"Most of the abortions in America are about convenience," Lane says. In "The Abortion Diaries," she will "explore what convenience means" by speaking with women of various backgrounds who chose to terminate their pregnancies, usually under circumstances where they were simply too young or unprepared for children. Lane is correct about the convenience factor. According to a study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, only 1 percent of abortions are a result of rape or incest, and just 6 percent combined are due to health problems in the fetus or the mother. "People need to accept abortion for what it is: a valid part of the reproductive spectrum," Lane declares. "I want it to be seen as normal; if 1.3 million women in this country have one every year, it's gotta be normal."

Gwen Goldsmith, a 42-year-old actress and seminary student from Brooklyn, was recently interviewed by Lane for "The Abortion Diaries." "[Motherhood] was something I wanted to do later," she says, about her choice to have an abortion when she was 21. "I wanted to be Judy Garland, to sing, act, dance. I wanted to travel and see the world." Thus, her decision to abort wasn't especially tough. "I didn't think of a fetus as a baby. [I thought] my responsibility as a human was to live the best life I could, and leave the planet a better place. That was not going to happen as a mother at 21." Goldsmith says she "never had a moment of regret."

But that was then. Reflecting on the decision today, Goldsmith admits that the choice she made 22 years ago is more complicated since she found spirituality. "I believe that an abortion is a murder of a fetus -- different ethically than the murder of a child, but still a death," she tells Lane. "But I swatted a fly earlier; I'm a murderer. I'm also a carnivore. It's a choice."

During the course of the interview, Lane tells Goldsmith about her own abortion. "I remember feeling conflicted about the magic of being pregnant," Lane says. "I felt electricity running through my body. Not for a minute did I not think of it as a life. I knew it was a baby."

Though Goldsmith doesn't regret her abortion, she grows teary-eyed as she concedes that being 42 and single will probably prevent her from having a child. "I'm proud that I didn't fall prey to society's opinion that because I'm a woman, I have to have a baby," she says. "My sadness is that I couldn't have the best of both worlds."

As Goldsmith illustrates, these decisions -- even when made without regret -- can be complicated and contradictory. Feelings can change, or muddle with time. But Goldsmith is OK with that. "I've learned I have the right to say yes or no, and change my mind at any time, without apologizing," she explains.

Even Lane's feelings changed as she recorded these women's stories. "I knew it would be interesting and important, but I didn't figure out why until I started doing the interviews," she says. "As I listened to the stories, I found my own assumptions and prejudices falling away -- about what a woman who had had multiple abortions would be like, or [one who says] that she never wants to have kids."

Joh (Joanna) Briley is one such woman. After getting pregnant at age 17 by her first love, Briley, a 35-year-old MTA worker and stand-up comic from Brooklyn, N.Y., didn't think twice about having an abortion even though her boyfriend -- and his mother -- begged her otherwise. "In high school you shouldn't be pushing a stroller," she tells Lane, on camera. "So I took care of it."

After watching a TV news segment about Baumgardner's "I Had an Abortion" shirts, Briley, who had another abortion four years ago, ordered three. "They're almost like slang, desensitizing a word," she notes. Though the shirts are too small for her to wear -- Briley often bemoans the 30 pounds of ex-smoker's weight she recently gained -- she displays them on clothes hangers in her apartment. The irony isn't lost on her. "I was like, that's kind of an art statement!" she laughs.

Recently, Briley began writing stand-up material about her abortion. Her audience's reactions to the jokes were predictably mixed -- for the most part, women laughed and men didn't get it. "I want to buy more T-shirts to pass out to my audiences," she says. "I want to let [women in the audience] know it's OK if they've had abortions. It's not like, 'Oh, I went to pick up some shoes, and then I got an abortion.' But a woman shouldn't feel she can't talk about it."

While Briley's incorporation of her abortion into her stand-up routine is an example of the individualized activism that Baumgardner and others are trying to encourage, she doesn't view herself as an activist -- or even a feminist. She just sees herself as an "everyday woman" who made a decision that was, for her, the best one. "I don't want children, and that's my choice. To know that somebody wants to take away that right -- wow. How can you tell me what to do with my body?"

She goes on. "I shouldn't have to defend my decision. If it's selfish, fine. I'm living how I want to live. People can question me, but I don't care. I had an abortion. I should start saying that every day."

If Briley does start talking about her abortion every day, Baumgardner will feel like she's accomplished her goal. "People want to tell their stories; they don't want to sit there moldering in shame. [This movement] is about cracking open and changing the tenor of the debate a little bit."

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