New exhibition challenges abortion stigma through clothing

My Body My Life, a new research-based exhibition, that challenges abortion stigma through clothing, will run next month at the Old Fire Station, Oxford, from 7-11 November 2017. Image credit: Amanda Gore Oxford University researchers have teamed up with peers at the Open University to create an innovative exhibition that will challenge abortion stigma through clothing and stimulate conversation around the Abortion Act, fifty years after it was passed. My Body My Life, a new research-based exhibition, that challenges abortion stigma through clothing, will run next month at the Old Fire Station, Oxford, from 7-11 November 2017. Designed to look like a fashion boutique, the unique exhibition uses clothing to bring a range of abortion experiences to life, representing just some of the nearly 200,000 abortions that take place in the UK every year. First launched at the Edinburgh Festival, My Body My Life will make its next stop at the Old Fire Station, Oxford, and has been designed to mark the 50th anniversary of the Abortion Act, which introduced a set of legal grounds for abortion. Academics from the Oxford Law Faculty and the Open University have worked together on the travelling exhibition, which is based around research on women's experiences of abortion and features a series of supporting public engagement activities. The programme of events have been designed to stimulate conversation and give context and nuance to the event, and includes a series of evening talks and a panel discussion considering whether and how the Abortion Act should be amended.