Baumgardner Reading Well-Received

Jennifer Baumgardner is reading from her book “Abortion and Life” at Zandbroz at 6:30. My friend and I have made ourselves comfortable in a booth. It’s 6:15 and I know how these things work. They have taken her out to dinner or something so as she can make an entrance.

I feel as if I should buy a copy of the book, and I should probably have her sign it. It seems the only interaction we have with writers at events like these, aside from a short question and answer at the end.

But I don’t like asking questions before a crowd. It always feels contrived and impersonal. But I don’t feel as if I have space for anything else in the list I’m creating in my head of things I need to pack next month.

I also have an aversion to celebrity interaction for the purpose of idolization. Getting her signature for the pure purpose of getting her signature goes against this aversion. What is a signature anyway? There is no monetary value, not like a signed mint condition Babe Ruth rookie card (if that even exists).

Two hard-core Catholics are to my right behind the booth and next to the door. I don’t know their stance on abortion, but I know enough about their beliefs to make an assumption. In fact I think the brother (Yes, I know enough about them to know that they are siblings, aside from the fact that there is a highly dominant gene spread to all 10 kids) has been a regular outside the Red River Women’s Clinic for the last week or so. I can only imagine what they are doing here, and my assumption is that they are not here to support the reading, but they are too far out of my range of vision to make any further assumptions. I am curious to see how this plays out.

Baumgardner enters to a full house. The owner of Zanbroz has pulled over four chairs that are actually for sale, and a few people are standing.

She circulates through the room, saying some quick hellos before a representative from the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition takes the stage, introduces her cohorts and gives thanks.

Baumgardner thanks North Dakota and Fargo for being involved in her ventures and says that she is “humbled” by the city’s support of her work.

The I had an Abortion project started with a T-shirt, then a documentary and now a book. It gives a face and a life to those that have had to choose an abortion, and Baumgardner is careful to use the words “had to”.

She seems to want to bridge the gap between pro-life and pro-choice. She says, “I now see pregnancy as life, but that doesn’t mean abortion has to mean death.” Many identified pro-lifers have purchased the shirt, she said, it shows that they are people who are able to listen. Baumgardner speaks of coming from a place of compassion for those that have had abortions, and looking at their reasons in making that decision.

An audience member expresses his dismay at never understanding why men always seem the most avid pro-lifers, and asks for input. “Men are the most vociferous about prolife because they don’t have control over it, I guess patriarchy is why they are.” She says this with a shrug and a small smile.

The questioner was earnest, but this is something Baumgartner has understood for years. She mentions that the tables are turning, and many women are taking a pro-life stance.

A professor of women’s studies and English at Concordia College showed “I had an Abortion” to a class of feminists. She was surprised that members of the class were disappointed, because the women in the film seemed proud of having had an abortion, and they should have been ashamed.

Baumgardner says that she doesn’t see pride in these women, but bravery, and that clearly the film can be misinterpreted.

Even though the message of the film is not proud, Baumgardner told us that many of the women said that they weren’t sorry, a message that gets left behind so often in talk of abortion. Women are always portrayed as being heartbroken and guilty after having an abortion, but clearly that isn’t necessarily the case, and that is something that Baumgardner wants to bring to the front. These women have made the best and most reponsible decisions they could have made at the time.

Everyone begins to disburse for wine and cheese brought over by the Green Market, and I notice that my Catholic friends are no longer next to the door. I wonder when they snuck out.

A lone protester stands outside the front of the building with a handwritten tag board sign. There is a long hard-to-read quote by Habiger about taking the most innocent life and so forth and I wonder, who is he that he gets to decide?

I break down and buy a book. My friend waits in line for a signature, and I wait patiently for her. I’ll buy a book, and I mean no disrespect, but I refuse to get a signature. I’m just not that type of person.