A few weeks ago I attended our first Common Concerns Listening Circle. The program, “Common Concerns: Shared Stories for Texas Women,” provides resources and optional facilitation for small group discussions. Our Common Concerns initiative is an opportunity for you to learn, discuss, and find out what you can do to work to strengthen reproductive policy in Texas. Whether you feel comfortable leading a structured discussion or you just want to participate in a small group conversation, there are plenty of ways to plug in which you can learn more about here.
It took many months of meetings between our staff and our reproductive health policy team volunteers to get to the point we were ready to let this project fly from the nest. I was so glad I had the opportunity to attend the listening circle as the official note taker so I could see it happen for myself. After working on a project for so long, you start to wonder if it will ever really happen or if it’s just words on a page.
As the participants gathered for this listening circle I felt a slight air of nervousness in the room, but also a sense of relief – relief that someone was finally asking them for their views on the subject and truly wanted to hear how everyday people felt about these laws.
Many of the women in the room knew each other, but some only knew the host that had asked them to attend. While that surely made some of them a bit unsure about sharing their views, as soon as we got started the women created a space that allowed for extreme honesty and openness. They shared intimate details about their lives and the experiences that shaped their views on abortion. Nothing was off limits. The trust and mutual appreciation for being receptive to new ideas was almost visible.
Based on the stories shared and the answers given to our policy statement inquiry the women filled out toward the end of the listening circle we are gathering information about where there may or may not be “common concerns.” I want to share some insights from the preliminary results of the initial listening circle that give me hope about where this project may be headed. The women in the room – without regard to political party– DID share common concerns! In fact, they unanimously agreed or disagreed with six of our twelve policy statements.
As I said, these are only the results of one listening circle. But these results give me hope that the foundation of our project is true. Women across Texas share common concerns about the laws for accessing abortions. What those common concerns will be in the end won’t become clear until we see how more participants answer. For now, this is giving me encouragement to keep moving forward in the fight for reproductive rights in Texas knowing that there is support for the work we are doing.
Our goal is to have at least one listening circle in every corner of the state. If you’d like to host or participate in a listening circle, please sign up here.
If you have questions about the project and how you might be able to help, please send me an email at kyle@texasimpact.org.