this country and in many, many countries is a political act,” Philipps said. “When I had an abortion at 15, I truly didn’t know that I would spend so much fucking time talking about it 25 years later. It’s not what I imagined when I pretended to do my late-night interviews in my car as I drove to high school, and here we are. Like a lot of you in this room, I was raised thinking that Roe was the law. It was settled. It would never be overturned.
“I have a mother who remembered the time before and had friends and told me about it,” she added. “I had a mother who fiercely protected me and took me for my abortion. Thank God for my fucking mother. So we’re also privileged. We get to live in New York, in LA. And even if we don’t, we can pay for it here in this room and maybe for those watching at home.”
Philipps continued, “Today it is every single one of our jobs to make sure—no matter how safe you think your own rights are, your personal access to abortion is—that we show up and fight like hell to ensure that every person in this country who wants an abortion is able to easily and safely access one. People expect me to be full of rageful and screaming about the audacity of anti-choice politicians—men and women who are not doctors, some who have never been pregnant, and who, let’s be real, probably couldn’t find the clit if you paid them. But rage only gets you so far. Right now I’m much more interested in hope and creativity. As is Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, founder and director of Aid Access, Women on Waves, and Women on Web. Rebecca uses imagination, ingenuity, and innovation to provide abortion information and access to anyone who needs it, and we could not be more grateful.”
When Dr. Gomperts took the stage, she talked about her ongoing work to help keep abortions accessible for people everywhere. Below, read her speech in full:
