I saw on the Women on Waves site that they have a campaign with a shirt saying, “I had an abortion???. I thought it was a wonderful way to break the taboo and bring the discussion to the table. That inspired me and I made a t-shirt saying, “Eu fiz um aborto. Eu fiz um aborto??? (I had an abortion. I had an abortion). I repeated the sentence because it was difficult to read, right on the curve below the breasts. It's a sleeveless girly t-shirt, in low cream color. The writing is in black and it covers all of the t-shirt. It's quite big and gets a lot of attention.

The only person who knew about it was and old friend of mine, who loved the idea and who was the one to say to me to keep a journal about it, to write down people’s reaction over it. So, thank you.

When I told my father about it, my idea of wearing it and why, he went silent and said in the most quiet voice: “But you didn’t have an abortion??? and I said “So? I didn’t write the Bible either, and I have a t-shirt that says it???. “Yeah, but writing the Bible is impossible. It's very possible to have an abortion???.

I think he was trying to alert me about the hate response I could get. And I had thought about it. I got to confess I was a little frightened about it. To get eggs throw at me or to be slapped or something. In Brazil, abortion is illegal. And the subject gets a very passionate, furious and ignorant response from the debaters from both sides. But then I thought of all the women I was standing up for and that gave me some courage. I know I could avoid this by doing a t-shirt that said “Decriminalize abortion??? or “Legalize abortion??? or something, and not make myself a target. But that was not the point; it was to give all those women without a face a support. As to say, don't worry, it's all right, you’re all right.

July 27 of 2005

So today was my first day wearing the t-shirt. My idea is not to engage into conversations or de...

The essence of the-safety-pin campagne is to pull the themes of abortion and unwanted pregnancy out of the closet and onto the public agenda. This progress towards an active international debate has an international symbol: the safety pin. Different media explore the themes and each offer simple options that could support the progress: from wearing a safety pin in one's personal surroundings as a personal signature on a petition to actively producing and distributing flyers. The information, significance, and reasoning is displayed here (website www.the-safety-pin.org, flyers, fashion movement).