Reimagining the abortion debate in ‘Ejaculate Responsibly’

David Wilson for the Boston Globe

A practicing Mormon and mother of six, Gabrielle Blair might appear to be an unlikely candidate for a pro-choice activist. Since 2006, she has run an award-winning blog called Design Mom, where she shares recipe and book recommendations, DIY activities, and parenting advice. She’s already a best-selling author, having published a parenting book that shares its name with her blog in 2015. In her latest book, however, she turns her efforts in a different direction: urging men to do their part in preventing unplanned pregnancies.

In “Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion,” Blair makes her case for reducing unplanned pregnancies — and therefore reducing abortions — in a series of 28 arguments ranging from the biological (“Men are 50 times more fertile than women”) to the societal (“We expect women to do the work of pregnancy prevention”).

She also leverages her identity as both a Mormon and a mother to connect with those who might be less open to hearing pro-choice arguments.

“I’m progressive politically, I vote Democrat, I’m very pro-choice,” she said. “But I knew I could take advantage of the stereotypes that do exist. People assume if I say ‘Mormon,’ that I’m a Republican, that I’m conservative. They assume I’m anti-abortion. And so I thought if I mention that, I’m more likely to get a broad range of readers.”

The book is a continuation of her viral Twitter thread, a 63-tweet treatise that she wrote in response to the Kavanaugh hearings in 2018. Five years after it was posted, the thread still receives new readers every day.

She began working on a manuscript for the book during the start of the pandemic. A few days before her book was publicly announced, the draft of the Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked.

“I didn’t understand the timing was gonna line up there,” she said. “But I was really glad that I had this thing to offer the world to add to the conversation that was happening.”

And by highlighting the often-invisible work that goes into pregnancy prevention, she hopes to reframe the cultural norms and expectations around the subject, inviting men to step up and do their part.

“We need to have these conversations,” she said. “I want responsible ejaculation to be a given in sexual situations, the same way that seat belts are in a car.”

Gabrielle Blair will read at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 7, in an event hosted by Porter Square Books: Boston Edition.