Asheville Rocked for Roe!

by Kelli Early, 2017-2018 Campus Leader at UNC Asheville

Roe v. Wade turned 45 this year, and with its anniversary brings celebration of its precedents that allow people greater bodily autonomy, but also the reality that Roe’s mission is under attack.

This is no surprise to North Carolinians.  Since Roe, North Carolina has been a testing ground for national anti-choice legislation.  While reproductive advocates successfully defeated a recent proposed federal 20-week abortion, sadly, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a 20-week ban in North Carolina in 1973, the same year that Roe v. Wade was decided.  These early attacks on abortion access in North Carolina were followed with abstinence-only-until-marriage education, which a recent government evaluation found has no effect on teen behavior.

And since the 1970s, organizations like NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina have defended North Carolinians’ abortion access in the courtroom, the streets, and in intimate spaces like clinics or classrooms where the impacts of these oppressions are felt.

Stigma and shame are prevalent social effects of criminalizing abortion and sexuality.  That’s why this anniversary of Roe v. Wade, NARAL Pro-Choice NC hosted the 2nd Annual Rock for Roe benefit show to dance, celebrate, and raise funds to continue our defense of reproductive rights.

The evening included a raffle of wonderful prizes, ranging from concert tickets at the Orange Peel to a YWCA membership, procured with the help of Development Director Toni Curry and Board Member Monroe Gilmour.  The audience was treated with live music by Big Sound Harbor, a local band in Asheville who became experts at raffling our prizes and fundraising another year of resistance!

Dulci, Big Sound Harbor lead singer, fabulously calling raffle prize winning tickets

While attendees walked between tables of prizes, NARAL Pro Choice NC’s Advocacy and Organizing Manager Lynne Walter offered people buttons, stickers, and literature as tools to spread knowledge about reproductive advocacy in North Carolina.  Participants were able to sign a petition against additional 20-week abortion bans and encouraged to take action after the event.

It is vital that community members on a local and state level come together to share stories, challenges, and kinship to sustain our movement for reproductive freedom, because, ultimately, we are fighting for each other’s lives.  Since 1 in 4 U.S. women will have an abortion in her lifetime, the work of NARAL Pro-Choice NC and all other reproductive justice organizations must continue so that North Carolina’s dark history of sexism, racism, and homophobia don’t become our future!

Roe v. Wade Celebration Week at Davidson College!

by Kristen Sands, 2017-2018 Campus Leader at Davidson College

Hello from Davidson, North Carolina, Kristen Sands here!  To celebrate 45 years of Roe v. Wade, I worked with Planned Parenthood Generation Action campus representatives Caroline Roddey and Emma Granowsky as well as student leaders of the Health Justice Committee Jennie Goodell and Lily Acton, to develop a week of fabulous events sponsored by Shout Your Abortion!  We had the best time getting members of our community together to celebrate the 45th anniversary of abortion legality, learn more about reproductive justice, and come #TogetherForAbortion.

Tatianna runs the booth for students to send a note to abortion providers and pro-choice advocates in honor of Roe v. Wade!

We kicked off the week with an educational lunch event covering the history of Roe v. Wade, its current place in this political atmosphere and why legality does not mean access.  We discussed barriers to reproductive healthcare that exist for Women of Color, queer and trans folk and other marginalized communities, discussed attacks on Roe, and talked to students about what they could do to support abortion access.

On Wednesday, we took over campus trivia night to ask our fellow students some questions on Roe v. Wade and abortion designed to bust some myths and raise awareness about North Carolina’s abortion laws.  For example, we asked “Does abortion put you at risk for… A) Breast Cancer, B) Chronic Depression, C) Infertility, or D) None of the above?” in order to educate the group that women who get abortions are no more likely to develop depression than women who carry a pregnancy to term, and there is no correlation between breast cancer or infertility and having had an abortion!

Bridget enjoying Shout Your Abortion swag at campus trivia night!

On Thursday, we were incredibly fortunate to have a number of powerful activists take the time to join us for a panel discussion on Reproductive Justice.  Our professionals in the field were Tara Romano, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina, Calla Hales, Director of Administrative Services of A Preferred Women’s Health Center, and Ash Williams, North Carolina Organizer from SisterSong.  Tara, Calla, and Ash built an amazing discussion, helping us understand what Reproductive Justice means, how we can contribute to this work, and how we can center patients and providers in our conversations and activism related to reproductive freedom.

Students enjoying a discussion led by Ash Williams of Sister Song, Tara Romano of NARAL Pro-Choice NC, and Calla Hales of A Preferred Women’s Health Choice.

 

Ash Williams, Sister Song, Tara Romano, NARAL Pro-Choice NC, and Calla Hales, A Preferred Women’s Health Choice.

On Friday, we had a booth open all day for students to write notes of thanks to all the hardworking people who make abortion access possible.  Students loved taking advantage of the opportunity to send a note of gratitude to abortion providers, activists, clinic escorts, and advocacy groups.

Our amazing thank you notes designed by student Jennie and awesome swag from Shout Your Abortion.

Lucy sends a note of thanks.

The Roe v. Wade Celebration week at Davidson was a huge success and I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to bring education, gratitude, and celebration in honor of the 45th anniversary onto my campus.  Our events were well attended by faculty and students alike, and we loved the opportunity to engage in discussions about Reproductive Justice and abortion access, to celebrate the progress that has been made, and to prepare to tackle the challenges that remain.  Thank you NARAL Pro-Choice NC and Shout Your Abortion for making this week possible!

Celebrating 45 years of Roe v. Wade!

Hyde Amendment Week of Action at Davidson College

by Kristen Sands, 2017-2018 Campus Leader at Davidson College

Hello again from Davidson College, North Carolina!  During November, our on-campus student activists were hard at work generating thoughtful conversation about reproductive justice.

On Thursday, three of my fellow students and I hosted an educational luncheon event covering the Hyde Amendment as part of All* Above All’s November week of action.  We presented information on the history of the Hyde Amendment and the barrier it poses to abortion access, encouraging our audience to consider how this is an economic justice issue as it allows the government to deny people of lower income abortion coverage as part of their health insurance programs.

To illustrate the true impact of the Hyde Amendment, we discussed how 1 in 6 women of reproductive age in the United States are Medicaid recipients, and to understand the disproportionate effect that Hyde has on Women of Color we broke down to the group that 30% of these women are black and 24% are Latina/Hispanic.  We discussed other populations subject to the Hyde Amendment, including Native American women enrolled in federal health insurance plans, women in federal prisons and detained undocumented immigrants.  To get an idea of the individual experience of the Hyde Amendment, we discussed Jane Doe, the 17-year-old immigrant from Central America who made the decision to have an abortion but was blocked by the Office of Refugee Resettlement from receiving the procedure for over a month.  The ACLU worked tirelessly on her behalf, and ultimately after weeks of litigation they obtained a court order requiring the government to immediately permit her access to an abortion.

Moving forward to educate students about what they could do, we spoke about All* Above All and NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina’s efforts to repeal of the Hyde Amendment and encouraged students to educate themselves, follow these organizations, and help raise awareness.  Students were excited to hear that activism on a local and state level could make a difference, as municipalities can pass resolutions standing up to the discrimination of the Hyde Amendment and states can decide to fund medically necessary abortions through their own Medicaid programs.  Finally, we encouraged students to consider a candidate’s stance on the Hyde amendment when deciding which candidate they will support.  Even if a candidate or elected official is pro-choice, if they are not pro-coverage, we want to keep this in mind in our activism and voice that this is an issue that matters to us!  Many students who attended our educational event didn’t know a lot about the Hyde Amendment, which made me feel even stronger that this kind of outreach and education is so important!  Following the event, students were eager to sign All* Above All’s “Justice Pledge” and felt empowered by their new understanding.

 

Next, on Sunday evening I collaborated with the Planned Parenthood Generation Action chapter at Davidson for an abortion storytelling event titled “#IDefy.”  The goal of the event was to break down abortion stigma and promote empowerment, awareness, and empathy.  Before sharing abortion stories, we went through some facts on abortion procedures, covering the differences between basics of medication abortion and surgical abortion.  This was to bust any myths in the audience and give a brief but practical sense of what we would actually be talking about.  We then introduced the 1 in 3 Campaign led by Advocates for Youth as well as Planned Parenthood’s #IDefy campaign, both of which inspired this event. The central purpose of the event was to share abortion stories, some from our campus and some from the 1 in 3 collection of stories.  Hearing the experiences of real women from our Davidson community and beyond was deeply powerful.  Re-centering the conversation on abortion back to the patient was revitalizing and a meaningful reminder of the humanity behind this unfortunately politicized issue.  To close the evening, we heard from our campus Health Educator, Georgia Ringle, who is a wonderful pro-choice advocate on campus and has supported many women at Davidson throughout their decisions about abortion.  She spoke about her personal goals to combat shame and stigma on our campus and her availability as a confidential and judgement-free resource.  I was thankful to hear from many students that they left this event feeling thankful for the bravery of their peers who were willing to share their stories and inspired by the compassion of the group.

Thank you again NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina and also All* Above All for giving me the resources to bring this essential education to my campus!

Reproductive Justice Week at UNC Wilmington!

by Becki Fernandez, 2017 Campus Leader at UNC Wilmington

This November, I organized and implemented a week of programming surrounding the theme of reproductive justice as part of my position with the NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina Campus Leader program, aptly called “Reproductive Justice Week.”  I have been organizing for years with the UNCW Feminist Student Alliance around several feminist, social justice issues, but this was the first time that I organized a full week of programs coinciding with a week of awareness.

The climate surrounding talking about reproductive justice in Wilmington, NC, is an interesting one, particularly around the subject of abortion.  I have noticed during my time in Wilmington that abortion rights is one of the few angles of modern, progressive social justice that the community has some trouble rallying around.  Just look at what we saw happening with the Democratic Party this year with the debate surrounding a litmus test on support of abortion rights.  In Wilmington, we have more fake clinic crisis pregnancy centers than actual medical clinics that offer abortion services. In fact, our one clinic that does offer abortion services can only bring in an abortion provider 4 times a month.  I am genuinely fearful of wearing any of my pro-abortion t-shirts in public here because of how antagonistic the community seems to be.  I know that I am far from the only person in Wilmington, NC, that is passionate about abortion rights and reproductive justice.  But, I am still aware that the community has a sizable, adamantly anti-choice community that will protest along the sides of busy roads and intersections to try and deny people access to their constitutional right to an abortion.  So at the very least, I set out to get a conversation started on abortion rights in southeastern North Carolina.

I also wanted to try and focus on a few reproductive justice issues that go beyond abortion rights. While abortion rights are an important battle in the reproductive justice framework, they are not the only pressing issue in today’s world.  The right to have children is also an important reproductive right, and the right to parent and raise these children in safe communities is also an important reproductive right.  Essentially, the right for you and your possible family to exist and live healthy, dignified lives regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, immigration status, ability, income, or any aspect of your identity is the ultimate reproductive right that should always be fought for.

I started off my week of action with a “How to Get an Abortion in North Carolina” toolkit presentation with Carolina Abortion Fund.  The presentation was very informative and went well.  Representatives from Carolina Abortion Fund came in and talked about the current state of abortion rights and access in North Carolina.  I am sure this is not exactly news for anyone reading anything off of NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina’s website, but the current state of abortion rights and access in North Carolina is pretty grim.  So “Reproductive Justice Week” might not have started off on a happy note, but it definitely started on a call-to-action to help provide abortion funds, at the very least, to people in need in North Carolina.

The next event of Reproductive Justice Week was a discussion on LGBTQIA reproductive health and rights hosted with a fellow student organization on campus, Pride.  I felt it was dire to include a program about queer reproductive health because as many folks doing this work are aware of already, the reproductive rights of the LGBTQIA community is oftentimes left out of the reproductive rights narrative even though these rights are just as important.  Cisgender, heterosexual individuals are not the only individuals in need of abortion access.  Furthermore, LGBTQIA folk face larger disparities than some of their cisgender, heterosexual counterparts in finding access to general and reproductive healthcare, which goes far beyond abortion rights.  Not to mention the struggles LGBTQIA parents face in fighting for their basic right to parent, on top of fighting for basic rights to employment, housing, and freedom from violence and discrimination.  During our discussion, we made sure to touch on many of these issues, as well as take audience feedback on LGBTQIA reproductive justice issues that are important to them.

Next, we hosted a small lunch and chat with representatives from NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina where we also talked about the current state of reproductive rights in NC, with a focus on fake clinic crisis pregnancy centers and all the legislative barriers that have been created for people trying to seek out an abortion in NC.  The discussion was vibrant, lively, and had great involvement from UNCW faculty and staff.

Our next event of Reproductive Justice Week was a screening of the documentary No Más Bebés.  This is a documentary about a group of immigrant women in Los Angeles suing county doctors, the state of California, and the U.S. government for coercing and at times even tricking these young, immigrant mothers into getting their tubes tied and becoming sterilized.  This was one of the most powerful events of the week of action for me, personally, as a Latina and child of immigrants.  I have witnessed firsthand what it is like for non-Latinx people to think your family is dirty because it is large and Latinx.  It was a profound, impactful documentary that was also deeply resonating.  The film also serves as a reminder to the reproductive justice community that this is a movement founded for and by women of color, and the specific needs of people of color that are found in the intersections of the reproductive justice framework need to be prioritized because they are the needs that have been constantly looked over for most of the reproductive rights movement.  The bodies of people of color have been used for centuries for experiments and torture to advance the reproductive rights narrative and that must be recognized in order for us to move forward.

After that, I, along with the Feminist Student Alliance, hosted a discussion on the Hyde Amendment and why it is our duty to support low-income folks’ access to abortion care.  A lot of people in the room for this event were not even aware of the current implications of the Hyde Amendment, which is great in a sense because I feel the entire purpose of holding events like these are to educate people who do not know as much about these issues as I might, as opposed to preaching to a choir of established reproductive rights activists.  The Hyde Amendment infamously prohibits federal funding from covering abortion.  This means that low-income people who may be relying on Medicaid/Medicare for healthcare coverage cannot use this coverage for abortion services unless they live in a state that explicitly allows it.  Making abortion care only readily available to people with middle and upper class incomes goes against the whole point of legal and safe access to abortion.  Access to abortion has to be affordable, too, in order for it to be a genuine right.  Sadly, this does not stop legislators from slashing funding for abortion care left and right, and there are even a few people who say they are “pro-choice” who agree that federal funding should not go towards abortion.  However, abortion is healthcare, plain and simple.  Placing insurance bans against covering the costs of abortion care should not be the one facet of healthcare that we won’t fight to gain coverage for.

Our last event of “Reproductive Justice Week” was “Storytelling as Activism” with Collective Sex and Shout Your Abortion.  Activists Poppy and Amelia shared their own personal abortion stories and emphasized how important storytelling is in activism.  Storytelling is what breaks barriers and stigma because it goes beyond the 24-hour news pundits, beyond the internet thinkpieces, beyond the debates on legislation.  Storytelling shows how even the most stigmatized of social issues affects real people and their real lives.  And that is just what Poppy and Amelia did with their presentation.  The entire room of people was deeply moved by what these two abortion storytelling activists had to say.  Additionally, I think it is safe to say that not just through the entire week of events but with this program in particular, I started an honest conversation about abortion in my community which is exactly what I set out to do.

Overall, I was impressed with the outcome of my “Reproductive Justice Week.”  Despite a few concerns of ours, no one came out to harass me, members of my student organization, or any of the presenters I had visiting during the week of programming.  Furthermore, we had great attendance from Wilmington community members, which is fantastic considering all the events happened on UNCW’s campus.  In this day and age, discussions about reproductive justice can be exhausting and tiring.  It is definitely an uphill battle to fight for these rights and have our voices be heard.  Nevertheless, we cannot stop until all of our rights are guaranteed!

Reproductive Justice 101 with SisterSong

by Marie-Antoinette Sintim, 2017-2018 Campus Leader at UNC Chapel Hill

I’ve been learning about Reproductive Justice for a while and I’ve learned a lot.  You know when you feel confident about something that you forget that there’re still a million things to know?  Well, November 12, 2017, was that day for me.  Kate, my badass feminist friend, had worked really hard for there to be a Reproductive Justice training on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus, and as the Campus Leader at NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina, I worked with her to get SisterSong to come and conduct this training.  It had been advertised not just to the UNC community, but to nearby communities, as well.  We had pizza and cookies!  I was very excited (I believe in food always).

Would we have students?  Faculty?  Neighbors?  A random protestor?  Luckily for us, the people that showed up were students, friends, and neighbors who were eager to learn about reproductive Justice.

Apart from a great crowd, Ash of SisterSong expanded the narrative of Reproductive Justice, choosing not to focus on just cisgender white women, but on trans people, non- binary people, and People of Color.  Attendees shared stories about their reproductive lives, in all forms.  The more I do this work, the more I am reminded that for many people these are stories that are hard to tell no matter how many times they are shared.  And that to be trusted with such a story is a privilege and should be respected.  There are never enough spaces to tell those things that we are afraid to utter ,but we had that space during this training (and because of the sacredness I won’t share other people’s stories here, but I’m sure we all have our stories or know those of our loved ones).

While teaching us about the Reproductive Justice framework, Ash allowed for questions, no matter how uncomfortable.  I learned that I won’t always be prepared for uncomfortable questions!  In my discomfort, I decided not to lead with my exasperation and anger with attendees who didn’t understand the importance of Reproductive Justice…maybe today I would lead with some compassion instead.  I started talking to myself like you do before you’re about to say something you don’t quite know how to say and told myself: “There are things that these people don’t know about Reproductive Justice and I don’t know everything, either, and I’m not right always and don’t always use the right language or phrase everything correctly.  I’m still learning, too.”  The mere fact that these folks had come to a teach in about Reproductive Justice meant something!

So, today I learned something new and so did they!