Uploaded November 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Jenny Brown, author of “Without Apology: The Abortion Struggle Now,” in conversation with Nona Willis Aronowitz, Fahmida Azad, Lillian Cicerchia, and Allison Guttu.
Recorded at Verso Books in Brooklyn on November 7, 2019.
“Without Apology” is available from Verso Books:
versobooks.com/books/3095-without-apology
With an anti-abortion majority in the Supreme Court and several states with only one abortion clinic, many reproductive rights activists are on the defensive. Organizer and author Jenny Brown highlights the history of legal abortion in the US up until 1873—and the century of illegal abortion that followed. “Without Apology” offers a spirited exploration of how the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s won abortion rights. Drawing inspiration and lessons from that radical movement, Brown illuminates the struggle for abortion rights the world over—including the successful fight to make the morning-after pill available over the counter and the recent mass movement to repeal Ireland’s abortion ban.
Brown argues that organizers need to stop emphasizing rare, tragic cases and deferring to experts and pollsters, and get back to the basic ideas that won abortion in the first place: Women telling the full truth of their own experience, arguing to change minds, and making abortion and birth control a keystone demand in the movement for women’s freedom.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Jenny Brown was a leader in the fight to get the morning-after pill over the counter in the US and a plaintiff in the winning lawsuit. She is co-author of “Women’s Liberation and National Health Care: Confronting the Myth of America.” While editor at Labor Notes magazine, she coauthored “How to Jump-Start Your Union: Lessons from the Chicago Teachers.” She writes, teaches, and organizes with the feminist group National Women’s Liberation and is the author of “Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight over Women’s Work.”
Nona Willis Aronowitz writes about sexual politics and reproductive rights for publications like the New York Times, The Cut, Elle, and Vice. She's working on a book with Plume called “Bad Sex,” about the unfinished business of the sexual revolution. She is the author of Girldrive: Criss-crossing America, Redefining Feminism and the editor of two anthologies of her mother Ellen Willis' work, Out of the Vinyl Deeps and The Essential Ellen Willis, the latter of which won the National Book Critics Circle award for Criticism.
Fahmida Azad is a member of National Women’s Liberation and its Women of Color Caucus. She is an interaction designer with a background in teaching and social advocacy work, particularly with professional experience working with survivors of human trafficking domestically in the US. Her approach to design is through an intersectional feminist perspective focused on centering the narratives, experiences, and expertise of under-represented communities, particularly womxn of color. She is currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lillian Cicerchia is a member of New York City for Abortion Rights and a PhD student in philosophy at Fordham University. Her research is on the relationship between capitalism, social group oppression, and democracy.
Allison Guttu is a native New Yorker, radical feminist and Black nationalist. She is a lead organizer with National Women’s Liberation’s New York chapter (NWL-NY) and co-chairs the group’s Women of Color Caucus across chapters. Allison has been organizing with NWL and its predecessor groups since 2000. Allison also organizes with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, a Black organization focused on collective self-determination for people of African descent in the US. Allison practices public interest law in New York City.
Jenny Brown, author of “Without Apology: The Abortion Struggle Now,” in conversation with Nona Willis Aronowitz, Fahmida Azad, Lillian Cicerchia, and Allison Guttu.
Recorded at Verso Books in Brooklyn on November 7, 2019.
“Without Apology” is available from Verso Books:
versobooks.com/books/3095-without-apology
With an anti-abortion majority in the Supreme Court and several states with only one abortion clinic, many reproductive rights activists are on the defensive. Organizer and author Jenny Brown highlights the history of legal abortion in the US up until 1873—and the century of illegal abortion that followed. “Without Apology” offers a spirited exploration of how the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s won abortion rights. Drawing inspiration and lessons from that radical movement, Brown illuminates the struggle for abortion rights the world over—including the successful fight to make the morning-after pill available over the counter and the recent mass movement to repeal Ireland’s abortion ban.
Brown argues that organizers need to stop emphasizing rare, tragic cases and deferring to experts and pollsters, and get back to the basic ideas that won abortion in the first place: Women telling the full truth of their own experience, arguing to change minds, and making abortion and birth control a keystone demand in the movement for women’s freedom.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Jenny Brown was a leader in the fight to get the morning-after pill over the counter in the US and a plaintiff in the winning lawsuit. She is co-author of “Women’s Liberation and National Health Care: Confronting the Myth of America.” While editor at Labor Notes magazine, she coauthored “How to Jump-Start Your Union: Lessons from the Chicago Teachers.” She writes, teaches, and organizes with the feminist group National Women’s Liberation and is the author of “Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight over Women’s Work.”
Nona Willis Aronowitz writes about sexual politics and reproductive rights for publications like the New York Times, The Cut, Elle, and Vice. She's working on a book with Plume called “Bad Sex,” about the unfinished business of the sexual revolution. She is the author of Girldrive: Criss-crossing America, Redefining Feminism and the editor of two anthologies of her mother Ellen Willis' work, Out of the Vinyl Deeps and The Essential Ellen Willis, the latter of which won the National Book Critics Circle award for Criticism.
Fahmida Azad is a member of National Women’s Liberation and its Women of Color Caucus. She is an interaction designer with a background in teaching and social advocacy work, particularly with professional experience working with survivors of human trafficking domestically in the US. Her approach to design is through an intersectional feminist perspective focused on centering the narratives, experiences, and expertise of under-represented communities, particularly womxn of color. She is currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lillian Cicerchia is a member of New York City for Abortion Rights and a PhD student in philosophy at Fordham University. Her research is on the relationship between capitalism, social group oppression, and democracy.
Allison Guttu is a native New Yorker, radical feminist and Black nationalist. She is a lead organizer with National Women’s Liberation’s New York chapter (NWL-NY) and co-chairs the group’s Women of Color Caucus across chapters. Allison has been organizing with NWL and its predecessor groups since 2000. Allison also organizes with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, a Black organization focused on collective self-determination for people of African descent in the US. Allison practices public interest law in New York City.
