06/30/2026
Every movement has its visionaries. The people who ask the questions others are afraid to ask.
Peg Johnston was one of them.
In the 1990s, as the abortion rights movement fought to protect legal abortion from relentless attacks, there was real concern that acknowledging grief, regret, or trauma would give anti-abortion activists ammunition.
In trying to protect abortion, we sometimes narrowed the conversation around abortion.
People whose experiences were more complex—those carrying grief alongside relief, certainty alongside sadness—were often left wondering where they belonged.
Peg refused.
She believed you could be unapologetically pro-choice while making room for the full humanity of abortion. She understood that abortion is not simply the act of ending a pregnancy. It is an experience that can touch our bodies, relationships, beliefs, identities, and futures. No one else gets to decide what it means.
Through her counseling, writing, and groundbreaking workbooks, she invited people to ask a different question:
What does this abortion mean to me?
That question changed lives.
The Peg Johnston Innovation Fund honors that lineage by investing in the next generation of people willing to expand abortion care beyond the expected. We are looking for bold ideas that make room for the whole person, not just the procedure.
Because legacy isn't made by coloring inside the lines.
Neither is revolution.
