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Flip the Script: Ownership of Our Bodies
Day Forty-seven
Ownership of our bodies
In May of 1969, as the women’s movement was gaining momentum, a group of women in Boston met during a female liberation conference at Emmanuel College. In a workshop on “Women and Their Bodies,” they shared their experiences with doctors and their frustration at how little they knew about how their bodies worked. A group formed and in 1970, they worked with the New England Free Press to publish a 193-page course book on stapled newsprint titled “Women and Their Bodies.” The book was revolutionary for its frank talk about sexuality and abortion, which was then illegal. The cost: 75 cents. In 1971, they changed the title to “Our Bodies, Ourselves” to emphasize women taking full ownership of their bodies. The book quickly became an underground success, selling 225,000 copies, mainly by word-of-mouth. The cost this time around: 30 cents. From Our Bodies Ourselves — Our Story, the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective.
I had an abortion in 1976 during my first year of college. It was one of the hard knocks of my life. My birth control pills were making me sick, and I hadn’t figured out an alternative method. I regret not asking the guy to wear a condom and getting pregnant; I do not regret the abortion.
