When you work in the area of womens reproductive heath, how important is activism?
To me, it’s very important that all the people who are working in the clinics are doing it because of their strong belief that women must have freedom of choice. Anyone who comes to those organizations or clinics simply because it’s a job treats it very differently and treats women very differently. The clinics that were first opened in the mid-’70s, right after Roe v. Wade, were run by people who had very strong feminist backgrounds, and who really knew from experience — possibly their own experience — that women should be treated with care, with dignity, with respect. This was not just [about] coming in for a Pap smear or for contraceptives. At one of the clinics where I worked, there was a very young woman who was short the amount of money needed for the abortion. She’d come a long distance. It was her second trip to the clinic. The first time she wasn’t really sure of her decision. The second time she came back she was very sure of her decision, but she didn’t have quite enough m
