Bodies, Menstruation, and Autonomy

This flow connects Lindy West’s personal experiences of menstruation and abortion to the wider demand that people control their own bodies.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

Learning to Distrust the Body

Natural Functions as Threats Body Changes Lindy experiences leg hair, menstruation, and sexual development as sources of embarrassment and possible betrayal. Euphemism and silence make ordinary bodily processes feel alien. The Larger Lesson The body is presented to her as something to manage for others’ comfort. That early lesson prepares the ground for a broader cultural message that a woman’s body is never entirely her own.

Silence Around Periods

A Taboo in Daily Life Private Distress Lindy hides her period and avoids saying its name in public. Her practical needs become harder to meet because she treats them as unspeakable. A Public Consequence She argues that menstrual stigma is not harmless embarrassment: it shapes whether people can discuss health and seek care. The taboo teaches both girls and boys to view ordinary reproductive functions as shameful.

A Pregnancy She Does Not Want

A Decision About the Future The Result Lindy learns that she is pregnant while in a lonely relationship that cannot provide the family she wants. She distinguishes a future desire for a child from wanting this pregnancy now. Bodily Autonomy Her eventual decision follows her own assessment of the life she wants. It is neither a general rule for others nor an apology for choosing not to continue the pregnancy.

Access Is Not Automatic

A Routine Procedure Made Difficult Institutional Separation Lindy’s usual doctor cannot provide the abortion, and the clinic requires advance payment. The legal availability of care does not eliminate the practical obstacles of referrals, waiting, and money. Privilege and Help A clinic director agrees to let Lindy pay later, and Lindy reflects on how easily she could also have turned to family. Her experience shows that access is shaped by resources and human decisions, not law alone.

Rejecting a Single Abortion Story

Making Room for Difference Against Required Trauma Lindy resists the claim that every abortion must be devastating or regretted. Her story is ordinary in some ways and complicated by a relationship, shame, money, and fear of adulthood. The Right to Decide She insists that people who are pregnant must decide whether to continue a pregnancy, without proving that their reasons meet an outside standard. Speaking openly challenges the stigma that makes access harder.

childhood and puberty

adolescence

age twenty-seven

the week of the abortion appointment

when Lindy writes about the experience