Written by 
Deirdre Duffy is a Reader in Social Policy at Manchester Metropolitan University. This blog is a truncated excerpt from: Duffy, D. forthcoming. Abortion Trail Activism: The Global Projects for Abortion Access. Bloomsbury.
Anti-abortion regimes are fertile ground for activisms dedicated to enabling abortion access. What is interesting about them is not just the work they do – which is diverse and glorious – but their own presentation and depiction by others as a ‘band aid’. A desperate, short-term solution. On one level that is undoubtedly true. These groups are fixers and frequently desperately engaged in solution-focused thinking in desperate times. Yet on another level, and one more uncomfortable for a liberal politics of abortion to accept, these groups will not always disappear under more liberal laws. Because the truth is, regardless of how accessible abortion is on paper, there will always be someone who cannot access abortion.
In previous work, I addressed this type of activism as abortion health activism. This term emerged from research on historic and contemporary collectives and networks facilitating ‘abortion travel’ for women living on the island of Ireland to England. It is worth noting at this juncture that while ‘abortion travel’ historically involved individual travel to abortion services, since the late-1990s and early-2000s, the thing that travelled is more likely to be the abortion medication. This shift is the result of advancements in telemedicine and the use of ‘abortion pills’, led by Latin American feminist movements.
A global perspective disrupts a focus on health. Collectives who talk about their work as driven by similar goals do not all do the same thing. Context matters. Funds and information sharing are more common now than travel support. Groups have evolved, recognising that hosting carried a burden of exposure for pregnant people. The desire for – and right to – privacy does not disappear in the face of anti-abortion laws. This activism needed a broader, less prescriptive heading. This heading can never cover everything but the one that felt most appropriate to me was abortion trail activism.
What is abortion trail activism?
First, there are no coat hangers although there may be some sneaking in the night. Second, this is not the 1960s (although it may feel like that sometimes) nor the 1850s. This is not a railroad. Third, the internet exists. So do handbooks, ‘zines, helplines, secure webchat platform and non-descript brown paper packages in the mail. So do doulas. And maps. And apps. Fourth, there is, if you need it, a whole disconnected but connected world of friends, buddies and strangers. The accompañtes, the drivers, the people who wait outside, the “is there somebody with you honey?” and the funders. The Aunts, Aunties, and othermothers. Fifth, you do not need to go camping, you do not need to stay with a family-friend or a lady named Jane. You may not need to travel anywhere. An abortion can come to you.
There is no single type of abortion trail activism; they range from informal, small, localised groupings to transnational networks. There are political echoes across groups – a further reason for using the language of trails. As Moor writes in On Trails, the “soul of a trail – it’s trail-ness – is not bound up in dirt and rocks; it is immaterial, evanescent, as fluid as air” . Various definitions of trails exist, none of which fully capture what a trail is. Snead et al (2009) address trails as bringing together different “elements of daily lives bridging distance and obstacles to connect us to each other” . A trail is a way of ‘getting there’ built up over time through many footsteps. It moves and is refined. It is disturbed and remembered. Some try to preserve trails whereas others try to erase and redraw trails. This might all feel a bit romantic but a key feature of trails is that they embrace and defy romanticism. There is something brutal and monstrous to the fact that sometimes the way is blocked and people have to find other ways to ‘get there’.
The activism that I am talking about is trail-like in that it is defined part by function and part by action. It has a feel that is different from a more official care pathway. Not because it is always more dangerous or grittier. Ask anyone living in a place where abortion is the target of police crackdowns and legal attacks – a group like Abortion Without Borders or the partners in the MAMA Network is a much better option than going to a clinic. Ask anyone who has accessed abortion through these groups – they are highly organised and sophisticated. At the same time there is nothing pleasant about the existence of abortion trails. We can celebrate their work but should never celebrate the fact they have to exist.
As much as there is a definition for such a disparate range of actions and activisms, it is found in its intentions and how these are achieved. Abortion trail activism is an activism concerned, above all, with access to abortion. It is underpinned by a political project of ensuring people who need abortion, living in spaces and times where abortion care is under direct attack, are cared for. It achieves these through a mesh of local and global conversations, acts of resistance, and displays of solidarity.
Why should we look at it and why should we look at it now?
In the run up to International Safe Abortion Day we should look at abortion trail activism as a reminder, a reality check, and a grounding force. Abortion access is an on-going project and not universal. Achievements are built on the work of abortion trail activism. At the same time, respect and recognition are not the same as romanticism. Abortion trail activists are carrying the weight of attacks on abortion access. Globally, their work involves assuming personal risks. In Poland, abortion trail activists continue to be pursued through the courts. In many countries they operate clandestinely or risk prosecution. In the aftermath of Roe v Wade in the US, ‘trigger laws’ explicitly target abortion trail activists.
But all of this is precisely why now is the moment to look at abortion trail activism, not as a ‘band aid’ or desperate reaction but the daily work of creating a world where everyone who wants an abortion can get one and get one with care. It is this work that is most under attack. Anti-choice movements, through limiting information, demanding abortion seekers listen to heartbeats, raiding the offices of abortion funds, and making information hotlines illegal, have shown their hand. They are not interested in valuing both or restricting the pathway to abortion. They want to get rid of the pathway altogether and punish anyone who tries to follow it. The attacks on abortion trail activism show the main destination of anti-choice movements. Pregnancy should lead to childbirth.
What can we learn from it as feminist scholars?
Looking at abortion trail activism does not just show us the aim of anti-choice movements. It helps us pause before we throw ourselves into a campaign for legal change in the wake of events like Roe v Wade. Abortion trail activism in the US was not dormant between 1973 and 2022. On the contrary, the US has some of the most vocal (in the minority world or Global North) abortion trail activists. So much so that when, in the immediate aftermath, well-meaning individuals began offering up their homes and phone numbers for people living in anti-abortion states, organisers of groups who had been refining and developing their work for decades were able to step in and educate.
Looking at abortion trail activism inevitably globalises the conversation. Networks are vibrant and hugely influential in Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. In Poland, Malta, Peru, and Ireland, abortion trail activism has challenged hyperrestrictive anti-abortion regimes. There is lots we can learn and a wealth of understanding to share. We can also dedicate ourselves to a different project than asking for conditional access to state-sanctioned abortion.
As a non-activist, I do not want to make any final words on what abortion trail activism is or does. In fact, I have probably gone to far by giving it a label at all. But to conclude, I am going to pay some respect to Aunties, a word found in numerous abortion trial activist groups (formal and informal) historically and today. This is a truncation of Maria Qamar’s 2017 work Trust No Aunty :
The aunty is a cross-cultural phenomenon that isn’t limited to a family member; she could be a neighbour, a family friend, or just some lady on the bus who want to throw some casual black magic your way…
An aunty is a fiesty and dramatic powerhouse of a women who enters your house with plans to take over your life for a very small and strangely particular reason.
When aunties combine into groups of two or more, their plotting power is instantly multiplied.
Strength and solidarity to all working for a safe, liberating, accompanied abortion. Donate to your local abortion trail activism groups.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Moor, R. 2016. On Trails. Aurum Press. pp. 2
Snead, J., Erickson, C. L., & Darling, A. 2009. Making Human Space: The Archaeology of Trails, Paths, and Roads. Landscapes of Movement: Trails, Paths, and Roads in Anthropological Perspective. pp. 2.
Qamar, M. 2017. Trust No Aunty. Gallery Books.