Exhale was created by and for women who have
abortions. The founders of Exhale — Aspen Baker, Susan Criscione,
Carolina De Robertis, Anna Goldstein and Laura Perez — gathered
together for the first time, on the floor of a Berkeley apartment, in
June 2000. These five women came together because they, or someone they
knew, had personally experienced the lack of non-judgmental services
available for women and their significant others after an abortion.
They came to the meeting because they wanted to participate in creating a
service that could meet women’s after-abortion needs, provide an
alternative to politically motivated counseling agencies and create
awareness that abortion, and having feelings afterward, is normal in
the reproductive lives of women and girls.
The
founders came from a variety of cultural backgrounds, held a range of
religious beliefs and were between 24 and 34 years old. Most, though
not all, personally identified as pro-choice and the majority had had
at least one abortion. Together, these women articulated the values and
beliefs of Exhale, built the counseling model, and laid the foundation
for the organization Exhale is today.
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Timeline
2000
Exhale founded by Aspen Baker, Susan Criscione, Carolina De Robertis, Anna Goldstein, and Laura Perez.
2002
Exhale launches the talkline. Operated by six volunteers with cell phones, the line opens up all kinds of new possibilities - for women, families, clinics and the nation. Although not yet named, the pro-voice movement has launched.
2003
Exhale responds to the demand sparked by the talkline launch. We expand the talkline to include Spanish-language counseling and launch our training program, designed to offer physical and emotional health practitioners advanced training in a culturally-competent, non-judgmental approach to counseling women after an abortion.
2004
Exhale launches the public education program to directly address public perception of women who have abortions. We spend time internally to define our own identity, key messages, and target audience in a multi-year media strategy.
2005
Exhale significantly expands the talkline, making it available nationwide, in multiple languages, seven days a week. Call volume immediately skyrockets 300%. We publicly claim our unique position and coin the term "pro-voice" to describe it. The training program responds to demand beyond U.S. borders and our counseling model reaches Latin America, England and Australia.
2006
Exhale adopts a theory-of-change to describe our long-term vision and builds a strategic plan to take us through the next three years. Strengthening and maintaining everything we have built, Exhale commits to supporting quality programs and a thriving board, staff and volunteer program.
2007
Exhale celebrates its 5th year of operating the talkline. We see tremendous results from our media and strategic planning! Exhale launches post-abortion e-cards and seizes the opportunity to inform national American audiences about our work supporting women after an abortion. Exhale's first edition of Our Truths-Nuestras Verdades is published, highlighting the abortion stories of young women and women of color. Exhale honors those who have supported Exhale in our first five years by awarding our very first Pro-Voice Awards!
2008
Exhale sees real impact as a result of our pro-voice advocacy. Referral to Exhale for post-abortion counseling is now standard practice in abortion clinics nationwide and we help establish post-abortion emotional health as a research priority through our partnership with University of California, San Francisco, Bixby Center’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH). Exhale breaks new ground by using social media to raise women's voices with abortion in public discussion. We launched a web-video campaign, “Pro-Voice in 08,” and asked women to share the one sentence that the next President of the United States could say to them that would reflect support and respect for their unique experience with abortion.
2009
Exhale grows our pro-voice advocacy work and continues to raise the voices of women post-abortion in the media. Pro-Voice Ambassadors testified before the National Institutes of Health to advocate for research that promotes wellbeing post-abortion and Glamour magazine featured women's voices post-abortion. Founder and Executive Director, Aspen Baker, launches her own blog and writes for RH Reality Check and the Huffington Post. Aspen also earned the title of "Local Hero" from KQED for Women's History Month. Exhale earns an award for "Excellence in Nonprofit Volunteer Management" from the Bay Area's Volunteer Center.
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