Choice v. Freedom v. Abortion Rights

Last week, Katha Pollitt of The Nation and historian Nancy Cohen wrote that the repro rights movement needs a better descriptor than "pro-choice." Ms. Magazine contributor Carol Joffe wrote a similar post in February.

Cohen proposed "pro-freedom" as a patriotic alternative that would appeal to mainstream voters, while Pollitt, Joffe, and a number of progressive organizations prefer the term reproductive justice to describe the rights for which we're fighting.

I agree with Pollitt that we're probably not going to shift the language our country uses around abortion and reproduction at this rate. But I figured I'd weigh in anyway.

I like the term "abortion rights" since it is specific and normalizes the word abortion. I believe that as a movement, we should say what we mean. This also happens to be the language the AP style guide uses. NPR recently adopted the AP guidelines around this language in response to a post by their ombudsman, Alicia Shepard.

The repro justice approach is important and a more comprehensive way to discuss the variety of issues we work on. Both terms are descriptive and are not mutually exclusive, and we can use both where appropriate.

That said, "choice" feels like an old friend and I'd be a little sorry to see it go. Nor am I so quick to believe we have somehow lost the linguistic and cultural high ground to "pro-life" extremists. Your thoughts?

What Comes to Mind When You Think of Reproductive Health?

Stanford's Students Advocating Gender Equality (SAGE), an FMF Affiliate Group, asked just that. Check out what students on campus had to say.



If you're not doing so already, think about using videos and interviews to gauge the level of feminist awareness on campus and take action!

If your feminist group has an informative or action-based video that you'd like featured on the Choices Campus Blog, email your Campus Organizer.

Good work Stanford SAGE!

Fem News: Some Clarification About New Health Care Reform

Birth Control Access in Review

As an undergrad attending a women's college, having birth control and other forms of contraception readily available was far more than a novelty. It was considered a normal part of our women's health and wellness program. After receiving a wellness check up, the option of selecting generic contraceptives at a very reduced cost or for free was as second nature as selecting dessert to complete a full course meal. But once the Student Health Center made its announcement that it would no longer carry birth control, it left a lot of students frazzled and uncertain of how to continue using birth control in their daily lives.

The reality of a women's college--consisting of 2300 fertile young women, most of whom are likely to be sexually active--no longer offering any form of birth control is somewhat of an oxymoron. I began to question where would the first year students, who are required to live on campus with no personal transportation, go to get birth control? Would they be able to afford it? Many college-aged women depend on their Student Health Center to offer birth control because of its affordability and accessibility.

Our FMLA went to the Director of the Student Health Center and our Vice President of Student Affairs to get some clear answers. What they shared helped us to understand this issue in a bigger context beyond just our campus community. It was affecting most colleges and universities in the nation and public clinics serving low-income communities.

They explained that the unreasonably sudden hike in cost of birth control was more than the college's entire family planning budget. So unfortunately, they had to make drastic cuts. How did this happen, you might ask? Why did the cost increase?

Well, according to the facts given in FMF's Access to Birth Control Campaign, for almost 20 years, Medicaid pricing rules allowed pharmaceutical companies to provide college health centers and over 400 clinics serving low income women with birth control at a substantial discount. As a result, many students and low-income women nationwide had access to affordable birth control through these clinics and college health centers. In 2005, the rules changed, going into effect on January 1, 2007. The result: birth control prices skyrocketed on campus - some saw prices increase by up to 5 times their original prices! In some cases, prices went from $10 a month to over $50 a month. FMF's campus program worked with students all over the country to mobilize and demand a fix in legislation.

By being plugged into FMF's Birth Control Access Campaign, we immediately went to work by petitioning the student body. We received an overwhelming support from both students and administration. And the work of hundreds of young women across the country paid off, because in 2009, Congress reversed the 2005 act and passed regulations to permit discounted prices on campuses and affected clinics servicing low-income women once again. YES! A huge victory for us all, right? Well, unfortunately there's still one more hurdle to jump.

Still many student health centers have not adjusted their prices and there are still not enough federal dollars going to family planning programs. Want to get involved? Here's what you can do:

1. Go to your Student Health Center and make sure birth control and emergency contraception is offered and its given a discounted price.
2. If you can't access birth control on campus, start a petition, write op-eds in your student newspaper, present resolutions to student government and administration.
3. Encourage the Health Center to be on your side.
4. Get plugged into FMF's Birth Control Access Campaign action kit and disseminate information on campus.

Unfortunately, the ongoing battle to secure and protect reproductive health and rights for women continues on. But let this be one more battle won for young women in college and other women across the nation!

This article was featured in our February 2010 monthly Choices eZine. Sign up for our alerts to stay up-to-date with the latest feminist news and to receive the monthly eZine.

Pictures Truly Worth A Thousand Words

Cartoons courtesy of Slate Magazine.

AIDS: The Leading Cause of Death Among Women Ages 15-44

The World Health Organization did its first study on women’s health around the world and found the AIDs virus to be the leading cause of death and disease among women 15-44 years of age.

Yesterday, the Associated Press released an article describing unsafe sex as the leading factor for AIDs in developing countries. It stated, “throughout the world, one in five deaths among women in this age group is linked to unsafe sex.” It noted how women have a biological advantage as they tend to live longer then men, but such an advantage is often cast aside as women “suffer serious disadvantages because of poverty, poorer access to health care and cultural norms that put a priority on the well-being of men.” Better access to contraception and education programs is desperately needed to battle unsafe sex and the spread of AIDs.

Want to know more? Get involved with the Global Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights campaign with Feminist Majority Foundation! More information can be found at http://www.feminist.org/global/gsrhr.html.

Photo Credit: Sully Pixel on flickr.com

Some can't afford to be SICK of the health care debate...

Saw this compelling video on feministing and thought, how many more of these stories is it going to take?!

Health Care Reform: A Moral Question?

Via Huffington Post. William A. Smith, the VP for Public Policy at SIECUS states:

Here is where I return to the lament about the lack of consistent and
penetrating moral framework to our domestic discussion about healthcare. Moral language is the bridge back to securing rights and reviving the special sense in the American consciousness that the term ought to inspire. They are not mutually exchangeable terms or frames of reference. Further, morals lead to rights, not the reverse. Positing rights language without first successfully providing the moral argument perhaps serves short term advocacy goals, but in the end, creates a hollow shell that is ultimately difficult to defend. And here is where we find ourselves.

Smith's argument is that health care reform in the US is deteriorating because health reform advocates have failed to frame the issue as a moral one. The debate has been framed in terms of money and rights without a moral component. With this in mind, is true health care reform in the US even possible?

The Feminist Majority Foundation has framed the issue as an implicitly moral one:

• "Women spend higher percentage of income on healthcare because they earn less than men on average and often reproductive health costs are not covered. Women are more likely than male counterparts to be underinsured." (link)


• "Reproductive health services are costly and too often not covered. Birth control for women of reproductive age is the highest out-of-pocket expense." (link)


• "Women are the principal health care deciders for families and make 80% of all family health care decisions." (link)


• "The public option is essential for keeping affordable the premiums of private insurance companies by providing competition and an alternative. It ensures there is an affordable option for individuals or families who do not have health insurance access and for small businesses currently without health insurance coverage for their employees. " (link)

The need for reform due to the inequities and deep impacts facing women under the current health system is clearly stated. The moral tie to this claim is that health care reform must be passed because it would be more just and equitable to do so.

Is Smith right? Is true health care reform impossible today? Or, do we still have a chance to win true health care reform? Do we have the necessary moral ground to do so?

Health Care Gurus Give Us the Info!

Did you know that a country’s level of women’s health care correlates to the strength of its feminist movement? The Feminst Majority brought home the correlation between health care, feminism, money and power with their first-ever Women, Money, Power Summit, which screamed from rooftops that HEALTH CARE REFORM IS A WOMEN’S ISSUE AND THAT WOMEN’S RIGHTS CANNOT BE USED AS A TOOL TO UNDERMINE CHANGE!

At the interactive workshop, “Impact of Health Insurance Reform on Women,” four gurus of health insurance reform (Eleanor Hinton Hoytt, Cynthia Pearson, Judy Waxman and Susan Wood, Ph.D.) were called in to answer all of our burning questions. Here’s a run-down on some of the topics they discussed.

**One of the highest insurance cost drivers is women's chronic diseases (examples: heart disease, diabetes, cancers, etc…)

**Preventative care (taking care of an ailment before it gets out of hand and lifestyle changes such as healthy eating and exercise) does pay off. Women who do not have primary care physicians (with poverty being a large determinant) miss out on these preventative measures, and then go the emergency room when dire (and more expensive) conditions arise.

**A chief complaint among women is that “health insurance doesn’t care about/ is ignoring” them (especially with examples like gender biases on premiums, lifetime caps and some plans listing cesarean sections/domestic violence as “pre-existing conditions.”)

**The Capp’s Compromise will not fund elective abortion from federal Treasury accounts. The public option would be based on any other health insurance, where premiums are paid to the insurance company, not directly to the government. As an insurance provider, it must abide by the Hyde Amendment, which states that if an insurance company should choose to include abortion services in their benefit plan, they are prohibited from using federal subsidies to cover them. (It was mentioned in the panel that insurance companies often lean towards pro-reproductive rights, as birth control, the morning after pill and the abortion pill are all much cheaper than pregnancy.)

**One of the best ways to make sure the demands of women will be included in the health care reform is to voice your opinion (remember: if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu!). Getting involved with community organizations like Raising Women’s Voices is a great way to ensure things like stronger public health measures, healthcare that covers a full life-span, affordability, and equal payment plans pass. When a cause is personalized, the public relates better.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, 76% of women said “our current health care system should be reformed or radically changed.” You are not alone. Check out some of these websites to learn more and add your voice to the movement:

Feminst Majority Health Care Reform

Raising Women's Voices: Four Simple Actions You Can Take for Health Reform that Meets the Needs of Women and Families

Raising Women's Voices: From Our Kitchen Table: What Women Want (The Health Reform Edition)

Reform Matters

The Kaiser Foundation

photo credits: bortove from flickr.com

(from ACT UP, circa 1969)

UNESCO International Guidelines on Sexual Education

At what age do you think it is appropriate to talk about sexuality and how should it be discussed?

This question has been floating around the global community, especially due to the ever-growing HIV crisis and its links to sexuality.

The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) gave us their take by drafting the International Guidelines on Sexual Education, presented this June at the 19th World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) Conference.

The goal was to provide a comprehensive, systematic approach to sexual education, covering everything from love and relationships, orientation, pleasure, family planning and HIV/STD prevention options in an evidence-based, health-focused, culturally sensitive way. The curriculum is categorized in age-appropriate lists, teaching sexuality in digestible doses.

After getting wind of the draft, conservatives jumped. Feeling uncomfortable with “teaching masturbation to five year olds,” the protests began. Parents complained that it is inappropriate for teachers to and Focus on the Family’s vice president Chong Cheh Hoon said that the Guidelines are like “telling…kids not to smoke and yet providing them with cigarette filters.”

UNESCO employee Mark Richmond defended the Guidelines saying, “At the moment, education is the best weapon we have for dealing with these issues… Evidence tells us that by and large, young people do not have access to the knowledge that could help them make informed decisions and thereby avoid tragic consequences.” The agency is certain that the youth are interested and deserve to know the facts.

The draft was given a second chance at the Sex and Relationships Education Conference on September 7th-9th. UNESCO stood by its goals, but reworked some areas with attending specialists.

A finalized version is said to be out by the end of this year.

While this has been debated for some time, now is the time to sit up and pay attention! Read the June 2009 guidelines to decide what you think and keep your eye out for the final draft!

photo credit to lamont_cranston on flikr

Register for the Women of Color Conference Today!

Have you registered yet for the Women of Color Conference?

With only 8 days left to take advantage of Early Bird Registration discounts (only $15 for individuals, and a measly $12/person for groups of 5+), there's no time to wait! Register today!

Check out our preliminary conference schedule...

Friday, October 9, 2009
12:30-1:30 Registration

1:30-3:00 Conference Opening: Are We There Yet? An Intergenerational Dialogue on the Future of Feminism

3:00-4:30 SpeakOUT at Market Friday

4:30-6:00 Dinner

6:30-8:30 Conference Kickoff Event

Saturday, October 10, 2009
9:00 Registration

10-11:15 Opening Plenary - The Power of Many: Building a Progressive Coalition for Public Health

11:30-12:45 Breakout Session 1

• More Than Just Safe Spaces: Countering Violence Against Young Women
• Feminism Speaks for Me – Or Does It?
• Barriers to Family Planning in the US and Globally
• This Movement Could Save Your Life: Making Sense of Healthcare Insurance Reform

12:45-1:45 Lunch and optional Teach-In session
2-3:15 Breakout Session 2

• With Justice for All? Decriminalizing Immigrant Communities
• Access Denied: Anti-Abortion Terrorism and Threats to Women’s Reproductive Health
• What’s Next? Global Reproductive Health and Rights in the Obama Era
• Taking It Into Our Own Hands: The Power of Alternative Media

3:30-4:45 Breakout Session 3

• Professional Activism and Working in Nonprofits
• Reproductive Rights are Civil Rights: Guaranteeing Reproductive Justice in Our Communities
• Facing the Pandemic Here and Abroad: HIV/AIDS in Communities of Color
• Enslaved in the Shadows: Human Trafficking In Your Community

5:00 Closing Plenary - The Movement of a Lifetime: Living Your Feminism After College

Conference schedule subject to change - there are more details to come! Please check back for updates!

Rush Limbaugh Speaks Out Against Women... Again!

According to everyone's favorite conservative radio-show host Rush Limbaugh, "reproductive health care is abortion." Ridiculous! Ludicrous! Absurd! All three of those words, (and quite a few more), immediately came to mind....

Women's reproductive health care encompasses a variety of basic, essential services: annual gynecological exams, Pap smears to screen for cervical cancer, mammograms to screen for breast cancer, prenatal care, birth control, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. There is a growing tendency for conservatives to trumpet women's reproductive health care as being all about abortion; to claim that reproductive health care is primarily and solely concerned with abortion is an absolute and utter falsehood!

Former lieutenant governors of Iowa, Joy Corning and Sally Pederson, recently wrote a piece for the Desmoine Register concerning this uneducated comment. According to Corning and Pederson:

"This kind of outrageous and polarizing language gets the listeners' attention and undermines the health care of millions of women and the thousands of health centers that serve them. "

They write not only about the immediate and tangible benefits of women's reproductive health clinics; for many low income women the clinics are the only outlet they have for medical care, but the incredible impact prescreening tests like mammograms and Pap smears are having on the female community.

"For example, cervical cancer- one of the most common causes of death for American women is curable in the early stages. Due to the increased use of the Pap test, cervical cancer death rates declined by 74 percent between 1955 and 1992."

Abortion is definitely a part of women's rights in the reproductive health care arena, but it is BY NO MEANS the only part. It is vital to remember that reproductive health care is a complex, expansive issue that concerns all of us. Educate yourself! Educate your friends!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25705444@N03/3325709899/

Good News! Generic Plan B Approved by FDA!

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved emergency contraceptive Next Choice, a generic version of Plan B, for over-the-counter use. Next Choice, manufactured by Watson Pharmaceuticals, was first approved by the FDA for prescription use on June 24, according to the Pharmaceutical Business Review. Next Choice will be available over-the-counter to women ages 17 and older and with a prescription for women under 17 years old.

National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) President Nancy Ratzan said in a statement, "Despite recent efforts to increase access to emergency contraception, cost is still a barrier for many women...all women, regardless of age, income, religion, race or geographic location should have access to the full range of contraceptive options. The introduction of a generic for Plan B is an important step toward achieving that important goal." Next Choice is priced around 10% less than Plan B, according to the Reproductive Health Technologies Project (see PDF).

Emergency contraception (EC) is effective up to five days (120 hours) after unprotected sex, birth control failure, or rape, but it is most effective (95 percent) if taken within 24 hours. Because of the time-sensitive nature of EC, over-the-counter access is crucial to its effective use. EC does not terminate an existing pregnancy.

Media Resources: Pharmaceutical Business Review 8/828/09; National Council of Jewish Women 9/1/09; Reproductive Health Technologies Project 8/5/09; Feminist Daily Newswire 7/14/09
Photo credit: flickr.com/Brooks Elliott

HPV Vaccine Encouraged in DC Public Schools

I love dcist.com for its local reporting on issues that matter! In today's Morning Roundup I was pleased to see:

Girls at District Schools Urged to Get HPV Vaccine: The Post reports that girls entering the sixth grade in District schools are being encouraged to get a vaccine against HPV, which can cause cervical cancer. The vaccine, which was approved by the FDA in 2006, remains controversial, with some opponents arguing that it has not been tested enough and others claiming that it would encourage schoolgirls to have sex earlier. In both the District and Virginia, parents can opt out of having their daughters vaccinated; the District abandoned a plan to make the vaccine mandatory a few years ago.

Many Voices - Many Choices

Seattle's Feminist Women's Health Center (FWHC) has a section of their website dedicated to women's stories of why they chose to have an abortion. The section, entitled, "Many Voices - Many Choices," features more than 500 personal stories addressing questions of why, how, and to whom these women have felt compelled to share their experience(s) with.

One woman, identified only as "Kellie" writes,

Two years ago I was unexpectedly pregnant, and I got an abortion. I was surprised that it was so easy, both physically and emotionally. I had grown up hearing and believing the rhetoric of the opponents of abortion, so I was terribly misinformed about what would really happen. When I saw first-hand that abortion is NOTHING like they portray it, I became so angry. Why are the women who really know not voicing the truth as loudly as the opponents are voicing these ridiculous lies? Reading Amy's story made me decide to write mine out here (thank you, Amy).

In addition to the stories shared, FWHC offers an explanation as to how publicly sharing one's story can help those who've had abortion: offering a sense of healing following a clearly difficult decision; telling the truth to help empower others; and sharing one's experience to counter anti-women extremists.

To read others' stories, or share your own, click here.

Photo by TheTruthAbout..., courtesy of flickr.com

FemNews: the Operation Rescue Counter Protest

Hello, everyone! So, as you saw yesterday, some of the FMF interns were planning to go to an Operation Rescue protest at the Capitol, and have a peaceful counter-protest. Well, we did it! It wasn't exactly what we expected it to be, but I think we did a good job of getting our message out! Check out the video!

HPV Vaccine Does More than Bargained For

I'm a fan of preventing cancer. Most people are. I got the three Gardasil shots a year or so ago. It wasn't really a big deal. Three shots=no HPV, didn't seem like a huge decision. I was reading the Huffington Post and saw this piece about the vaccine and there were a few things that I was a little surprised about.

For example (and this may only illustrate how little I know), I didn't realize how easily HPV can be spread. It could be just skin-to-skin contact. Also, according to the author, there's evidence that the vaccine may prevent not only cervical, vaginal, anal and vulvar cancer, but also other forms of cancer, like some oral and throat types.That's pretty impressive.

Not to mention that HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease. Let's face it. Rates of cancer and STIs are pretty high. The fact is both are extremely destructive and can cause serious problems. It's scary how little most women know or understand about their own bodies and their reproductive health, myself included.

Reproductive health is an important part of our lives, which is part of why abstinence-only education is so destructive. I checked out the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals website to see what they had to say about HPV and the vaccine. The site also has a lot of information about every aspect of reproductive health, I'd recommend it. Let's empower ourselves by understanding our bodies and taking care of them!

Photo Courtesy of www. flickr/kimonomania

not-2-late.com

Wendy Matheny, the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Campus Program Coordinator (a.k.a. my boss), e-mailed me a link this morning to “The Emergency Contraception Website,” a very navigable and informative resource on EC. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before, seeing as it’s operated by Princeton, the university I attend, and the Association for Reproductive Health Professionals, and I spent a good chunk of the morning clicking around the site.

From a very comprehensive EC Q&A page to a search function to locate EC providers, the website does a great job presenting information in a clear, accessible fashion. You can search for types of emergency contraception by brand or by country (in Bolivia, for example, you can find 8 types of “progestin only” EC products), read a “more detailed academic review of the medical and social science literature about emergency contraception,” or use the site as a portal to countless other resources on preventing unintended pregnancies. And in a web world plagued by anti-choice (and anti-woman) propaganda, it’s a refreshing change of pace to stumble upon such a positive, trustworthy resource.

The URL is not-2-late.com, which will take you to http://ec.princeton.edu/. Check it out. Tell your friends.

Cross-posted with Princeton's Equal Writes blog.
Photo courtesy of flickr.com/freedomtoast.

Summer opportunity for NYC feminists!

From our friends at the New York-based Pro-Choice Public Education Project:

Dear Colleagues,

We are currently recruiting for a focus/discussion group to speak with young women about the connection between Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Reproductive Health, and we would appreciate it if you could forward the announcement below to the young women you work with. Please let me know if you have any questions!

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

The Pro-Choice Public Education Project is looking for young women to participate in a conversation about Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and reproductive health. If you’re a young woman between the ages of 14 and 25 and are interested in learning more about this issue, please respond to the email address below.

DETAILS

WHAT: Discussion about the interconnectedness of Intimate Partner
Violence (IPV) and Reproductive Health

WHEN:

Thursday, August 6th
6pm- 8:30 pm

WHERE: Location will be provided when you RSVP.

Dinner will be provided!

If you are interested in participating, please respond by Friday, July 31st at 5 PM to snew31@gmail.com or marym@protectchoice.org with the following information:

1. Your name:
2. Email address:
3. Phone number:
4. How you found out about this:
5. Organizations you are involved with:
6. Any special needs (child care, transportation help):

Mary Mahoney
Assistant Director
Pro-Choice Public Education Project
212.977.4266

Late Abortion Saves Lives

Cecily Kellogg, an RH Reality Check blogger, has written an amazing post on RHRealityCheck.org and I simply had to share it! In Ms. Kellogg's honest and intimate depiction of the sudden complications that arose during the beginning of 3rd trimester (of her very-wanted pregnancy in 2004), she outlines the express obligation we all have to continue the fight for safe, legal, and accessible abortion - at any stage of pregnancy.

Here is part of her story:

"I was in advanced kidney failure. My blood pressure was skyrocketing, and it could not be controlled with medications. My liver was beginning to decline. The horrific headache I was experiencing could no longer be treated with pain medications because they were afraid it would depress my ability to breathe when I began to have the seizures they expected at any moment. I would soon likely suffer a stroke or a heart attack. In other words, I was going to die unless the pregnancy was terminated. Immediately."

She later goes on to write:

"With the help of other women like me, I grieved. I healed. I tried again, and in June of 2006, my wild and fierce daughter Victoria was born. As I healed, I came to realize how lucky I was. Yes, I said lucky. This was in 2004, before the Partial Birth Abortion Ban became law, and my doctors were able to move quickly to save my life without worrying about breaking the law. My doctor knew the procedure and was willing to perform it; something that has already become rare and will be rarer still if doctors have to put their lives on the line to perform this life saving medical procedure. If it's you or your daughter, will you be so lucky?"

Take the time to read the entire post and if you have a story of your own, please feel free to use this blog as a space to share it. The more we are able to demystify the need for safe, legal and accessible abortion, the stronger all women will be.