Event: Feminist Giant & The Strand Present: Dr. Meera Shah + Mona Eltahawy: You’re The Only One I've Told - The Stories Behind Abortion

Wednesday July 20 07:00PM-08:00PM ET

This event co-presented with The Strand

This event is FREE to attend.. All donation ticket proceeds will go to Feminist Giant.

Join us for an in-person event with Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic Dr. Meera Shah for a discussion of her book You’re The Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion. Joining Dr. Shah in conversation is author and founder of Feminist Giant Mona Eltahawy. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

Can’t take the event? Purchase a signed copy of You’re The Only One I’ve Told here. 

STRAND IN-PERSON EVENT COVID-19 POLICY:

In-person events will be presented to a fully vaccinated and masked audience. All patrons over the age of five will be required to show proof* of having completed the COVID-19 vaccination series at least 14 days prior to the date of the event.

*Proof of vaccination will be defined as either an original vaccination card, Excelsior Pass or its equivalent. We will be checking to ensure compliance with the 14 day waiting period post-vaccination.

Registration will be required online. No tickets for entry will be sold at the door.

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Medical director of Planned Parenthood tells the myriad stories of diverse individuals whose abortion experiences bring vital and threatened reproductive rights to life

At a time where reproductive rights are at risk, these vital stories of diverse individuals serve as a reminder of the importance of empathy, finding community and motivating advocacy 

For a long time, when people asked Dr. Meera Shah, Chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, what she did, she would tell them she was a doctor and leave it at that. But when she started to be direct about her work as an abortion provider an interesting thing started to happen: one by one, people would confide that they'd had an abortion themselves. The refrain was often the same: You're the only one I've told. 

This book collects these stories as they've been told to Shah to humanize abortion and to combat myths that persist in the discourse that surrounds it. A wide range of ages, races, socioeconomic factors, and experiences shows that abortion always occurs in a unique context.

Today, a healthcare issue that's so precious and foundational to reproductive, social, and economic freedom for millions of people is exploited by politicians who lack understanding or compassion about the context in which abortion occurs. Stories have the power to break down stigmas and help us to empathize with those whose experiences are unlike our own.

Feminist Giant is a free, reader-supported newsletter that provides weekly essays by Mona Eltahawy and bi-weekly Global Roundups of feminist resistance curated by contributor Samiha Hossain.

Dr. Meera Shah is a family medicine physician practicing in New York, currently as the Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic. She is also the Medical Director of Whole Woman’s Health Alliance of South Bend, Indiana where she travels monthly to provide abortion care. 

Mona Eltahawy is founder and editor-in-chief of the newsletter FEMINIST GIANT. She is a public speaker on global feminism and is the author of Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolu­tion (2015), which targeted patriarchy in the Middle East and North Africa and The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls (2019), which took her disruption to patriarchy worldwide.