Repro Health Hub

Tomorrow marks the final day of the first annual National Week of Action for Reproductive Justice!

The week-long event was created by the Third Wave Foundation, a “feminist, activist foundation that works nationally to support young women and transgender youth ages 15 to 30.” In collaboration with members of the national coalition supported by the organization, the week was celebrated with various special events (workshops, lectures, trainings, you name it!) hosted by local grassroots organizations around the country. A big thank you to everyone who was involved in making the initiation of this empowering tradition a huge success!

Check out this inspiring video Third Wave produced for the occasion!

We’d like to recognize one of the groups involved in this fabulous week that has been working hard in the name of reproductive justice for over ten years! Sistersong is a collective of grassroots organizations that mobilize, educate, and create change for women of color. Through public policy change, advocacy, and education, Sistersong works to bring progressive change regarding reproductive and sexual health and rights, including ensuring accessible health care, accurate information, and available resources for women in all five of the ethnic populations they represent.

Reproductive Justice is described as the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, social, environmental and economic well-being of women and girls, girls, based on the full achievement and protection of women’s human rights.

- Sistersong

So if you missed this past week’s events, be sure to check their homepage for many more opportunities to be involved and see what other reproductive justice happenings are going on near you!

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Today is the seventh annual Back Up Your Birth Control Day and we couldn’t be more excited! Around the country students, activists, and organizations are taking action to help raise awareness for Emergency Contraception (also know as Plan B or the Morning After Pill). EC is a crucial part of reproductive rights because it is can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex and unexpected birth control failure, and just like other forms of contraceptives it must be kept accessible to women everywhere.

From the campaign website:

“The 2008 Day of Action is dedicated to making EC available to all women regardless of their income, insurance coverage or immigration status. While we celebrate the FDA decision that made EC available over-the-counter to women 18 and older, we know that the high cost of EC over-the counter, usually between $40-70 in pharmacies nationwide, is a continuing barrier to some women accessing EC.”

There are several ways for you to help us celebrate on this important day and throughout the year.

1) Contact your Senator and ask her/him to support the Prevention First Act, which ensures that victims of sexual assault receive accurate information about and full access to EC.
2) Sign the petition provided by the Feminist Majority to demand affordable birth control at colleges and clinics everywhere.
3) Watch this video from Planned Parenthood.
4) Read about global EC availability from the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception.
5) Write an OpEd to spread the word about how unequal access remains a problem among women.
6) Add your organization to the long list of campaign sponsors!

Check out other ways to take action on the campaign website. Happy Back Up Your Birth Control Day!

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Don’t have plans the first weekend of April? Craving some inspiring talk about reproductive and social justice? Then you should take a trip to Amherst, Massachusetts! Hampshire College (haven for the free spirited, pro-active and socially conscious) is hosting a free weekend conference called From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom.  

The event is part of a project by the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program, “a reproductive rights organization that trains, educates, and inspires new leaders, organizers, and supporters nationwide.” The action-packed weekend will be full of great opportunities to participate in workshops, hear some great musical performances, and listen to some awesome discussions about reproductive freedom in the context of other social issues such as racial equality, health care reform, economic justice, and LGBTQ rights (to name a few!).  

From Abortion Rights to Social Justice:
Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom
April 4-6, 2008
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 

 It’s free, so register now!

On Thursday, March 6^th NARAL Pro-Choice New York will co-sponsor an event called “Universal Health Care: Will Women’s Needs Be Met?”

Participating co-sponsors range from other repro health organizations to student public health groups.  The event will be held from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at New York University’s Silver Center, Room 408.  While universal health care is gaining national attention through campaign platforms and reform movements, women’s rights advocates are left wondering how women’s health will fit into the picture.  The event’s panel will address how women’s rights will come into play during the legislative process of New York State reform, which policies will most protect women’s health, and what advocates should be doing to ensure that women’s voices are heard.   

The panelists will include Byllye Avery, Founder of the Black Women’s Health Imperative and President of the Avery Institute for Social Change, Elisabeth Benjamin, Director of Healthcare Restructuring Initiatives for Community Service Society, Richard Gottfried, Chair of the New York State Commission on Health, and Lois Uttley, Director of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need.  The event is open to all who are interested in health care reform, including students, advocates, and the general public. 

Those who would like to attend should RSVP to Carolyn Fraker (cfraker@prochoiceny.org) by March 3, 2008. 

 The Repro Health Hub has talked about the many reasons why we heart reproductive rights, health and justice, and now you can discuss why you do too at the I Heart Choice event tomorrow night! The men and women of the Young Professional’s Council for Choice will be hosting a swanky shindig from 9-11pm at Runway in New York City, and you’re invited for free cocktails and a chance to schmooze with other fellow choice lovers. So if you’re in New York City, come have a Mai-Choice-Tai and enjoy the wonderful company of other reproductive choice advocates! Click here to buy tickets.

Last Tuesday, January 22 2008, marked the 35th anniversary of the monumental Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision establishing a woman’s right to privacy when making decisions about her own reproductive health.  

Before Roe, an estimated 1.2 million women each year resorted to illegal and unsafe abortions. Although Roe was a great step towards progress, reproductive rights in America are still facing many challenges and the National Institute for Reproductive Health and others are actively fighting those threats. 

NARAL Pro-Choice America celebrated the anniversary with “Blog for Choice Day” in which bloggers around the country were invited to write about why they vote pro-choice. While Roe is about choice, we would also like to recognize the fantastic work that’s being done around the nation surrounding all reproductive health issues. So here goes:   

• I vote pro-choice because women should not be dying from unsafe abortions. 

• I vote pro-choice because all women in the US should have access to safe abortions. 

• I vote pro-choice because a women’s ability to obtain an abortion should not be determined by her income. 

• I vote pro-choice because a woman and her partner should have the ability to avoid unintended pregnancy. 
  

• I vote pro-choice because birth control should be available to everyone. 

• I vote pro-choice because women should not be criminalized.  

• I vote pro-choice because abortion providers should not be criminalized. 

• I vote pro-choice because accurate information about sex, sexuality, and health should be accessible to everyone.  

• I vote pro-choice because abstinence-only education doesn’t work. 

• I vote pro-choice because comprehensive sex education can reduce teen pregnancy and prevent the spread of STDs. 

• I vote pro-choice because reproductive health care can prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. 
  

• I vote pro-choice because our government should not be prohibiting women around the world from necessary family planning services.  

• I vote pro-choice because I believe in the right to do what is best for myself and my body. 

• I vote pro-choice because I value human rights.  

 Nuff’ said.

- Teresa Mozur

The Young Professionals’ Council for Choice (YPCC) is a newly formed, awesome group of - well, young professionals who are pro-choice and wanted not only to mobilize other younger people to support reproductive rights, but to have some fun doing it.

So you’re in New York and would like yummy “Safe Sex on the Beach” cocktails, come get your pro-choice party-on at their kick-off event next Thursday; it promises to be quite a hoot.

Click here to buy tickets and here for more info on the council.

The MergerWatch organization of New York, in partnership with the Avery Institute for Social Change and the National Women’s Health Network, is in the midst of bringing a vital issue to the forefront of the healthcare reform movement- women’s rights.  The name of this ongoing project is Raising Women’s Voices for the Healthcare We Need.   

Unlike other healthcare efforts that claim they have the rights of the uninsured at the base of their campaign, Raising Women’s Voices has actually asked real women what struggles they’ve had with their medical insurance and how they would attempt to rectify the healthcare system.  The project places special priority on engaging women from communities that are frequently marginalized in health policy discussions such as low-income families, communities of color, immigrants, young women, women with disabilities and those who are lesbians, bisexual or transgender.   

Through these discussions, Raising Women’s Voices hopes to develop a vision for a healthcare system that would meet the identified needs of these women and their families, real needs from real people. The project aims to mobilize women to advocate for their rights in their own communities, so that their voices are heard before the rest of the healthcare reform movement drowns them out.   

Click here to check out information on their upcoming audio conference next week, “Where Should Women’s Health Advocates Put Our Energy?”