Filmed by Gillian Aldrich, a field producer for "Bowling for Columbine," Baumgardner's documentary will begin screening in January to mark the 31st anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. She describes the project as "a consciousness-raising tool" in which she presents a historical overview of choice, as well as encouraging women, in their own words, to say, "'I had an abortion' and own it."

"It sounds fucked up, but having an abortion was one of the best things I ever did," says Kathleen Hanna, 35, frontwoman of New York electro-punk band Le Tigre (and formerly of the seminal Riot Grrrl band Bikini Kill). "It was one of the first things I did on my own; I worked at McDonald's, raised the money and did it. I'm really, really passionate about pro-choice, because I wouldn't be here talking to you right now if I'd had a kid at 15."

A longtime activist, Hanna embraces the notion of women talking openly about their abortions. But she hopes it leads to political momentum, not just "people sitting in a room talking about their lives ... which is great, but let's change legislation so that Roe vs. Wade can never get overturned."

Melinda Gallagher, 31, co-founder of women's sexual entertainment company CAKE, agrees. "If we elect him again, we're going to see an assault on Roe vs. Wade as a constitutional right," Gallagher says, not deigning to utter President "Him's" name. "I don't think they'll go straight for Roe vs. Wade; they'll just chip and chip and chip at our rights, until abortion has to be performed within the first three days of pregnancy. Denying [the reality of abortion] is denying the experience of millions. Not talking about it is antiquated."

But is simple story-sharing a cogent starting point for social change? Baumgardner, author of the soon-to-be-published book "Grassroots: A Field Guide to Feminist Activism," with Amy Richards, certainly thinks so. "Starting from Margaret Sanger, there's a connection between women telling the truth about abortion and laws changing. If more women are honest about their abortions, it will be harder to take away that right."

This new breed of storytelling is, in classic women's studies 101 fashion, as much about the personal as it is the political. "It's the positive experiences that are being silenced, not the negative ones," says Patricia Beninato, 38, who has published more than 200 women's accounts of their abortions on her Web site I'mNotSorry.net.

Based in Richmond, Va., Beninato launched the site in January 2003, just days after Roe vs. Wade's 30th anniversary. She was floored by the number of responses from women who, like her, had "100 percent no regrets" about their abortions. "I want to show that contrary to pro-life propaganda, most women who undergo abortions are not locking themselves in the metaphorical closet screaming about pain and guilt," she explains.

Judging from the stories on the site, Beninato is right. "Hannah," a 31-year-old cancer survivor, had an abortion the day before submitting her story to I'mNotSorry. Her planned pregnancy brought about an unexpected side effect: paralyzing depression. "I thought of throwing myself down stairs. I had to make a decision; save myself or save this pregnancy," she writes. "This was the toughest decision I've ever made ... [But] today I am relieved. I have to believe that this baby was not meant to be. How else could I explain my rejection of it?" After her third abortion, "Ruth" remembers her boyfriend's visit to the hotel room she had rented for her recovery: "He cuddled next to me and said, 'Don't worry, honey -- our baby's in heaven now.' EXCUSE ME?! We broke up a week later." But, she goes on, "I am forever grateful that I had the choice of abortion available to me, or else there would be three more damaged human beings in the world."

I'mNotSorry.net appears to be a reflection of the classic feminist credo "abortion on demand, without apology." But Beninato's hope, as far as personal activism goes, is that "as more women share their stories, whether with INS or other venues, the stigma attached to abortion lessens just the tiniest bit."

"There's this mainstream, [media-derived] 'script' about the after-effects of abortion," says Penny Lane, 26, a Troy, N.Y., graduate student and creator of "The Abortion Diaries," a three-pronged (documentary video, Web site and film festival) exploration of the subject. "I guess I expected my abortion to change my life completely," she says. "Even though you've only seen, like, three movies about it in your whole life, you've developed this idea of what abortion is like."

Influenced by the "script," Lane was unprepared for the emotions that arose after her own abortion three years ago. "I felt guilty for not feeling guilty," she recalls. "I expected I would suffer a lot. Because I didn't, I felt like a monster."

Lane looked "literally all over the Internet" for advice to help her handle those emotions, but found mainly pro-life literature disguised as unbiased pregnancy resources and pro-choice Web sites that didn't offer much beyond statistics. Frustrated, she began to plan "The Abortion Diaries."

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