Storytelling is central to GRR! theory of culture change, and a critical component of grassroots organizing. To eliminate abortion stigma and defeat discriminatory policies restricting access to abortion care, we must change hearts and minds by reminding the public that abortion often undergirds the success, achievement and stability of the lives of their loved ones and community members.

Abortion is often discussed as an ending. When elders share their reproductive journeys, we learn abortion is often a beginning of the future families, adventures, and achievements that were to come. In this storytelling program, we amplify the stories of those who had abortions years ago and what those decisions and experiences made possible in their lives. Resourced with hindsight from decades of living since their abortion decisions, grandmothers and elders look back on their experiences and examine the doors that opened up to them as a result. The ability to access an abortion when they needed and wanted it facilitated a lifetime of choices afterwards. Through storytelling that banishes shame and centers autonomy, Insight to Incite Storytellers are fighting for informed decision-making and accessible options for current and future generations.

In our current moment of rising restrictions and the overturning of federal protections afforded by Roe v. Wade, GRR! strives to foster intergenerational conversation, mobilization and solidarity within the reproductive rights movement, by highlighting abortion experiences among elder women. After 50 years of some level of legality and access, our national consciousness needs to be reinvigorated by the voices and insights of women who risked much to fulfill their reproductive decisions in the latter half of the 20th century. While the stories told are decades-old, the demand for abortion justice GRR! amplifies is updated to meet the needs of abortion seekers today, with particular emphasis on access for communities experiencing marginalization.

Insight to Incite storytellers are co-creators of this program and it is constantly evolving, though there are three main dimensions of the program: 

• Media - GRR! fields media requests from local, national, and international outlets wishing to connect with people who had abortions in the past, and supports storytellers in connecting with journalists and sharing their stories, on their terms.
  
  We strive to elevate elders’ voices and lived experiences, while also amplifying calls for policy and culture changes that meet the needs of our current moment and abortion seekers. 
• Programming/Education - GRR! leverages the strengths, expertise, and experience of abortion storytellers to craft educational programs, dynamic discussions, and classroom presentations that reckon with the past of the abortion rights’ movement, while advancing demands for abortion justice today in the present and future. Through moderated panels, featured keynote speakers, virtual teach-ins, and livestream candid, intergenerational conversations, Insight to Incite storytellers engage with the challenges and opportunities of our current moment with young people who are equally passionate about liberation abortion.
• Virtual Archive - As a movement organization committed to culture change, GRR! Is invested in documenting, preserving, and disseminating elders’ abortion stories. Elders–particularly women–often take on the cultural work of keeping and passing on memory for entire communities. GRR! is collaborating with abortion storyteller and documentary filmmaker, Sue Perlgut, of CloseToHome Productions to produce a living archive of video and audio stories for current educational use and future learning. GRR! Leadership Team members also support storytellers in writing stories in personal essay formats. Our highest hope is that abortion activism is enriched by engaging the stories of ordinary women speaking their truths about how reproductive politics shape.

Our storytellers seek to:

• Highlight barriers, nuances and unique dimensions of elders’ abortion experiences;
• Break taboos about older women and create a public archive that names abortion as a common reproductive experience and lowers stigma;
• Illustrate how reproductive autonomy facilitates women and all people who can become pregnant in powerfully shaping their own futures; and,
• Connect and build grassroots power with younger leaders in movements to advance abortion justice and liberate this life-saving care for all.

We welcome interested individuals to reach out to our organizer  so we can discuss what level of involvement feels comfortable for you. Storytellers share their experiences via writing, audio and video. GRR! supports storytellers in being prepared for speaking on panels, multimedia formats, media inquiries, at rallies & more. We also convene a virtual community of elder abortion storytellers.