Episode #15 - The Carolyne Letters with Dr. Abigail Calkin

The ABA and PT Podcast

In this episode, we take a quick side step from ABA to talk about one of the most hotly debated issues in the US right now and one that Precision Teacher Abigail Calkin writes about in her book, The Carolyne Letters; A Story of Birth, Abortion, and Adoption .

In this episode, Abigail poses questions and talks about the complexities of pregnancy and parenthood and the impact those complexities have on family units.

Abigail Calkin, a published author and a precision teacher, will shed some light on the choices each woman faces when she becomes pregnant. In her book, Abigail explores the three choices a young mother,Amelia, faced.

The book is divided into three sections, and in each section, Amelia, the young mother in the narrative, writes letters to the three Carolynes in the story explaining her choices.

Abigail also discusses how she used the celeration chart while she was pregnant to count fetal movements, and a whole lot more!

I hope you enjoy this wonderful author talking about The Carolyne Letters.

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HIGHLIGHTS

3:20 The inspiration behind the book, The Carolyne Letters.

8:24 Abigail introduces Amelia and Carolyne, the main characters in the book.

9:59 Should you keep the baby if you knew they would likely die soon or have severe disabilities?

12:37 The court’s ruling on a minor’s request for permission to have an abortion.

16:10 Why a lot of young women become pregnant after losing a loved one.

19:22 Advantages of programs that teach teenagers how to be parents.

25:53 The growing US trend of men getting vasectomy procedures while women get their tubes tied.

33:44 A summary of the book's sections.

44:38 How Abigail's experience becoming a mother affected the way she wrote the book.

49:12 The viewpoint of a woman who has experienced both legal and illegal abortion, as well as the current movement to make abortion illegal.

1:02:27 Counting fetal kicks using the standard celeration chart.

1:31:46 Abigail got a job at the University of Oregon after not getting a contract renewal because of pregnancy

1:38:19 Why do some people love precise instruction and stick with it, while others don't?

1:47:53 How she tallies the data on charts at the start of the day.

RESOURCES

The Carolyne Letters: A Story of Birth, Abortion and Adoption by Abigail Calkin (*Amazon affiliate link)

Abigail’s website - www.abigailbcalkin.com

QUOTES

49:17 “It's interesting to me to have lived in the times of illegal abortion, legal abortion, and now we're moving into illegal abortion. And frankly, I don't think that's going to work.”

55:09 “The issue is not pregnancy. The issue is [that] society is changing, and it's changing dramatically.”

58:14 “We're only one race, it is the human race.”

59:15 “Our whole worldwide culture is changing.”

59:56 “Choice is there, and you can choose to have a child—keep the child and give the child up for adoption, or have an abortion.”

1:00:00 “If abortion is illegal, there is no choice. There's only one option. And you have to go with that option. And to me, that's not what a democracy or Republicans are about.”