full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Aspen Baker: A better way to talk about abortion
Unscramble the Blue Letters
It was the middle of summer and well past closing time in the downtown Berkeley bar where my friend ploly and I worked together as bartenders. Usually at the end of our shift we had a drink — but not that night. "I'm pregnant. Not sure what I'm going to do yet," I told Polly. Without hesitation, she rpeleid, "I've had an abortion." Before Polly, no one had ever told me that she'd had an abortion. I'd graduated from college just a few months earlier and I was in a new relationship when I found out that I was parnnegt. When I thought about my choices, I honestly did not know how to ddiece, what criteria I should use. How would I know what the right decision was? I worried that I would regret an abortion later. Coming of age on the beaches of sruehotn California, I grew up in the mlddie of our nation's abortion wars. I was born in a trailer on the third anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. Our community was surfing Christians. We cerad about God, the less fortunate, and the oeacn. Everyone was pro-life. As a kid, the idea of abortion made me so sad that I knew if I ever got pregnant I could never have one. And then I did. It was a step towards the unknown. But Polly had given me a very special gift: the knowledge that I wasn't alone and the rliaazoietn that abortion was something that we can talk about. atooirbn is common. According to the Guttmacher ittntisue, one in three women in America will have an abortion in their lifetime. But for the last few decades, the dialogue around abortion in the United States has left little room for anything beyond pro-life and pro-choice. It's political and polarizing.
Open Cloze
It was the middle of summer and well past closing time in the downtown Berkeley bar where my friend _____ and I worked together as bartenders. Usually at the end of our shift we had a drink — but not that night. "I'm pregnant. Not sure what I'm going to do yet," I told Polly. Without hesitation, she _______, "I've had an abortion." Before Polly, no one had ever told me that she'd had an abortion. I'd graduated from college just a few months earlier and I was in a new relationship when I found out that I was ________. When I thought about my choices, I honestly did not know how to ______, what criteria I should use. How would I know what the right decision was? I worried that I would regret an abortion later. Coming of age on the beaches of ________ California, I grew up in the ______ of our nation's abortion wars. I was born in a trailer on the third anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. Our community was surfing Christians. We _____ about God, the less fortunate, and the _____. Everyone was pro-life. As a kid, the idea of abortion made me so sad that I knew if I ever got pregnant I could never have one. And then I did. It was a step towards the unknown. But Polly had given me a very special gift: the knowledge that I wasn't alone and the ___________ that abortion was something that we can talk about. ________ is common. According to the Guttmacher _________, one in three women in America will have an abortion in their lifetime. But for the last few decades, the dialogue around abortion in the United States has left little room for anything beyond pro-life and pro-choice. It's political and polarizing.
Solution
- decide
- institute
- cared
- pregnant
- polly
- abortion
- middle
- realization
- southern
- replied
- ocean
Original Text
It was the middle of summer and well past closing time in the downtown Berkeley bar where my friend Polly and I worked together as bartenders. Usually at the end of our shift we had a drink — but not that night. "I'm pregnant. Not sure what I'm going to do yet," I told Polly. Without hesitation, she replied, "I've had an abortion." Before Polly, no one had ever told me that she'd had an abortion. I'd graduated from college just a few months earlier and I was in a new relationship when I found out that I was pregnant. When I thought about my choices, I honestly did not know how to decide, what criteria I should use. How would I know what the right decision was? I worried that I would regret an abortion later. Coming of age on the beaches of Southern California, I grew up in the middle of our nation's abortion wars. I was born in a trailer on the third anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. Our community was surfing Christians. We cared about God, the less fortunate, and the ocean. Everyone was pro-life. As a kid, the idea of abortion made me so sad that I knew if I ever got pregnant I could never have one. And then I did. It was a step towards the unknown. But Polly had given me a very special gift: the knowledge that I wasn't alone and the realization that abortion was something that we can talk about. Abortion is common. According to the Guttmacher Institute, one in three women in America will have an abortion in their lifetime. But for the last few decades, the dialogue around abortion in the United States has left little room for anything beyond pro-life and pro-choice. It's political and polarizing.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| good listener |
3 |
| deeply personal |
2 |
| christian women |
2 |
Important Words
- abortion
- age
- america
- anniversary
- bar
- bartenders
- beaches
- berkeley
- born
- california
- cared
- choices
- christians
- closing
- college
- coming
- common
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- criteria
- decades
- decide
- decision
- dialogue
- downtown
- drink
- earlier
- fortunate
- friend
- god
- graduated
- grew
- guttmacher
- hesitation
- honestly
- idea
- institute
- kid
- knew
- knowledge
- left
- lifetime
- middle
- months
- night
- ocean
- polarizing
- political
- polly
- pregnant
- realization
- regret
- relationship
- replied
- roe
- room
- sad
- shift
- southern
- special
- states
- step
- summer
- surfing
- talk
- thought
- time
- told
- trailer
- united
- unknown
- wade
- wars
- women
- worked
- worried