full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Aspen Baker: A better way to talk about abortion

Unscramble the Blue Letters


But as much as abortion is hotly debated, it's still rare for us, whether as fellow women or even just as fellow people, to talk with one another about the abortions that we have. There is a gap. Between what happens in politics and what happens in real life, and in that gap, a belftilated mteailtny. An "are you with us or against us?" stance takes root. This isn't just about abortion. There are so many itaomnprt iesuss that we can't talk about. And so finding ways to sfiht the cfcinlot to a place of conversation is the work of my life. There are two main ways to get started. One way is to listen closely. And the other way is to share stories. So, 15 years ago, I cofounded an organization called Exhale to start listening to people who have had abortions. The first thing we did was create a talk-line, where wmeon and men could call to get emotional support. Free of jngudemt and politics, believe it or not, nothing like our sevice had ever eisetxd. We needed a new fmwroraek that could hold all the experiences that we were hirnaeg on our talk-line. The feminist who regrets her abortion. The Catholic who is grateful for hers. The personal eepecreixns that weren't fitting neatly into one box or the other. We didn't think it was right to ask women to pick a side. We wanted to show them that the whole world was on their side, as they were going through this deeply proasenl experience. So we invented "pro-voice."

Open Cloze


But as much as abortion is hotly debated, it's still rare for us, whether as fellow women or even just as fellow people, to talk with one another about the abortions that we have. There is a gap. Between what happens in politics and what happens in real life, and in that gap, a ___________ _________. An "are you with us or against us?" stance takes root. This isn't just about abortion. There are so many _________ ______ that we can't talk about. And so finding ways to _____ the ________ to a place of conversation is the work of my life. There are two main ways to get started. One way is to listen closely. And the other way is to share stories. So, 15 years ago, I cofounded an organization called Exhale to start listening to people who have had abortions. The first thing we did was create a talk-line, where _____ and men could call to get emotional support. Free of ________ and politics, believe it or not, nothing like our sevice had ever _______. We needed a new _________ that could hold all the experiences that we were _______ on our talk-line. The feminist who regrets her abortion. The Catholic who is grateful for hers. The personal ___________ that weren't fitting neatly into one box or the other. We didn't think it was right to ask women to pick a side. We wanted to show them that the whole world was on their side, as they were going through this deeply ________ experience. So we invented "pro-voice."

Solution


  1. conflict
  2. mentality
  3. framework
  4. personal
  5. issues
  6. judgment
  7. important
  8. battlefield
  9. existed
  10. experiences
  11. hearing
  12. shift
  13. women

Original Text


But as much as abortion is hotly debated, it's still rare for us, whether as fellow women or even just as fellow people, to talk with one another about the abortions that we have. There is a gap. Between what happens in politics and what happens in real life, and in that gap, a battlefield mentality. An "are you with us or against us?" stance takes root. This isn't just about abortion. There are so many important issues that we can't talk about. And so finding ways to shift the conflict to a place of conversation is the work of my life. There are two main ways to get started. One way is to listen closely. And the other way is to share stories. So, 15 years ago, I cofounded an organization called Exhale to start listening to people who have had abortions. The first thing we did was create a talk-line, where women and men could call to get emotional support. Free of judgment and politics, believe it or not, nothing like our sevice had ever existed. We needed a new framework that could hold all the experiences that we were hearing on our talk-line. The feminist who regrets her abortion. The Catholic who is grateful for hers. The personal experiences that weren't fitting neatly into one box or the other. We didn't think it was right to ask women to pick a side. We wanted to show them that the whole world was on their side, as they were going through this deeply personal experience. So we invented "pro-voice."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
good listener 3
deeply personal 2
christian women 2


Important Words


  1. abortion
  2. abortions
  3. battlefield
  4. box
  5. call
  6. called
  7. catholic
  8. closely
  9. cofounded
  10. conflict
  11. conversation
  12. create
  13. debated
  14. deeply
  15. emotional
  16. exhale
  17. existed
  18. experience
  19. experiences
  20. fellow
  21. feminist
  22. finding
  23. fitting
  24. framework
  25. free
  26. gap
  27. grateful
  28. hearing
  29. hold
  30. hotly
  31. important
  32. invented
  33. issues
  34. judgment
  35. life
  36. listen
  37. listening
  38. main
  39. men
  40. mentality
  41. neatly
  42. needed
  43. organization
  44. people
  45. personal
  46. pick
  47. place
  48. politics
  49. rare
  50. real
  51. regrets
  52. root
  53. sevice
  54. share
  55. shift
  56. show
  57. side
  58. stance
  59. start
  60. started
  61. stories
  62. support
  63. takes
  64. talk
  65. wanted
  66. ways
  67. women
  68. work
  69. world
  70. years