In this quote, an abortion doula (a volunteer who comforts women while they have their abortions) responds to a woman who is on the table about to have an abortion. The woman having an abortion is named Kim:
“Kim exhales, looks up at the ceiling then back at Kat [the doula]. “Is it gonna hurt?”
Kat pauses. This is one of the most common questions a doula gets asked before a procedure. It’s covered extensively in training, and while every doula has a slightly different turn of phrase, there is a standard approach that the Doula Project and the clinics we work with use. “Do you get cramps with your period?”….
“You will feel something,” Kat explains, carefully choosing her words. “Everyone has a different reaction but for a few minutes it will feel like very strong period cramps.”
Mary Mahoney and Lauren Mitchell The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People (New York: Feminist Press, 2016) 86-87
Based on the anesthesia they get and their individual tolerance for pain, women say different things about the pain from an abortion. Some women say the pain was extreme
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