“Saying the damn word!”: Iteratively Designing Abortion Narratives in an Asynchronous Remote Community to Inform Abortion Care

Although abortion is a common medical procedure, talking about one's abortion is stigmatized. Storytelling can help activists reclaim rhetoric, increase public awareness, address important information needs, and reduce community stigma. In this study, we conducted an Asynchronous Remote Community where we engaged 17 people with abortion experiences across three Slack workspaces. Participants completed 14 activities over seven weeks to reflect on abortion and iteratively develop their written abortion stories. Our analysis provides insights around storytelling as care, the importance of diverse abortion representation, considerations for sharing abortion stories, and social support needs. We provide the HCI community with a variation on the ARC method and understanding of abortion storytelling experiences to inform abortion care and, more broadly, the use of stories in stigmatized healthcare.