In Support of Wellbeing, Abortion Matters to Women and Families (a fictional editorial by Cheryl Straight Stobilt)

On November 28, 2009, the New York Times Sunday edition featured an editorial “In Support of Abortion, It’s Personal vs. Political” in the Week in Review. While there were some things I liked about this editorial, there was much to dislike. First and foremost being the fact that Post-Roe women are defined only [...]

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Vote for Exhale & Help Us Win a New Website

A woman who has had an abortion and who goes online in search of support and connection will undoubtedly find everything that is wrong with the abortion debate in this country. Shame, stigma, anger, violence, and judgment around abortion are the status quo online. Imagine if instead each woman found what she really needs: respect [...]

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Buy & Read “The Invisible Mountain” by Carolina De Robertis

One of my Exhale co-founders, Carolina De Robertis, started working on her first novel about the same time we founded the organization. Nine years later, that novel, The Invisible Mountain, is now available. It’s getting great reviews from Elle, Publisher’s Weekly and more. It’s a story about 3 generations of Uruguayan women and I was [...]

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Glamour Magazine Declares: “Its Time to Make Peace on Abortion”

I couldn’t agree more.
Glamour Magazine is well on its way to becoming my favorite magazine of all time. It was just a few short months ago that they featured the stories of women post-abortion. Now, they seek advice from experts on conflict resolution in order to create a more “thoughtful [...]

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Celebrate With Me: New Post-Abortion Research!

Ten years ago this week, I had an abortion.

At the time, as most of my readers know by now, there was very little attention paid to the emotional experiences of women post-abortion. Some clinics provided counseling sometimes, but there was no universally-accepted standard of emotional care being promoted or adopted by abortion [...]

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Exhale Earns “Excellence in Nonprofit Volunteer Management” Award

I am beyond thrilled to announce that Exhale has earned the Excellence in Nonprofit Volunteer Management Award from the Volunteer Center of the Bay Area. We are honored to share the distinction with another fabulous organization, Reading Partners.
I will publish an interview with Kristen Schultz Oliver, Exhale’s Lead Trainer, and volunteer coordinator [...]

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Photos from the KQED Local Hero Awards

Overall, it was a great night! Every local hero was an inspiration. I was really struck by how many of us found our leadership path through personal experience – whether as a woman who has had an abortion, a lesbian cop, a homeless addict or a loving mother to a special needs child [...]

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I’m a Local Hero!

I am thrilled and honored to be recognized by KQED as an Unsung Local Hero in celebration of Women’s History Month! Read about me and my hero cohorts on the KQED website.
Me:
Jean Murrell Adams, ADAMS ESQ:
Lieutenant Lea Militello, SF Police Department:
Leslie Simon, City College of San Francisco:
Mary Howe, [...]

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Is This The Same Issue Vanity Fair?

Thanks to Tara for posting on FB and Jezebel for raising the question first.
Cover featuring man of color:

Inside photo featuring woman of color (on right):

I am a longtime subscriber to Vanity Fair. My letter:
Congrats to Vanity Fair for putting America’s first President of color on the cover. Imagine, then, my surprise to find [...]

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Gauging Work by Impact – not Hours

I remember my first foray into finding an office for Exhale. I saw an “office for rent” sign near my house and gave the number a call. I said, “I’m starting a non-profit organization and I’m interested in your office space.” Her reply: “if you’re a nonprofit how do you expect to pay [...]

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