My Mom Had an Abortion is a unique coming-of-age tale told by a self-described dyslexic-asexual-lesbian-feminist teenager and illustrated by body-positive comic artist Tatiana Gill.
In this Shout Your Abortion project, we follow our protagonist Beezus B. Murphy as she chronicles her evolving understanding of menstruation, reproduction, and abortion and finds her place in a confusing world. Initially influenced by harmful narratives in pop media such as the “the pregnant teenager” cliche, we watch Beezus’s ideas change as her body changes and as she learns more about the intricacies of her family history and her mom’s own reproductive experiences. She grows from a confused, out-of-place kid into a self-assured, empathetic, and strong-willed activist teen.
Sprinkled with pop culture references, hilariously apt descriptions of unwanted body changes and menstruation like the chapter “Blood, Bath, and Beyond,” and instantly understandable revelations of growing-up, this beautifully illustrated short graphic novel crucially fills a cultural gap around complexities of abortion, pop culture, body changes, and finding out where we fit.
Your support on this Kickstarter will help us print a full-color initial run of this one-of-a-kind short graphic novel. Books about abortion by teens, for teens are in dismally short supply. With your help, we aim to change that!
Learn more, preorder the book, and check out all the rewards.
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We encourage you to choose the Buy One, Donate One or Donate Two options to get this book into many more hands! | |
Shout Your Abortion is donating books to abortion clinics across the country and to a youth organization via their friends at Scarleteen! You can help us give out more copies of this book when you choose a "donate a book" reward option, plus you'll get a special Shout Your Abortion koozie! | |
A quick look inside the comic | |
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Beezus B. Murphy, born 2004, is a Seattle based dyslexic, asexual, lesbian, feminist, writer, and activist. She lives in Seattle with her mother Shawna Murphy, father Christian Peetz, younger sister Minnow Murphy, three pugs, two Siamese cats, and one Chihuahua. Her hobbies include the creation and consumption of media, roller skating, and trying to keep up in school. Beezus struggled in school and didn’t learn how to read until she was 8 because of her learning disability, but her kindergarten teacher Jennifer Nieman always said that when she did the world would lose her to books. It did, in some ways, but Beezus was far more consumed in many worlds of her own creation. Thanks to the influence of a Christian-propaganda show disguising itself as a teen drama, put haphazardly on Netflix where anyone could find it, Beezus accidentally became anti-abortion for a few months. However, thanks to her pro-abortion feminist mom Shawna, she quickly recovered and sought to write a book about her journey.
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Tatiana Gill is a Seattle cartoonist drawing about social and reproductive justice, mental health and addiction, and body positivity. Creating comic books for 25 years, her recent books include Wombgenda, Blackoutings, The Fat Positive Coloring Book, and Recovery. She contributes to publications across the world and has illustrated several books. Her work appears in galleries and exhibits around Seattle. Tatiana creates comics for a number of local organizations including Seattle/King County Health Department, Community Lunch, People’s Harm Reduction Alliance, and Shout Your Abortion. Find her online at @tatsgill on Instagram and Twitter, and tatianagill.com.
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