Dr. Rebecca Gomperts speaks at USC: abortion activism across borders

Inside the Ray Stark Family Theatre at the University of Southern California, dreadful news headlines were displayed on the screen. They read – “Poland abortion: Top court bans almost all terminations,” “Istanbul hospitals refuse abortions as government’s attitude hardens,” “Hungary tightens abortion access with listen to ‘foetal heartbeat’ rule,” and “Putin’s Next Target Is Russia’s Abortion Culture.” These headlines capture the increasingly dreadful reality threatening abortion access, spanning the years from 2015 to the present.

Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, Dutch physician and unwavering activist-artist for human rights took to the podium. An atmosphere charged with anticipation enveloped the audience.

The Visions and Voices team organized this event, which included a Q&A session facilitated by Roski School of Art and Design professor Amelia Jones. It was also co-sponsored by the InterArts Council.

“I think fear is the most killing thing. Fear is causing self-censorship and it’s killing every advancement,” said Dr. Rebecca Gomperts reflecting upon how she was able to always carry a degree of playfulness throughout her activism.

Dr. Gomperts studied medicine and the visual arts in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Her steadfast credentials as a doctor, combined with the daringness of a creative, propelled her abortion access campaigns forward.

In an insightful moment during the Q&A session, when Professor Jones questioned whether the fight for abortion access consists of many “micro strategies of a specific place and time,” Gomperts replied promptly, “I don’t think so, to be honest, I think you need systematic change.”

The pathway to systemic change unfolds as multidimensional activism persists forward, presenting alternative, better-functioning societies to the public. Throughout the years, Gomperts founded numerous platforms to provide women with abortion access, these include Women on Waves in 1999, followed by Women on Web in 2005, and Aid Access in 2018. The ingenuity and tactfulness of campaigns undertaken by these platforms serve as inspiration for activists of every stripe, demanding careful study.

These were highly visual campaigns that reached those seeking abortions worldwide. Markedly, the series of abortion ship campaigns as they became known took place between 2001 and 2017.

In the first of the Abortion Ship Campaigns by Women on Waves, Gomperts, along with an almost entirely female crew sailed a Dutch ship for two days into the international waters of Ireland, which as a country had the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe then. Gomperts had converted the ship into a complete reproductive health clinic, providing medical abortions as well as the abortion pill.

While in the Netherlands abortion became fully legalized on November 1, 1984 — allowing selective abortion care up to 24 weeks of gestation — the legal landscape looked more dire in many other countries.

Ireland, at the time, had just added an Eighth Amendment to the Republic’s constitution recognizing the life of the pregnant individual and the unborn as seen as equal, which meant a near complete ban on abortion. Though there had been challenges to the amendment throughout the years, they saw minimal progress.

To the surprise of all, during this first attempt, the number of patients requesting services far exceeded the supply of mifepristone pills onboard. The team ended up not providing any abortion pills, but they kept their hotline open, providing counseling services and accurate information about clinics abroad.

While Gomperts dismissed her Ireland campaign as a semi-failure in her talk, the lessons learned from the trial aided subsequent campaigns in Poland (2003), Portugal (2004), Spain (2008), Morocco (2012), Guatemala (2-2017) and Mexico (4-2017), providing so many patients with safe, medical abortions on board.

It was in the 1980s when French researchers first developed mifepristone (also known as RU-486) to be taken days apart with misoprostol, an existing drug used to treat stomach ulcers, for medical abortion care. Mifepristone, taken first by mouth, dilates the cervix and blocks the hormone progesterone, which is needed to sustain a pregnancy. Then Misoprostol is taken 24 to 48 hours later. The pill would dissolve when placed between the gums and teeth or in the vagina. This makes the uterus cramp and contract, causing bleeding and expelling pregnancy tissue.

Despite the safeness and effectiveness of the two-pill regimen, as confirmed by more than 100 scientific studies, spanning continents and decades, both were immediately banned in many countries. In the U.S., for example, the FDA only approved mifepristone for medication abortion as of September 28, 2000. Even then, many people face obstacles in accessing the pills.

To tackle doubts and stigma associated with abortion pills, Gomeprts organized other campaigns in tandem. There was the Abortion Pill Train (2014), the Abortion Drone (2016) and the Abortion Robot (2018). Internationally, these moments of fierce defiance and transgression fixed the visuals of women swallowing the pill into the public memory.

Gomperts used any platform possible.

“It was only through doing [these campaigns] that we really started questioning the enormous revolutionary power of the abortion pills. With the pills, it’s so safe. You don’t need any providers, you’re not dependent on anybody,” said Gomperts.

Imagine a world where abortion privacy and abortion pill access are fundamental human rights.

Dr. Gomperts engages the notion that individuals are entitled to more than a single abortion. In the future, as people with a uterus gain control over their reproductive choices, they will have the freedom to choose abortion pills over contraception and reclaim the right to safe DIY abortions.

When the conversation opened up to the audience, Halo Starling, a first-year PhD student in the Media Arts and Practice program in the School of Cinematic Arts shared their experience of having gone through an abortion in 2015 and then coming out as a trans person in 2016.

In 2015, Starling had been living in New York City. Two weeks into their pregnancy, a missing period alerted them to get a pregnancy test. They shared with me over a later conversation how emotionally challenging the whole process was.

Taking the NYC subway to Planned Parenthood, he was informed of all the abortion options. Between the options of Misoprostol or anesthetized surgical suction, he chose the former.

“At the time, I was very interested in rituals and sacred spaces, and I wanted to do something more sacred,” said Starling.

They express gratitude for having the company of their friend who promptly took on the role of an abortion doula, as they took the first pill.

“She had dressed in white and got me a pink hot water bottle. Then the next day, I took the [next pill] at my place and pretty immediately it started working. She timed all my medications ‘cause it was a very painful process. We prayed over the medicine,” said Starling.

While much of the discussion on abortion has been brought up in the context of ‘women’ reclaiming control over their bodies, abortion is not an issue bound to a gender definition.

“The reason why I talk about being trans is because that’s another abortion taboo,” said Starling, “Nobody wants to think about trans people getting pregnant. It really freaks people out.”

Starling resonated deeply with Gomperts when she spoke about the importance of mail-in pills and the privacy they give individuals in controlling the environment of such a personal moment.

“I had to walk past people with protest signs. They’re on their knees and praying with rosaries and stuff. And I had to have a security guard walking in. And that’s just a very, very challenging thing to deal with,” shared Starling.

Repeatedly, the deeply personal matter of abortion is politicized.

Kim Gibson, a Mississippi native and cofounder of We Engage, reflects upon her work at We Engage, a pro-choice clinic escort since 2017.

“Throughout the work I have done supporting Jackson Women’s Health Organization and its patients, I have tried to be as public as possible in showing people what people have to go through to access abortion care,” wrote Gibson in a statement.

On June 24, 2022, a seismic shift in American reproductive rights occurred as the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The repercussions of this decision have been profound, leading to a sharp decline in abortion access across the country. Read about specific state regulations here.

Now it has been more than one year since that day. As of the latest update on December 8, 2023, The New York Times reports that 21 states have either banned abortion or imposed severe restrictions on the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v. Wade.

However, binding abortions with legislative measures neglects the emotional and autonomous rights of pregnant individuals. Starling, reflecting on the situation, recalled the looming threat during the Trump administration in 2019, anticipating the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Amid this uncertainty, Starling engaged in a significant media project, aiming to destigmatize abortions, with a particular focus on the often overlooked aspect of trans abortions.

In one of their video media projects, with a friend, Starling made a Julia Child cooking show teaching people how to make different abortifacient herbal remedies.

“My friend Anita Revolution Now, who was a trans drag queen, performed in drag as Julia Child,” said Starling.

The film was shown at Vox Populi’s Black Box 4th Wall film and video program in Philadelphia.

“I think some people do their healing in public so that other people can do it in private, and I think that’s very important,” reflected Starling.

Gomperts encourages the audience to work towards alternative better realities–one in which we bring public abortion issues but give individuals the rightful privacy during the actual procedure.