Loaded Images from a St. Petersburg Abortion Clinic

Because I am partisan, I should probably be upset at these photos by Gitta Seiler, published at New Yorker’s Photo Booth, demonizing the procedure or those who have it.   The images, from the “Aborted” section of “Girls in Trouble,” take a particular and close look at two young women in an abortion clinic for underage girls in St. Petersburg.

One communicates the carelessness and narcissism of one girl in the clinic: she slouches on a bed applying make-up to her admittedly beautiful face. Her dress is stylish. Just another day for her.

The second photo again captures youth but underlines its inherent vulnerability as a more matronly, thicker woman leads a young girl wearing only her shirt with her rear exposed to the world. These careless and too-young women appear to be in an abortion mill. But that’s just “American-speak.” I look at them closely and feel glad neither of them are forced to be mothers at a young age. That’s “flip-side-of-the-coin American speak” and, if anything, it tells you how loaded these images are for nearly anyone in our country.

— Karen Hull

(photos: Gitta Seiler caption: Abortion clinic for underage women, St. Petersburg, 2000.)