The Advo.Kit! Thanks So Much for Picking up the Kit — We Hope That You Find It to Be a Helpful Resource!

Welcome to the Advo.kit! Thanks so much for picking up the kit — we hope that you find it to be a helpful resource!

Why the Advo.kit? The Advo.kit is geared toward student and/or young activists in the U.S. who seek to advance abortion rights as part of a broad range of reproductive justice issues. It includes background information on unsafe abortion in the U.S. and around the globe, the impact of restrictive sexual and reproductive health policies on the lives of women and girls and tips and tools for activists. We feel these materials will give students and young activists the tools they need to: 1. Provide their peers with comprehensive information on sexual and reproductive health on campus and in the classroom 2. View abortion rights as part of a broad range of global issues, including HIV/AIDS, violence, race, gender, health care and economic and social justice 3. Mobilize and take action How do I use the kit? The Advo.kit is organized into three sections that will help you organize events and educate others on the importance of reproductive justice and abortion rights: 1. Tips for organizing and activism 2. Activities 3. Background and resource documents The Advo.kit is designed so that activists can select the documents as they need and then use them in whichever order or combinations suit their individual needs and audiences. For example, you could use the Plan an Event Worksheet to get started, then use the Drawing the Connections activity in your event and copy the 10 Tips for Organizing document to hand out to your participants. There are dozens of combinations in which the documents could be used! Have fun!

Why abortion and reproductive justice? Reproductive justice includes the right of all women to safe and voluntary contraception; to become pregnant, carry and bear children in a context free of violence and environmental toxins; and to affordable and nonjudgmental abortion services. Many women, however, do not have the option to protect themselves against an unwanted pregnancy, to continue an unintended but wanted pregnancy or to have a safe abortion. Despite Roe v. Wade’s significance, the “right” to abortion means little to those whose options are already restricted by race, gender, sexuality, age, ability or income. Traditionally, the issue of abortion has been isolated by the stigma attached to it. Nevertheless, abortion is a common part of the sexual and reproductive lives of most women, and its inclusion in the reproductive justice movement is essential in the pursuit of equality and justice.

Source: Hessini, Leila, Lonna Hays, Emily Turner, and Sarah Packer. 2007. Abortion matters to reproductive justice. In Reproductive justice briefing book: A primer on reproductive justice and social change. New York, Pro-Choice Education Project. Available online at http://www.sistersong.net/documents/RJBriefingBook.pdf Ipas works globally to increase women’s ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights and to reduce abortion-related deaths and injuries. We seek to expand the availability, quality and sustainability of abortion and related reproductive health services, as well as to improve the enabling environment. Ipas believes that no woman should have to risk her life or health because she lacks safe reproductive health choices.

Ipas is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All contributions to Ipas are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

P.O. Box 5027 • Chapel Hill, NC 27514 USA 1.919.967.7052 • [email protected] www.ipas.org

Agenda 1: Movie Night (1 hour 45 minutes)

Event objective: Raise local awareness about same-sex mar- Supplies needed: DVD, decorations, projector, DVD player, riage; celebrate National Freedom to Marry Day screen, food and supplies for 75 people, three gift certificates Budget: $300 (food, posters, DVD — see Videos on Sexual and donated by local businesses for door prizes Reproductive Rights list) Follow-up plans: Pass around a sign-up sheet to collect par- Event Type: Movie screening and discussion ticipants’ contact information for future events and other news on this issue Event organizer/sponsor/partners: You, campus- and community-LGBTQ organizations Moderator: Local LGBTQ activist Agenda: Audience and size: Approximately 75 local community Introduction of moderator (5 minutes) members Venue: Local church or coffee shop donates space and use of Introduction of movie (5 minuntes) audio visual equipment Movie (60 minutes) Attractions: Well-known and knowledgeable moderator, re- Moderator-led discussion (30 minutes) freshments, door prizes Publicity: Make and print posters at copy shop. Find local list- Closing (5 minutes) servs to send out the announcement

Agenda 2: Monthly Reproductive Rights Happy Hour (2 hours)

Event objective: Fun networking opportunities for people Supplies needed: None working in or interested in reproductive rights Follow-up plans: Repeat monthly Budget: None Event Type: Happy hour Event organizer/sponsor/partners: You, friends Agenda: and colleagues None, or prepare toasts to recent reproductive Moderator: None rights-related events Audience and size: People working in or interested in reproductive rights. Venue: Local bars and restaurants Attractions: Meeting like-minded people, networking opportunities, drinks specials Publicity: Listserv announcements, social networking sites, word of mouth Agenda 3: Workshop (5 hours)

Event objective: Recruit and train new activists in reproductive Publicity: Participants recruited from five different women’s justice advocacy studies and human rights classes Budget: $250 (food and supplies) Supplies needed: Food; several relevant handouts, such as the Event type: Reproductive justice workshop 10 Tips for Activists sheet; supplies, flipchart and markers for Drawing the Connections activity; supplies for energizers and Event organizer/sponsors/partners: You and peer activists, Stand/Sit Icebreaker activity; computer and projector for Map- local reproductive rights organizations, professors ping Our Rights activity Moderator: You and peer activists Follow-up plans: Pass a sign-up sheet to collect participant Audience: 15 students from local colleges or other youth inter- contact information for future events and information. Give ested in learning more about reproductive rights your contact information to all participants. Venue: Large room on campus Attractions: Topic not addressed in class, two professors giving extra credit in their classes for attending workshop

Agenda: Introductions and Stand/Sit Icebreaker activity Lunch and networking (1 hour) (30 minutes) Overview of effects of U.S. foreign policy on re- Overview of importance of reproductive justice productive rights globally (20 minutes) (30 minutes) Discussion and networking in groups (30 minutes) Drawing the Connections activity (45 minutes) Energizer exercise (5 minutes) Break and snack (10 minutes) Discuss lobbying opportunities to change U.S. pol- Overview of U.S. reproductive justice policies icies and possible venues for activism (20 minutes) (20 minutes) Closing (10 minutes) Energizer exercise (5 minutes) View and discuss your state’s policies on sexual and reproductive health and rights using Mapping Our Rights (mappingourrights.org) website (20 minutes) Plan an Event Worksheet

Make a Plan

1. What is the objective of the event? What do you want 8. Who is your audience? How many people do you to accomplish? (For example, raise money, visibility, expect? Who do you want to reach and why? What and/or awareness?) Set measurable goals. kind of venue do you need to meet these goals? (For example, size, location, etc.)

2. What is the best day and time to have your event? (See Activist Days sheet for suggestions on opportuni- 9. What makes the event fun and interesting? (For ties to organize around.) example, will you provide food, games or a popular movie?)

3. Do you want to have partners or sponsors to share 10. How will you advertise the event? Who will do the leg costs and/or tasks? If so, make a list of potential part- work? Some ideas for advertising include: ners or sponsors and how to approach them. • Post flyers • Send advertisement to e-mail networks • Facebook, MySpace and other online social network- 4. What is your budget? ing sites • Campus news programs (for example, radio, newspaper or TV) • Chalk the sidewalk or boards in classrooms 5. What type of event do you want to have? • Take out an ad in the local independent paper (See Sample Event Agendas.) • Word of mouth • Ask professors to give extra credit to those who attend the event • Press releases 6. How will the roles and responsibilities be divided among your group? Who will take the lead?

7. Will you have a presenter? Who is moderating the event? (For example, is it someone you know? Will it take some time to get a commitment from a speaker? Will this person charge for their time?) Create an agenda Things to consider:

1. Use the outline you’ve created in the Plan section to 1. Motivation: It’s very important to have a hook that at- decide what will go on during the event. Here are tracts people to attend your event. Food or an engag- some common components to an event: ing, well-known speaker can really do the trick. a. Introductions 2. Inspiration: When recruiting, make sure everyone un- b. Ice breaker derstands how their attendance can make a difference. c. Main activity/presentation/film 3. Conflicts: Is there anything going on at the same d. Q & A and discussion time as your event that may affect participation? Is it e. Closing spring break? A holiday? Is there a sports game at the same time? 2. What supplies do you need: 4. Location: Is it easy to find? Did you give clear direc- a. for the room? (Do you want to decorate?) tions? Choosing a venue that is hard to get to can b. for information? (What brochures, pamphlets, be fatal for an event. Make sure your venue is well stickers, button or other freebies do you want laid marked and easily accessible. Also, adequate parking out for your participants?) or alternatives should be considered. c. for the participants? (How much food will they need? Do they need pens and paper?) 5. Leave yourself enough time: Be realistic about how d. for the presenter? (Do you need a computer, inter- much you can really do in the amount of time you net access, paper, note cards or a white board?) have. It is very difficult and expensive to pull off an e. for follow up? (How will you collect participant event on short notice. information? Will you pass around a clip board or 6. Follow-up: Make a plan for following up with your have a sign-in sheet?) participants. This could involve linking them to each other and other reproductive justice organizations, a Make a timeline survey or a specific action. 1. Work backwards from the event date. Have fun at your event! 2. Create a list of the tasks that must be completed before your event. 3. Order the tasks by priority; it is important to secure your space and presenter early and before advertising. 4. Plan when each task must be done and how long it will take. Be realistic! 5. Make a list of the materials you need for the event. 6. Assign tasks to your co-organizers. Don’t be afraid to delegate. 7. Create a timeline and task list with clear deadlines and responsibilities to give to all your co-organizers. Tips for Activists 10 things you can do to protect sexual and reproductive rights

1. Learn! Educate yourself about sexual and reproduc- 6. Volunteer! Find local organizations that provide sexu- tive rights issues. Take advantage of the articles, al and reproductive health services and volunteer your books, movies and websites referenced in the Advo.kit time. You might work as a translator, help low-income to gain a deeper understanding of sexual and repro- women apply for funds to receive reproductive health ductive rights. Find knowledgable reproductive justice services, serve as an escort at a local abortion clinic or activists, or activist groups, to answer any questions answer phones for your local domestic violence hot- you may have. line. Check the Selected Online Resources section in the Advo.kit for an organization in your area! 2. Speak up! Talk to your peers, colleagues, family, friends and strangers. Don’t get into unproductive 7. Lobby! Send letters or make calls to your legislators. arguments or be aggressive. Do make sure reproduc- Many organizations provide legislative updates and tive justice issues are talked about in venues where online advocacy opportunities through which you can they might otherwise be overlooked and that any con- send messages to your representatives. Sponsor or verstation about sexuality or reproduction is based on participate in call-in days, or provide others with pre- facts. Sharing information about sexual and reproduc- addressed postcards and information on issues. tive rights can influence voting habits, philanthropy, attitudes and actions. 8. Fundraise! Host an event, ask people you know or sponsor a written campaign to raise money for a 3. Do something! Help organize an awareness-raising reproductive justice organization, women’s center or event to build support for the sexual and reproduc- other project; or, for example, take the initiative and tive rights movement. See our Sample Event Agendas write a grant yourself for a local abortion fund or for ideas. related cause.

4. Boycott! Boycott local companies that have unfriend- 9. Publicize! Use your local media to get the word out ly policies toward sexual and reproductive rights. Pub- about current sexual and reproductive rights issues. licize the boycott through flyers, letters to newspaper Write letters or op-ed pieces for newspapers and mag- editors, announcements at schools or community azines about local, national or global issues; organize events and e-mails to listservs. Promote companies an advertising campaign to raise awareness about with supportive practices and policies. your issue; call local media and ask them to cover an event you have planned; blog about sexual rights and 5. Ask your provider! Find out if your local medical reproductive justice. provider is LGBTQ-friendly and provides family-planning services, including contraceptives, abortion 10. Make allies! Work with other activist groups to link services or referrals. If your provider doesn’t support reproductive justice with their issues. Working to- sexual and reproductive rights, stop supporting them gether can de-stigmatize the debates around LGBTQ with your business, and let them know why you did. rights, sexuality education, abortion and other sexual rights and reproductive justice issues, as well as enhance support from community-based organizations. Tips for Future Health-care Providers 10 things you can do to protect sexual and reproductive rights

1. Get trained! The number of abortion providers in the 6. Lobby! As a medical professional, your expertise and U.S. is rapidly declining. Not all ob-gyn and family medi- opinions are essential in informing and influencing cine residency programs fully integrate abortion training policymakers who formulate domestic and foreign health into their standard curricula, and optional training is not policies. Find out what laws and regulations are in effect always available or accessible to residents. See the links in or have been proposed on state and national levels. Send the Selected Online Resources section for information on letters or make calls to your legislators. training opportunities and continuing medical education courses for physicians and advanced practice clinicians. 7. Make allies! Work in conjunction with pro-choice law students, feminist groups, divinity students, social and 2. Incorporate abortion care into your future prac- economic justice activists and others working to enhance tice! Early pregnancy termination often can be carried reproductive justice. Establishing common ground with out within an outpatient clinical setting, using ap- nontraditional partners on issues like comprehensive propriate technologies, which include manual vacuum sexuality education, family planning and contraceptive aspiration (MVA), electric vacuum aspiration (EVA) and access, access to affordable health care, and respect for medical abortion (MA). Clinicians can provide counseling, human dignity can expand the network of reproductive referrals to services for legal aid, adoption and abortion justice advocates. Such collaboration contributes to a services, as part of comprehensive health care. solid and supportive foundation for reproductive justice.

3. Advocate for abortion training in your school’s cur- 8. Research! As access to medically accurate sexuality edu- ricula! Advocate for models of health-care service that cation, contraceptive services and abortion care becomes incorporate choice, reproductive justice and quality and increasingly threatened, data and illustrative examples that are culturally and linguistically appropriate, afford- from health-care providers can aid in assessing and im- able, accessible and youth and LGBTQ friendly. proving the reproductive health climate.

4. Speak up! Sharing information with your classmates and 9. Work overseas! International experience will not only colleagues about the scarcity of abortion providers and provide you with an opportunity to serve another com- its effects on women’s health can help frame abortion as munity, but it will enrich your understanding of repro- an essential element of comprehensive health care. High- ductive health and service delivery in different cultures light how women’s health and rights are compromised and settings. International experience will expose you to by the stigmatization of abortion, legal and financial different health-care practices, dynamics and challenges, barriers and a lack of available services. as well as give useful insight in treating clients who may be immigrants, refugees or asylum seekers. 5. Get involved with your professional association! These organizations offer advocacy opportunities, as well 10. Work in your community! Visit schools and community as association with international medical professional centers to speak and answer questions about reproduc- organizations. As a member, you can influence your tive health topics, including fertility, contraception, professional organization’s recommendations and policy pregnancy, sexual violence, and sexually transmitted statements, which inform policymakers, health-system infections (STIs). Provide young people with resources managers, the media and the public. and contacts, and inform them about peer-education and counseling opportunities, which could fulfill community service requirements now mandated by many high schools. Volunteer as an advocate for women and girls experiencing unwanted pregnancies. Abortion: Questions and Answers

1. Is abortion safe? 3. I’ve heard that abortion has been linked to First-trimester abortion by vacuum aspiration is one of breast cancer? Is this true? the safest types of medical procedures. Complications No. There is no scientifically supported link between from having a first-trimester aspiration abortion are abortion and breast cancer. In February 2003, a panel considerably less frequent and less serious than those of experts convened by the National Cancer Institute associated with giving birth. Early medical abortion to evaluate the scientific data concluded that studies (using medications to end a pregnancy) has a similar have clearly established that “induced abortion is not safety profile. associated with an increase in breast cancer risk.” The Dudley, Susan, and Beth Kruse. 2006. Abortion facts: Safety of results of this study were reiterated in a 2007 Har- abortion. Washington, DC, National Abortion Federation. Avail- vard study, Induced and Spontaneous Abortion and able online at http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/ Incidence of Breast Cancer Among Young Women, safety_of_abortion.html. published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Dudley, Susan, and Beth Kruse. 2006. Abortion facts: Safety of 2. Does abortion cause future reproductive health abortion. Washington, DC, National Abortion Federation. Avail- problems? able online at http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/ Comprehensive reviews of available data have con- safety_of_abortion.html. cluded that a vacuum aspiration procedure or medical Rowland Hogue, C.J., L.A. Boardman, N.L. Stotland, and J.F. abortion performed in the first trimester or pregnancy Peipert. 1999. Answering questions aboutlong-term outcomes. under medical supervision poses virtually no risk to In Paul, M., E. S. Lichtenberg, L. Borgatta, D. A. Grimes, and P. G. future reproductive health. Stubblefield, eds.A clinician’s guide to medical and surgical abortion. New York, Churchill Livingstone. Dudley, Susan, and Beth Kruse. 2006. Abortion facts: Safety of Michels, Karin B., Fei Xue, Graham A. Colditz, and Walter C. Wil- abortion. Washington, DC, National Abortion Federation. Avail- lett. 2007. Induced and spontaneous abortion and incidence of able online at http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/ breast cancer among young women: A prospective cohort study. safety_of_abortion.html. Archives of Internal Medicine, 167(8):814-820. Rowland Hogue, C.J., L.A. Boardman, N.L. Stotland, and J.F. Peipert. 1999. Answering questions aboutlong-term outcomes. 4. Is depression common after an abortion? What In Paul, M., E. S. Lichtenberg, L. Borgatta, D. A. Grimes, and P. G. is post-abortion syndrome? Stubblefield, eds.A clinician’s guide to medical and surgical abortion. New York, Churchill Livingstone. The American Psychological Association has concluded that there is no scientifically valid support or evidence for the so-called “post-abortion syndrome” of psychological trauma or deep depression. While women Find out what the current laws affecting experience a range of emotions after an abortion, the sexual and reproductive health are in majority of women are satisfied that they made the right decision for themselves. your state at: www.mappingourrights.org Dudley, Susan, and Beth Kruse. 2006. Abortion facts: Safety of abortion. Washington, DC, National Abortion Federation. Avail- able online at http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/ safety_of_abortion.html. 5. What is the difference between emergency contraception (EC) and the abortion pill? Emergency contraception (EC) is a safe and effective means of preventing pregnancy after unprotected vaginal intercourse. EC, also known as emergency birth control, the morning-after pill, or backup birth control, has been available for more than 30 years. EC must be started up to 120 hours — five days — after unprotected intercourse to reduce the risk of pregnancy. The sooner it is started, the better. EC reduces the risk of pregnancy by 75-89 percent when started within 72 hours. EC contains hormones found in birth control pills and prevents pregnancy by stop- ping ovulation or fertilization. EC will not cause an abortion or affect an existing pregnancy. Once a woman is pregnant, EC is no longer effective. The abortion pill, or medical abortion, however, is an abortion results from taking medications that will end a pregnancy. The alternative is surgical abortion, which ends a pregnancy by emptying the uterus with special instruments. Either of two medications, mifepristone or methotrexate, can be used for medical abortion. Each of these medications is taken together with another medication, misoprostol, to induce an abortion.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America. 2008. Health topics: Emergency contraception (morning after pill). Available online at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/emergency-contraception-morning-after-pill-4363.htm. Dudley, Susan, and Stephanie Mueller. 2006. Abortion facts: Medical abortion. Washington, DC, National Abortion Federation. Available online at http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/medi- cal_abortion.html

6. Does Medicaid pay for abortions? After Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion in 1973, Medicaid covered abortion care without restriction. In 1976, Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL) introduced an amendment to limit federal funding for abortion services. Effective in 1977, this provision, known as the Hyde Amendment, specifies what abortion services are covered under Medicaid. Over the past two decades, Congress has debated the limited circumstances under which federal funding for abortion should be allowed. For a brief period of time, coverage included cases of rape, incest, life endangerment and physical health damage to the woman. However, beginning in 1979, the physical health exception was excluded, and in 1981 rape and incest exceptions were also excluded. In September 1993, Congress rewrote the provision to include Medicaid funding for abortions in cases where the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. The present ver- sion of the Hyde Amendment requires coverage of abortion in cases of rape, incest and life endangerment. However, 33 states have virtually eliminated their coverage of abortions since Con- gress banned federal funding under the Hyde Amendment in 1976. The funding bans fall most heavily on poor women, rural women, young women and women of color.

National Abortion Federation. 2006. Abortion facts: Public funding for abortion: Medicaid and the Hyde Amendment. Washington, DC, National Abortion Federation. Available online at http://www. prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/public_funding.html. National Network of Abortion Funds. 2005. Abortion funding: A matter of justice. Boston, MA, Nation- al Network of Abortion Funds. Available online at http://nnaf.org/pdf/NNAF%20Policy%20Report.pdf. Fast Facts on Abortion and Reproductive Health

Around the world…

• The number of induced abortions declined worldwide • Almost all abortion-related deaths occur in developing between 1995 and 2003, from nearly 46 million to ap- countries. They are highest in Africa, where there were proximately 42 million. About one in five pregnancies an estimated 650 deaths per 100,000 unsafe abortions in worldwide end in abortion. 2003, compared with 10 per 100,000 in developed regions. • For every 1,000 women of childbearing age (15-44) world- • Additional consequences of unsafe abortion include wide, 29 were estimated to have had an induced abortion loss of productivity, economic burden on public health in 2003, compared with 35 in 1995. systems, stigma and long-term health problems, such as • The decline in abortion incidence was greater in devel- infertility. oped countries, where nearly all abortions are safe and Reference: Guttmacher Institute. 2007. In brief: Facts on induced abor- legal (from 39 to 26 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15- tion worldwide. Geneva, World Health Organization. Available online 44), than in developing countries, where more than half at http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/unsafe_abortion/induced_ are unsafe and illegal (from 34 to 29). abortion_worldwide.pdf. • Most abortions occur in developing countries — 35 million annually, compared with 7 million in developed countries Young people — a disparity that largely reflects the relative population distribution. • Two-thirds of unsafe abortions occur among women aged between 15 and 30 years. • The World Health Organization (WHO) defines unsafe abortion as a procedure for terminating an unintended • 14 percent (2.5 million) of all unsafe abortions in develop- pregnancy carried out either by persons lacking the neces- ing countries occur among women under 20 years of age. sary skills, or in an environment that does not conform to • In Africa: 60 percent of unsafe abortions are among minimal medical standards, or both. women under 25 years of age. • Worldwide, 48 percent of all induced abortions are un- • In Asia: 30 percent of unsafe abortions are among safe. However, in developed regions, nearly all abortions women under 25 years of age. (92 percent) are safe, whereas in developing countries, • In Latin America and the Caribbean: 70 percent of all more than half (55 percent) are unsafe. abortions are among women under 30 years of age. • The worldwide unsafe abortion rate was essentially • Approximately 220,000 children worldwide lose their unchanged between 1995 and 2003 (15 and 14 abortions mothers every year from abortion-related deaths. per 1,000 women aged 15-44, respectively). Because the overall abortion rate declined during this period, the pro- Reference: World Health Organization. 2007. Unsafe abortion: Global portion of all abortions that are unsafe increased from 44 and regional estimates of incidence of unsafe abortion and associated percent to 47 percent. mortality in 2003. Geneva, World Health Organization. Available online at http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/publications/unsafeabor- • Worldwide, an estimated 5 million women are hospital- tion_2003/ua_estimates03.pdf ized each year for treatment of abortion-related complications, such as hemorrhage and sepsis. • Complications due to unsafe abortion procedures account for an estimated 13 percent of maternal deaths worldwide, or 67,000 per year. HIV/AIDS

• Young people are disproportionately affected by the HIV • Although abortion rates and ratios (the number of abor- pandemic: more than one-half of new infections world- tions for every 100 births) in Eastern Europe have fallen wide are among youth aged 15 to 24. Every 15 seconds significantly in recent years, they remain higher than in another young person is infected, with young women any other region. In 2003, there were more abortions than being especially vulnerable. births in that region (105 abortions for every 100 births). • Of the 1.5 billion young people worldwide, 11.8 million • The estimated number of induced abortions in Africa has are estimated to be living with HIV at the end of 2003. increased since 1995; however, the region’s abortion rate Every day, between 5,000 and 6,000 young people (be- has declined because of an increase in the number of tween the ages of 15 and 24) contract HIV. Altogether, women of reproductive age. about 40 per cent of new HIV infections are among • Induced abortion rates and numbers in Asia and Latin young people. This age group also has the highest rates America show modest declines since 1995. (over 500,000 infections daily) of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), not including HIV. • The lowest abortion rate (number of abortions per 1,000 women between 15-44 years of age) in the world is in Reference: United Nations Population Fund. 2008. Young people: The Western Europe (12 per 1,000 women aged 15–44). The greatest hope for turning the tide. New York, United Nations Popula- rate is 17 in Northern Europe and 21 in North America tion Fund. Available online at http://www.unfpa.org/hiv/people.htm. (Canada and the U.S.). • Because the world’s population is concentrated in Asia, Violence most abortions occur there (26 million yearly); 9 million • Younger women and adolescent girls are especially vul- of these take place in China. nerable to gender-based violence. Reference: Guttmacher Institute. 2007. In brief: Facts on induced abortion worldwide. Geneva, World Health Organization. Available online • Nearly 50 percent of all sexual assaults worldwide are at http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/unsafe_abortion/induced_ against girls 15 years of age or younger. abortion_worldwide.pdf. • High numbers of young women report that their first sexual experience was coerced. In the United States • In the Caribbean, an estimated at 48 percent of young women report a coerced first sexual experience. Studies • Nearly one half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unin- in Jamaica, Mali, Tanzania and Zimbabwe found that be- tended; four in 10 of these end in abortion. tween 20 and 30 percent of adolescent girls had experi- • About one-half of American women have experienced an enced sexual violence. unintended pregnancy, and at current rates more than • Forced sexual relations are especially likely within the one-third (35 percent) will have had an abortion by age context of child marriage. 45. • In Burundi, the UNFPA-supported nongovernmental • Overall unintended pregnancy rates have stagnated over organization (NGO) centers that offer support to victims the past decade, yet unintended pregnancy increased of sexual violence found that 88 percent of the women by 29 percent among poor women while decreasing 20 seeking care in 2004 were young women. percent among higher-income women. • In Thailand, intimate partner violence is a leading cause • In 2005, 1.21 million abortions were performed, down of death for women and girls between the ages of 15 from 1.31 million abortions in 2000. and 24. • Nine in 10 abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of preg- • Sexual coercion is now considered a significant factor in nancy. the continuing rise of HIV among young women. • A broad cross section of U.S. women have abortions: Reference: United Nations Population Fund. 2005. Adolescents fact sheet. n 56 percent of women having abortions are in their 20s New York, United Nations Population Fund. Available online at http:// www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_adolescents.htm. n 61 percent have one or more children n 67 percent have never been married

Regionally n 57 percent are economically disadvantaged • More than 95 percent of abortions in Africa and Latin n 88 percent live in a metropolitan area America are performed under unsafe circumstances, as n 78 percent report a religious affiliation are about 60 percent of abortions in Asia (excluding East- ern Asia). Reference: Guttmacher Institute. 2008. An overview of abortion in the United States. New York, Guttmacher Institute. Available online at • The most dramatic decline in abortion incidence occurred http://www.guttmacher.org/media/presskits/2005/06/28/abortionover- in Eastern Europe, a region where, for the most part, view.html. abortion is legal and safe: the rate (number of abortions per 1,000 women between 15-44 years of age) fell from 90 to 44. The decrease coincided with substantial increas- es in contraceptive use in the region. Activist Days

January verse couples – gay and non-gay – and their families can come together, talk about how they can get involved and celebrate 15th Martin Luther King Jr. Day each other. http://www.freedomtomarry.org/ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a vital figure of the modern era. 14th V-Day His lectures and dialogues stirred the concern and sparked the V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women conscience of a generation. The movements and marches he and girls. V-Day promotes creative events to increase aware- led brought significant changes in the fabric of American life ness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-vio- through his courage and selfless devotion. This devotion gave lence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for direction to 13 years of civil rights activities. His charismatic the fight to stop worldwide violence against women and girls, leadership inspired men and women, young and old, in this na- including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) tion and around the world. http://www.mlkday.org/ and sexual slavery. http://www.vday.org/

22nd Roe v. Wade Anniversary 27th Equality Day On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its A day to promote equal rights for all people, regardless of sexual decision in Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113 (1973)), a challenge to a identity or orientation. Join your fellow citizens and religious lead- Texas statute that made it a crime to perform an abortion unless ers, and speak out for marriage equality! http://www.hrc.org/ a woman’s life was at stake. The case had been filed by “Jane Roe,” an unmarried woman who wanted to end her pregnancy safely and legally. Siding with Roe, the court struck down the March Texas law. In its ruling, the court recognized for the first time that the constitutional right to privacy “is broad enough to Women’s History Month encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her Each year, March is designated as National Women’s History pregnancy (Roe v. Wade, 1973).” http://www.saveroe.com Month to ensure that the history of American women will be recognized and celebrated in schools, workplaces, and commu- 22nd Blog for Choice Day nities throughout the country. The stories of women’s historic On January 22nd, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, pro-choice achievements present an expanded view of the complexity and bloggers are asked to blog about pro-choice issues. Blog for contradiction of living a full and purposeful life. http://www. Choice Day is a chance to raise the profile of reproductive nwhp.org/ justice issues in the blogosphere and the media, and to let everyone know that a woman’s right to choose is nonnegotiable. 8th International Women’s Day http://www.bushvchoice.com/blog_choice_day.html International Women’s Day (IWD) seeks to connect all women around the world and inspire them to achieve their full potential. IWD celebrates the collective power of women past, pres- February ent and future. http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Black History Month 10th National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers Black History Month is an annual remembrance of important Co-sponsored by many national organizations and individuals, people and events in the history of the African diaspora. the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers was http://www.biography.com/blackhistory/ initiated in 1996 as a way to help create a positive climate for and stop the isolation of abortion providers across the country. 12th National Freedom to Marry Day March 10th is the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. David National Freedom to Marry Day is an annual, non-official United Gunn, the first provider murdered by an anti-abortion extrem- States holiday designed to promote same-sex marriage. Host ist. It is a day to remember and honor Dr. Gunn and others who a local event; have a house party; start a conversation at your have and continue to put their lives on the line daily to make house of worship; ask your library, bookseller or book group to reproductive choice possible. http://www.refuseandresist.org/ read and discuss Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality and Gay People’s Right to Marry; have a picnic or party where di- 21st International Day for Elimination of 2nd Sunday, Mothers’ Day Racial Discrimination The original Mother’s Day Proclamation was made in 1870. On March 21, 1960, police opened fire upon and killed 69 Written by Julia Ward Howe, perhaps best known for the lyrics people at a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid “pass to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in 1862 when she was an laws” in Sharpeville, South Africa. Proclaiming the day in 1966, anti-slavery activist, the original Proclamation was an impas- the United Nations General Assembly called on the interna- sioned call for peace and disarmament. http://www.accuracy. tional community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms org/newsrelease.php?articleId=304 of racial discrimination. http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/racial/ 1st International Workers’ Day April May Day honors the struggle of working people throughout the world. It came out of the movement for an eight-hour workday that rocked the US more than 100 years ago. On May 1, 1886, Sexual Assault Awareness Month the American Federation of Labor called a national strike to put Designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), April is an end to the long work hours that were common. http://www. an annual opportunity to focus awareness on sexual violence and democracynow.org/2002/5/1/today_is_may_day_across_the its prevention. It is also an opportunity to highlight the efforts of individuals and agencies that provide rape crisis intervention and 3rd World Press Freedom Day prevention service, while offering support to sexual assault survi- World Press Freedom Day serves as an occasion to inform the vors, victims and their families. SAAM raises awareness of sexual public of violations of the right to freedom of expression glob- violence and its prevention through special events, highlights ally and as a reminder that many journalists brave death or sexual violence as a major public health issue and reinforces the imprisonment to bring information to the people and truth to need for prevention efforts. http://www.nsvrc.org/saam/ power. http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/press/

7th World Health Day 15th International Day of Families Each year on April 7th, the world celebrates World Health Day This annual observance reflects the importance that the interna- with thousands of events to mark the importance of health for tional community attaches to families as basic units of society, productive and happy lives. http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/health/ as well as its concern regarding the situation for families around the world. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/family/index.html 18th National Day of Silence The Day of Silence is an annual event held to commemorate and protest anti-LGBTQ bullying, harassment and discrimination June in schools. Students and teachers nationwide observe the day in silence to echo the silence that LGBTQ students and allies face 2nd Sunday, Father’s Day every day. The Day of Silence is one of the largest student-led Father’s Day is a secular celebration inaugurated in the early actions in the country. http://www.dayofsilence.org/ twentieth century to complement Mother’s Day in celebrating fatherhood and parenting by males, and to honor and com- 24th Equal Pay Day memorate fathers and forefathers. Father’s Day is a great way Each year, the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) to tie in men’s issues with your own! organizes the national observance of Equal Pay Day to raise awareness about unfair pay for women and people of color in 5th World Environment Day America. Equal Pay Day is observed in April to indicate how far World Environment Day is one of the principal vehicles through into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of earned in the previous year. http://www.pay-equity.org/day.html the environment and enhances political attention and action. http://www.unep.org/wed/2007/english/ 26th Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work® Day program was 20th World Refugee Day founded by the Ms. Foundation for Women to create an oppor- For years, many countries and regions have been holding their tunity for girls and boys to share and communicate their expec- own refugee days and even weeks as a way to raise awareness tations for the future. http://www.daughtersandsonstowork.org/ to the plight of refugees around the world. One of the most widespread is Africa Refugee Day, which is celebrated in several May countries. http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/refugee/ 28th Stonewall Riots Anniversary National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month On Friday evening, June 27, 1969, the New York City tactical Observed each May by states and communities throughout the police force raided a popular Greenwich Village gay bar, the country, National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month (NTPPM) Stonewall Inn. Raids were not unusual in 1969; in fact, they seeks to involve communities in promoting and supporting were conducted regularly without much resistance. However, effective teen pregnancy prevention initiatives. From Hawaii to that night the street erupted into violent protest as the crowds Maine, NTPPM’s momentum continues to grow. Councils and in the bar fought back. The backlash and several nights of other pregnancy prevention organizations continue to initi- protest that followed have come to be known as the Stonewall ate new and innovative ideas. http://www.advocatesforyouth. Riots. Prior to that summer there was little public expression of org/publications/ntppm.htm the lives and experiences of gays and lesbians. The Stonewall Riots marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement 21st International Day of Peace that has transformed the oppression of gays and lesbians into The International Day of Peace provides an opportunity for calls for pride and action. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/ individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of eresources/exhibitions/sw25/case1.html peace on a shared date. http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/ July 28th Latin American and Caribbean Campaign for Decriminalization of Abortion In an effort to address the public health crisis of unsafe abortion 4th Independence Day (U.S.) in Latin America, the September 28th Campaign was formed Independence Day honors the birthday of the United States of in 1990 at the Fifth Latin American and Caribbean Feminist America and the signing of the Declaration of Independence on Meeting, held in Argentina. http://www.iwhc.org/programs/ July 4, 1776. latin_america/regional/colleagues.cfm 11th World Population Day World Population Day is an opportunity to raise awareness October about important population and development issues worldwide. http://www.unfpa.org/wpd/ Breast Cancer Awareness Month For more than 20 years, National Breast Cancer Awareness August Month (NBCAM) has educated women about early breast cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment. NBCAM continues to 12th International Youth Day reach out to women with several key messages, most notably, A major focus of this day is practical action to further encour- the importance of early detection through annual mammogra- age the empowerment and participation of youth in the pro- phy. http://www.nbcam.com/ cesses and decisions that affect their lives. http://www.un.org/ LGBTQ History Month esa/socdev/unyin/iyouthday.htm Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) History 26th Women’s Equality Day Month is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the con- Instituted by Representative Bella Abzug (D-NY) and first es- tributions and culture of the LGBTQ community in the United tablished in 1971, Women’s Equality Day commemorates the States. In the 1990s, teachers and community leaders believed passage of the 19th Amendment, the Woman Suffrage Amend- a month should be dedicated to the celebration and teaching ment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave U.S. women full of LQBTQ history. They selected October because public schools voting rights in 1920. are in session and existing traditions, such as Coming Out Day (October 11), occur during the same time period. http://www. September glbthistorymonth.com/ Domestic Violence Awareness Month 1st Monday, Labor Day Domestic Violence Awareness Month evolved from the first Day Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated of Unity observed in October 1981 by the National Coalition to the social and economic achievements of American work- Against Domestic Violence (NCADV). The intent was to connect ers. It constitutes a annual national tribute to the contributions advocates across the nation who were working to end violence workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being against women and their children. The Day of Unity soon be- of our country. http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm came a special week when a range of activities was conducted at the local, state and national levels. http://www.ncadv.org/ 15th Hispanic Heritage Month takeaction/DomesticViolenceAwarenessMonth_134.html Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries: Costa 10th World Mental Health Day Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addi- World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to raise public tion, Mexico declared its independence on September 16 and awareness about mental health issues. http://www.who.int/me- Chile on September 18. Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportu- diacentre/events/2006/world_mental_health_day/en/index.html nity to recognize the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States and to celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture. 11th National Coming Out Day http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hhm1.html National Coming Out Day is an international event that gives lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people 18th International Literacy Day the opportunity to “come out” to others about their sexual- Literacy is a cause for celebration since there are now close to ity and provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the 4 billion literate people in the world. However, literacy for all – LGBTQ community. In the United States, the day is facilitated children, youth and adults — is still an unaccomplished goal and by the Human Rights Campaign’s National Coming Out Project an ever-moving target. http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/literacy/ (NCOP). www.hrc.org/comingout/ 20th Love Your Body Day Love Your Body Day is a day of action to speak out against ad- vertisements and images of women that are offensive, dangerous and disrespectful. http://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org/ 15th-21st Ally Week democratic processes and institutions, ending impunity and Ally Week is an opportunity for student and young activists to the promotion and protection of human rights. http://www. confront and raise awareness of anti-LGBTQ bullying and ha- frontlinedefenders.org/ rassment in American schools, as well as highlight the contributions of student clubs (often commonly known as Gay-Straight December Alliances or GSAs) who are taking on these issues. http://www. dayofsilence.org/ally/ 1st World AIDS Day World AIDS Day is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite November in the fight against HIV/AIDS. http://www.worldaidsday.org/

11/25-12/10, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence 3rd International Day of Disabled Persons The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an inter- The annual observance of the International Day of Disabled national campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Persons aims to promote an understanding of disability issues Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates — No- persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness vember 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women of the intrinsic value of integrating persons with disabilities and December 10, International Human Rights Day — in order into every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. to symbolically link violence against women and human rights http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/disiddp.htm and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human 5th International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates, Development including November 29, International Women Human Rights International Volunteer Day (IVD) is an opportunity for volun- Defenders Day, December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, teer organizations and individual volunteers to highlight their which marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. http:// contributions to the achievement of the Millennium Develop- www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/home.html ment Goals (MDGs) at local, national and international levels . 16th International Day of Tolerance http://www.unv.org/en/what-we-do/int-l-volunteer-day.html In 1996, the United Nations General Assembly invited member 6th Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre states to observe the International Day for Tolerance on Novem- For 45 minutes on December 6, 1989, an enraged gunman ber 16, with activities directed towards educational establish- roamed the corridors of Montreal’s École Polytechnique and ments and the public. http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/tolerance/ killed 14 women. Marc Lepine separated the men from the 20th Universal Children’s Day women and before opening fire on the classroom of female A day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between engineering students he screamed, “I hate feminists.” Almost children, and an opportunity to promote the global welfare of immediately, the Montreal Massacre became a galvanizing mo- children and the ideals and objectives of the United Nations ment in which mourning turned into outrage about all violence Declarations of the Rights of the Child. http://www.un.org/ against women. http://www.MontrealMassacre.net Depts/dhl/children_day/ 10th International Human Rights Day 20th Transgender Day of Remembrance Human Rights Day is observed by the international community The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memo- annually to commemorate the day in 1948 that the United rialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, Human Rights. http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2006/in- whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” dex.shtml web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since 20th International Human Solidarity Day then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in dozens International Human Solidarity Day, among other things, is of cities across the world. http://www.gender.org/remember/day/ an opportunity to promote poverty eradication. It is a day to 25th International Day for Elimination of Violence celebrate unity in diversity; to remind governments to respect Against Women their commitments to international agreements; to raise public Since 1981, women’s activists have marked November 25 as awareness of the importance of solidarity; to encourage debate a day against violence. This date marks the anniversary of the on the ways to promote solidarity for the achievement of the 1960 brutal assassination of the three Mirabal sisters, political Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); and a day of action to activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican encourage new initiatives for poverty eradication. http://www. ruler Rafael Trujillo. http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/violence/ un.org/esa/socdev/social/solidarity.htm

29th International Women Human Rights Defenders Day Human rights are guaranteed under international law, but working to ensure their realization and defend those whose rights have been violated can be dangerous in countries all around the world. Human rights defenders are often the only force standing between ordinary people and the unbridled power of the state. They are vital to the development of Glossary of terms

The following terms are defined specifically in relation to sexual and reproductive rights and health. A Abortifacient: A substance that causes pregnancy to end prematurely by inducing an abortion.

Abortion: The induced or spontaneous termination of pregnancy.

Abstinence-only education: An approach to sexuality and reproductive- health education that prohibits discussion of significant health topics, such as contraception, including condoms, measures to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as HIV and HPV, and abortion; or that gives false information, for example, about condoms. This type of education focuses solely or primarily on promoting sexual abstinence as a pregnancy- and STI-prevention method.

Adolescent sexual and reproductive health: The physical and emotional well-being of adolescents (defined as people between the ages of 10 and 19), as it relates to their ability to remain free from unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and all forms of sexual violence and coercion.

Advocacy: The strategic use of information to influence policies that affect people’s lives.

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome): An advanced stage of infection with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) in which the immune system is weakened. The individual becomes more susceptible to a variety of infections (called opportunistic infections) and other conditions, such as cancer. The level of HIV in the body and the appearance of certain infections are used as indicators that HIV infection has progressed to AIDS. Different countries may have different ways of defining the point at which a person is said to have AIDS.

Autonomy: The quality or state of self-determination. The freedom to make health-care decisions for oneself, including choices on alternative treatments, testing and care options, and the decision to refuse treatment.

B “Beijing” (Fourth World Conference on Women): Informal designation for a United Nations (U.N.) conference held in Beijing, China in 1995 specifically addressing the human rights of women, at which 187 U.N. member states adopted a Declaration and Platform for Action. The Platform recognizes women’s right to control all matters related to their sexuality, including their sexual and reproductive health. It further calls on governments to acknowledge and deal with the public health crisis of unsafe abortion and to consider reviewing laws that would punish women for obtaining illegal abortions. Conferences were held five and 10 years later to mark the anniversaries of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing +5 and Beijing +10). C Comprehensive sexuality education: An approach to sexuality and reproductive health education that includes information about abstinence, faithful- ness to a partner/reducing the number of sexual partners, LGBTQ relationships, and contraception/condom use to prevent HIV/STIs and unwanted pregnancy, as well as the health benefits and side effects of all contraceptives and barrier methods. These programs also encourage family communication about sexuality between parent and child, and teach young people the skills to make responsible decisions about sexuality.

“Conscience” clauses/ conscientious objection/ refusal clauses: Clauses in policies, laws and regulations that allow health-care providers and/or pharmacists to refuse to provide medically needed treatments or medications/drugs if their indication and use conflict with the provider’s religious or personal beliefs. Immediately following Roe v. Wade, refusal clauses were established with respect to abortion and sterilization. These clauses have been extended to cover a broad range of services, such as contraception, emergency contraception (EC) and assisted reproductive technologies. They may now include medical and nonmedical individuals and institutions such as physicians, pharmacists, nurses, hospitals, clinics, universities and insurance companies and are in place across the United States. According to international human rights law, the right to conscientious objection only applies to individuals (not institutions) and individuals may not refuse any medically necessary treatments if this would endanger a person’s life. They are obliged to refer patients/clients to providers who will offer the treatment.

Contraception and contraceptive methods: All methods of contraception or birth control are based on either preventing a man’s sperm from reaching and entering a woman’s egg (fertilization) or preventing the fertilized egg from implanting in the woman’s uterus (her womb) and starting to grow. Birth control methods can be reversible or permanent. Reversible birth control means that the method can be stopped at essentially any time without long- term effects on fertility (the ability to become pregnant). Permanent birth control usually means that the method cannot be undone or reversed, most likely because it involved surgery. Examples of permanent methods include vasectomy for the man or tubal ligation for the woman. Birth control methods can also be classified according to whether they are a barrier method (for example, a condom) that blocks sperm, a mechanical method (for example, an intrauterine device or IUD) or a hormonal method (for example, birth control pills). Natural methods do not rely on devices or hormones, but on observing some aspect of a woman’s physiology in order to prevent fertilization.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW): Adopted in 1979 by the U.N. General Assem- bly, CEDAW is often described as an international bill of rights for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. Countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention are legally bound to put its provisions into practice and to submit national reports on measures they have taken to comply with their treaty obligations. The United States has still not ratified this convention. D Dilatation (or dilation) and curettage (D&C): Also known as sharp curettage, D&C involves dilating the cervix through the use of mechanical dilators or pharmacological agents and using sharp metal curettes to scrape the walls of the uterus, removing its contents. It was once the standard method of uterine evacuation, however, vacuum aspiration and/or medical abortion are now preferred for first-trimester abortion, as mandated by the World Health Organization.

Dilatation (or dilation) and evacuation (D&E): A surgical technique in which the uterus is evacuated (emptied) with suction, curettage and forceps. According to the World Health Organization, this is the safest method of abortion after about 12 completed weeks of pregnancy where skilled, experience providers are available.

E Economic justice: Economic justice, which touches the individual person as well as the social order, encompasses the moral principles that guide us in designing our economic institutions. These institutions determine how each person earns a living, enters into contracts, exchanges goods and services with others and otherwise produces an independent material foundation for his or her economic sustenance. The ultimate purpose of economic justice is to free each person to engage creatively in the unlimited work beyond economics, that of the mind and the spirit.

Ectopic pregnancy: Pregnancy outside the uterus; a life-threatening condition that can cause massive internal bleeding. An ectopic pregnancy is never viable.

Emergency contraception (EC): Methods of preventing a potential pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse. One of the most common methods of emergency contraception is administration of an elevated dose of birth control pills, often called “the morning-after pill,” taken within 120 hours of intercourse. This method is most effective within 72 hours after intercourse, in which time it can reduce the risk of pregnancy from 75 to 89 percent. An- other method is insertion of an intrauterine device (IUD) within five to seven days after intercourse. Emergency contraception works by preventing ovulation, fertilization or implantation. It does not affect an established pregnancy, meaning it does not cause an abortion.

Equity: Not the same as equality, it relates in general to ethical judgments about the fairness of income and wealth distribution, costs and benefits distribution, accessibility of health services, exposure to health-threatening hazards and so forth. F Family planning: The conscious effort of individuals or couples to plan for and attain their desired number of children and to regulate the spacing and timing of their births. Family planning includes a range of contraception services and treatment of involuntary infertility in order to enhance women’s choices to avoid or induce pregnancy.

Female genital cutting: Female genital cutting (FGC), also known as female genital mutilation (FGM) and referred to as “female circumcision”, comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia

or other injury to the female genital organs for cultural, religious or other non- therapeutic reasons. Most of the girls and women who have undergone FGC live in 28 African countries, although some live in Asia and the Middle East. They are also increasingly found in Europe, Australia, Canada and the U.S., primarily among immigrants from these countries. Currently, the number of girls and women who have undergone FGC is estimated at between 100 and 140 million; in some cases, adult women also undergo re-infibulation (sewing up of the vaginal labia or opening after childbirth). It is estimated that each year, an additional 2 million girls are at risk of undergoing FGC.

Fertility: The ability to conceive and have children or the ability to become pregnant through normal sexual activity. Infertility is defined as the failure to have offspring or to conceive after a year of regular intercourse without contraception if the woman is younger than 35 years.

Fetal homicide laws: Efforts to confer legal personhood on a fetus, usually in regard to a violent offense committed against a pregnant woman. Rather than declaring the assault or murder of a woman an aggravated offense if she is pregnant, thereby punishable by stiffer penalties, fetal homicide laws attempt to establish that a fetus has the same rights as the woman carrying it and do not give pregnant women added protection. Such laws affording personhood to fetuses can also criminalize actions or behaviors of pregnant women that could negatively affect the fetus (e.g., alcohol or other substance use during pregnancy) or undermine a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy. For instance, in states allowing only doctors to perform abortions, women who induce their own miscarriages could face criminal charges under these laws.

Fistula (obstetric): a rupture between the vagina and the bladder and/or rec- tum, usually caused by prolonged and obstructed labor when a baby’s head cannot safely pass through the birth canal (often in the case of pregnancy of a very young woman), unsafe abortion and traditional practices, such as female genital cutting. Obstetric fistula is a common, yet neglected, problem faced by women and girls in low-resource settings, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Women and girls affected by this condition continuously leak urine or feces, which often leads to social ostracism. The World Health Organization estimates that at least 2 million women and girls currently live with this condition and another 50,000 to 100,000 more develop it each year. G Gender: The economic, social and cultural attributes and opportunities associated with being male or female at a particular time.

Global Gag Rule: Also known as the “Mexico City Policy,” a U.S. government policy that disqualifies foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from receiving family-planning or State Department funding or technical assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) if they provide counseling on abortion, provide safe legal abortion services (except in very narrow circumstances), or participate in political debate surrounding abortion — even if they carry out these activities with their own funds. H Health-care provider: An individual or institution that provides medical services (for example, a physician, nurse, midwife, hospital or laboratory).

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus): A type of sexually transmitted retro- virus that can also be transmitted through exposure to infected blood or body fluids, from a mother to her fetus during pregnancy or from mother to child during birth or through breastfeeding. HIV infection causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). I Incomplete abortion: Retention of a portion of the fetal or placental material within the uterus after spontaneous or induced abortion (retained prod- ucts of conception).

Induced abortion: An abortion that is brought about intentionally, as opposed to a spontaneous abortion (a miscarriage).

Informed choice: Voluntary decision to accept or not to accept a sexual and reproductive health service after receiving adequate information about the risks, advantages and disadvantages of all available options.

“Informed consent” legislation: “Informed consent” legislation requires women who want to obtain an abortion to receive a state-supplied script of information often followed by a mandatory delay of up to 48 hours before they are legally permitted to undergo the procedure. The scripts provided by states often include offensive, irrelevant or medically inaccurate information with little to no scientific backing, such as information on fetal pain or the supposed link between abortion and breast cancer.

Integrated services: Availability of multiple health services, for example, family planning and STI treatment, through a single facility. M Manual vacuum aspiration (MVA): A simple yet effective vacuum aspiration technique. This innovative technology consists of a flexible plastic cannula that is connected to a manual aspiration syringe with a locking valve to perform an endometrial biopsy or a uterine evacuation. MVA is safer and more cost effective than D&C. With the MVA instruments, a qualified health-care provider may perform a wide range of ambulatory surgical procedures using the capabilities already available in the office or treatment room, thus, the patient is not forced to be admitted to a hospital and instead can undergo a safe and effective procedure in a private setting.

Maternal morbidity: Serious disease, disability or physical damage to women caused by pregnancy-related complications. Maternal morbidity is widespread but not accurately reported. The cumulative total of those severely affected by pregnancy-related injuries is estimated at approximately 300 million, or more than one-quarter of the developing world’s adult female population.

Maternal mortality: Deaths of women while they are pregnant or within 42 days of the end of a pregnancy (either an abortion or birth) caused by or related to the pregnancy or its management.

Medical (medication) abortion: The use of one or more medications to end pregnancy. These medications terminate the pregnancy, which is then expelled by the uterus in a process similar to miscarriage. Medical abortion is sometimes called by other names, including medication abortion, pharmacological abortion, pharmaceutical abortion and the abortion pill. Medical abortion does not include emergency contraception (EC), also known as the “morning-after pill,” which prevents pregnancy from occurring.

Menstrual regulation (MR): Most broadly understood as a method of establishing non-pregnancy for women whose menstrual period is overdue by a maximum of 14 days. In some countries, the term “menstrual regulation” is used interchangeably with “vacuum aspiration;” in some countries, it specifically denotes manual vacuum aspiration; in others, the term commonly means uterine evacuation by any means, but usually by vacuum aspiration, without confirming pregnancy.

Midlevel providers: A range of non-physician health-care providers, midwives, nurse practitioners, clinical officers, physician assistants and others, whose training and responsibilities differ among countries but who are trained in a range of clinical procedures related to reproductive health and who can be trained to provide early abortion. P Parental consent/notification: In 2008, 43 states had laws on the books requiring parental consent or notification prior to a minor’s abortion. In 2008, 34 states have laws in effect that mandate the involvement of at least one parent in a minor’s abortion decision. If a minor wants to avoid this process, she must either travel out of state or obtain approval from a judge, known as a “judicial bypass.” This delay can increase both the cost of the abortion, as well as the physical and emotional health risk to the minor.

Partial-Birth Abortion Ban: The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, or Federal Abor- tion Band, passed in 2003 and upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2007, is a statute that deals with a method of pregnancy termination usually used in the second trimester, from 18 to 26 weeks, some of which occur before and some of which occur after viability. The law itself contains no reference to gestational age or viability; the present statute is directed only at a method of abortion, rather than at preventing any woman from obtaining an abortion. While there is an exemption if a woman’s life is at risk, primarily objections to this statute are because it fails to make any exception when a woman’s health is at stake, which violates established constitutional protections that have been in place for 30 years. It uses broad language subject to wildly different interpretations that cover steps doctors routinely take in performing abortions in the second trimester, thus making it impossible for doctors to understand exactly what is prohibited.

Peer-educators/promoters: Young people who have been trained to assist their peers in need of reproductive health information and services. Peer educators receive special training in making decisions, providing client referrals, or providing commodities or services. They usually work with individuals or in small groups.

Policy: Statements, plans, practices and regulations adopted by a government or other organization that are designed to guide or control institutional and community behavior.

Postabortion care (PAC): A package of critical reproductive health services consisting of community and service provider partnerships for prevention of

10 unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion; mobilization of resources to help women receive appropriate and timely care for abortion complications, and ensuring that health services reflect and meet community expectations and needs; treatment of incomplete and unsafe abortion and complications that are potentially life-threatening; counseling to identify and respond to women’s emotional and physical health needs and other concerns; contraceptive and family-planning services to help women prevent an unwanted pregnancy or practice birth spacing; and reproductive and other health services that are preferably provided on-site or via referrals to other facilities in providers’ networks and are accessible to women.

Prenatal care: Health care for pregnant women intended to promote their own and their child’s well-being. Services include dietary and lifestyle advice, weighing to ensure proper weight gain and examination for pregnancy-related problems, such as edema and preeclampsia (toxemia). In cases where complications are likely, care may be sought from an experienced specialist.

Primary-care provider: A physician or other health-care provider chosen by or assigned to a patient, who both provides primary care and acts as a gate- keeper to control access to other medical services.

Public health: The collective well-being of populations and activities under- taken by that society to assure conditions in which people can be healthy. This includes organized community efforts to prevent, pre-empt and counter threats to the public’s health. R Rape: Forced or manipulated nonconsensual sexual contact, including vaginal or anal intercourse, oral sex or penetration with an object.

Reproductive health: A state of complete physical, mental and social well- being in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes. It implies that people have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this, is the right of men and women to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their choice for regulation of fertility, which are not against the law, and the right of access to health-care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth.

Reproductive justice: Reproductive justice is the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, economic, and social well-being of women and girls, and

11 will be achieved when women and girls have the economic, social and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about their own bodies, sexuality and reproduction for themselves, their families and their communities in all areas of their lives.

Reproductive rights: Rights that rest on the recognition of the basic right of all individuals and couples to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. Reproductive rights also include the right of all individuals and couples to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence.

Rights-based approach to sexual and reproductive health: An approach adopted at International Conference on Population and Development reflecting a new global policy consensus on the connections between population policy and sexual and reproductive health and rights. The approach is to empower women and meet peoples sexual and reproductive health needs, thereby achieving population stabilization through the promotion of choice and opportunity and without employing coercion and control. The rights-based approach is built on existing international human rights agreements and recognizes sexual and reproductive health and rights as important ends in themselves. S Safe sex: Sexual activity conducted in such a way as to reduce the risk for transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, including use of condoms. A broader definition might include relations that lower the risk for disease, unintended pregnancy, violence, coercion or abuse of power.

Self-determination: The right to make one’s own decisions, particularly as related to reproduction. Includes full respect for the physical integrity of the human body and willingness to accept responsibility for the consequences of sexual behavior. In addition to the right to adequate health care and the ability to determine the number and spacing of one’s children, the right to reproductive self-determination involves, among others, the right to marry voluntarily, the right to form a family and the right to freedom from sexual violence and coercion.

Sex: Sex refers to the biological characteristics that define humans as female or male. While these sets of biological characteristics are not mutually exclusive, as there are individuals who possess both, they tend to differentiate humans as males and females. In general use in many languages, the term sex is often used to mean “sexual activity,” but for technical purposes in the context

12 of sexuality and sexual health discussions, the above definition is preferred. Sexual health: Sexual health is a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences that are free from coercion, discrimination and violence. For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons must be respected, protected and fulfilled.

Sexual rights: Include the rights of all people to decide freely and responsibly on all aspects of their sexuality, including protecting and promoting their sexual and reproductive health; to be free of discrimination, coercion or violence in their sexual lives and in all sexual decisions; and to expect and demand equality, full consent, mutual respect and shared responsibility in sexual relationships.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs): Medically, an STI is an infection before and after it causes symptoms and becomes a disease. A sexually transmitted disease is an infection that has symptoms. Some examples of STIs are HIV, chlamydia, HPV (human papilloma virus) and herpes.

Skilled birth attendant: A nurse, midwife, doctor or other practitioner with professional training in obstetric care.

Spontaneous abortion: A miscarriage; the unintentional termination of any pregnancy that is not viable (the fetus cannot survive) or in which the fetus is born before the 20th week of pregnancy. Spontaneous abortion occurs in at least 15-20 percent of all recognized pregnancies and usually takes place before the 13th week of pregnancy.

Social justice: Functionally, “justice” is a set of universal principles that guides people in judging what is right and what is wrong, no matter what culture and society they live in. Justice is one of the four “cardinal virtues” of classical moral philosophy, along with courage, temperance (self-control) and prudence (efficiency). (Faith, hope and charity are considered to be the three “religious” virtues.) Virtues or “good habits” help individuals to fully develop their human potentials, thus enabling them to serve their own self-interests, as well as work in harmony with others for their common good. The ultimate purpose of all the virtues is to elevate the dignity and sovereignty of the human person. Social justice is the virtue that guides us in creating those organized human interactions we call institutions. In turn, social institutions, when justly organized, provide us with access to what is good for the person, both individually and in our associations with others. Social justice also imposes on each of us a personal responsibility to work with others to design and con- tinually perfect our institutions as tools for personal and social development.

13 T Transgender: Transgender is the state of one’s “gender identity” (self-identification as male, female, both or neither) not matching an individual’s “assigned gender” (identification by others as male or female based on physical/ genetic sex). Transgender does not imply any specific form of sexual orientation — transgender people may identify as queer, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual or asexual. A transgender individual may have characteristics that are normally associated with a particular gender, identify elsewhere on the traditional gender continuum, or exist outside of it as “other,” “agen- der,” “intergender” or “third gender.” Transgender people may also identify as bigender, or along several places on either the traditional transgender continuum, or the more encompassing continuums, which have been developed in response to the significantly more detailed studies done in recent years. U Universal health care: Health care that includes everyone in the proposed area and that is paid for, all or in part, by public funds. Publicly funded medicine can be government administrated and provided, but this is not always the case. Systems exist where publicly funded health care is provided by mainly private entities.

Unsafe abortion: The termination of a pregnancy carried out by someone without the skills or training to perform the procedure safely or in a place that does not meet minimal medical standards, or both.

Unwanted pregnancy: A pregnancy that a pregnant woman or girl decides, of her own free will, is undesired. V Vacuum aspiration: A procedure in which a suction tube attached to an electric or manual vacuum pump is inserted through the vagina into the uterus to loosen and remove its contents.

14 Violence against women: Any gender-based act or conduct that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women. This includes threats of such acts, and all forms of coercion or arbi- trary deprivations of liberty in both the public and private sphere.

Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT): The combination of counseling and testing as both a preventive service and a diagnostic tool for HIV infection. W World Health Organization (WHO): The United Nations specialized agency for health, established on April 7, 1948. WHO’s objective, as set out in its constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health, which it defines as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Y Youth-friendly services: Services that are provided in a manner that recognizes the special information and service needs of young people. These services are developed and provided in a manner acknowledging that the challenges and obstacles facing adolescents are different than those confronted by adults.

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19 Selected Online Resources

Abortion Access Project Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice www.abortionaccess.org www.apirh.org Grassroots coalition of reproductive rights activists and women’s Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice (ACRJ) is a social, political health-care providers. The Abortion Access Project seeks to ensure and economic justice organization working for the liberation of Asian access to abortion for all women by increasing abortion services, train- women and girls through the lens of reproductive justice. ACRJ plays a ing new abortion providers, and raising awareness about the critical pioneering role in defining a progressive women’s reproductive rights importance of abortion access to women’s lives. agenda through grassroots and advocacy work.

Access Denied: U.S. Restrictions on International Family Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) Planning www.awid.org www.globalgagrule.org International membership organization connecting, informing and This website outlines restrictions imposed by the Global Gag Rule and mobilizing people and organizations committed to achieving gender its effect on health care in several countries. equality, sustainable development and women’s human rights.

Advocates for Youth Backline www.advocatesforyouth.org www.yourbackline.org Provides information, training and strategic assistance to youth-serv- Backline is dedicated to addressing the broad range of experiences ing organizations, policymakers, youth activists and the media in the and emotions surrounding pregnancy, parenting, adoption and abor- United States, as well as the developing world. tion. Backline provides a forum in which women and their loved ones can engage in discussion that goes beyond political rhetoric. They are African American Women Evolving committed to addressing the individual and diverse realities within our www.aaweonline.org communities. Backline’s vision is of a society in which pregnancy op- African American Women Evolving works to create a direct response tions are discussed with openness, honesty and the deepest respect for from Black women at the grassroots level to social and economic poli- reproductive justice. cies that impact their overall reproductive health. Black Women’s Health Imperative American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) www.blackwomenshealth.org www.aclu.org Black Women’s Health Imperative, the new name of the National Black Works to protect U.S. citizens’ First Amendment rights, along with the Women’s Health Project, is a leading African American health educa- rights to equal protection under the law, due process and privacy. The tion, research, advocacy and leadership development institution. Our ACLU also fights to gain protection for groups within U.S. society who mission is to promote optimum health for Black women across the life have traditionally had their rights denied. span—physically, mentally and spiritually.

Amnesty International Catholics for a Free Choice www.amnesty.org www.catholicsforchoice.org A worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally Supports and maintains an extensive program of education, outreach recognized human rights. AI’s mission is to undertake research and and advocacy in both the United States and internationally. Catholics action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to for a Free Choice works in partnership with reproductive health, inter- physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, faith and Catholic church reform groups that share a commitment to and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to safe, legal reproductive health care and women’s equality. promote all human rights. Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) Asia Pacific Alliance for Reproductive Health www.genderhealth.org www.pngoc.com A U.S.-based international reproductive health and rights organiza- Works to improve reproductive health and rights for Asian women, tion with the main goal of enhancing, from a rights perspective, the men and youth in the Asia Pacific and throughout the world. practices of institutional actors that receive large amounts of U.S. international assistance. Center for Reproductive Rights Guttmacher Institute www.crlp.org www.guttmacher.org A legal advocacy organization for the promotion and defense of A nonprofit organization that focuses on sexual and reproductive women’s reproductive rights worldwide. health research, policy analysis and public education.

Choice USA Human Rights Treaty Bodies www.choiceusa.org www.ohchr.org Mobilizes and provides support to diverse and new generations of The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights leaders who promote and protect reproductive choice. Fosters campus (OHCHR) represents the world’s commitment to universal ideals of chapters and campaigns across the U.S. focused on a range of issues, human dignity. We have a unique mandate from the international that includes emergency contraception and the Mexico City Policy. community to promote and protect all human rights.

Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment International Consortium for Emergency Contraception www.cwpe.org www.cecinfo.org A multi-racial alliance of feminist activists, health practitioners and Non-commercial organizations dedicated to mainstreaming emergency scholars. Committed to promoting the social and economic empow- contraception (EC), internationally introducing EC to the mainstream erment of women in a context of global peace and justice and to elimi- and expanding access to and ensuring safe use of EC worldwide. nating poverty, inequality, racism and environmental degradation. International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Equal Rights Campaign www.iglhrc.org www.hrc.org The mission of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Com- Organization that works for equal rights for the gay, lesbian, bisexual mission (IGLHRC) is to secure the full enjoyment of the human rights of and transgender communities. all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or expression, Equality Now and/or HIV status. A U.S.-based nonprofit, nongovernmental organiza- www.equalitynow.org tion, IGLHRC upholds this mission through advocacy, documentation, Equality Now works to end violence and discrimination against women coalition building, public education and technical assistance. through the mobilization of public pressure. Issues of concern to Equality Now include rape, domestic violence, reproductive rights, trafficking, fe- International Planned Parenthood Association (IPPF) male genital mutilation, political participation and gender discrimination. www.ippf.org Focuses on adolescents, HIV/AIDS, abortion, access and advocacy to Exhale enable people to make informed choices about their sexual lives and to www.4exhale.org receive care, counseling, diagnoses and treatment. Exhale creates a social climate where each person’s unique experience with abortion is supported, respected and free from stigma. Exhale International Women’s Health Coalition provides services, training and education to empower individuals, fami- www.iwhc.org lies and communities to achieve postabortion health and well-being. International coalition that advocates internationally and in the U.S. and provides financial assistance to local organizations around the world. FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting www.fair.org Ipas A national media watch group that strives to uphold the First Amend- www.ipas.org ment through anti-censorship and diversity activism. Works with both Ipas works globally to increase women’s ability to exercise their sexual activists and journalists to reform media, exposing neglected news and reproductive rights and to reduce abortion-related deaths and stories and promoting nonprofit sources of information. injuries. We seek to expand the availability, quality and sustainability of abortion and related reproductive health services, as well as to improve Feminist Majority the enabling environment. Ipas believes that no woman should have to www.feminist.org risk her life or health because she lacks safe reproductive health choices. www.feministcampus.org National organization promoting women’s equality through research Justice Now and public policy development, public education, leadership training www.jnow.org and grassroots organizing. The mission of Justice Now is to end violence against women and stop their imprisonment. They believe that prisons and policing are not Feminist Women’s Health Center making our communities safe and whole but that, in fact, the current www.fwhc.org system severely damages the people it imprisons and the communities Feminist Women’s Health Center is a social change organization most affected by it. Justice Now promotes alternatives to policing and dedicated to women’s reproductive freedom, health and equality. They prisons, and challenges the prison industrial complex in all its forms. combine direct services (abortion, birth control, reproductive health care) with activism (to preserve and expand access to choice and to Kids As Self Advocates strengthen the pro-choice movement) and community education (to www.fvkasa.org demystify health information and empower women’s health choices). KASA is a national, grassroots network of youth with disabilities and needs (and our friends) speaking out. We are leaders in our communities, and we help spread helpful, positive information among our peers to increase knowledge around various issues. Those issues include: living with disabilities, health-care transition issues, school, work and many more. We also help health-care professionals, policymakers and other National Center for Human Rights Education adults in our communities understand what it is like to live our lives, and www.nchre.org we participate in discussions about how to help each other succeed. The National Center for Human Rights Education is a grassroots, nonprofit organization working to educate students, social justice activists Law Students for Reproductive Justice and community leaders about the Human Rights Framework found in www.LSRJ.org the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. NCHRE works to bridge Law Students for Reproductive Justice is a national nonprofit network the gaps between all social justice movements, encouraging activists to of law students and lawyers. Our organization educates, organizes and move through the singularity of identity politics to all inclusive politics supports law students to ensure that a new generation of advocates based on the commonalty of our humanity. will be prepared to protect and expand reproductive rights as basic civil and human rights. National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health www.latinainstitute.org Maggot Punks The mission of NLIRH is to ensure the fundamental human right to www.maggotpunks.com reproductive health and justice for Latinas, their families and their The purpose of the Maggot Punks is to preserve reproductive free- communities through public education, community mobilization and doms, maintain the absolute separation of state and church, oppose policy advocacy. the proliferation of creationism, put religious terrorists in prison, catalogue the crimes and actions of fundy fanatics, work with other National Network of Abortion Funds progressive organizations to increase their effectiveness in promoting www.nnaf.org positive social change. Provides financial assistance, visibility and voice for women facing barriers to abortion, through sustaining a national network of funds and Mapping Our Rights creating new funds as needed. www.mappingourrights.org The objective of this map is to document the vast differences in laws National Organization for Men Against Sexism and policies on a U.S. state level and show the linkages between www.nomas.org sexual and reproductive rights. The National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS) is the oldest pro-feminist men’s group in the United States, dedicated to the Medical Students for Choice cause of gender equality and social justice for everyone through its www.ms4c.org principles of pro-feminism, gay-affirmation, anti-racism and enhancing An internationally known nonprofit organization with a network of men’s lives. over 7,000 medical students around the United States and Canada, Medical Students for Choice stands up in the face of opposition, work- National Organization for Women (NOW) ing to destigmatize abortion provision among medical students and to www.now.org persuade medical schools to include abortion as a part of the repro- Organization of feminist activists in the United States with chapters in ductive health services curriculum. all 50 states and Washington, DC. NOW promotes women’s equality in all social sectors. NARAL Pro-Choice America www.naral.org National Youth Leadership Network A U.S. advocacy group that works to combat the aggressive anti- www.nyln.org choice movement through building its membership base and lobbying Focuses on promotion of empowerment through wellness, education in state and federal legislatures. and advancement of disabled youth leaders. Encourages youth with disabilities to assume leadership positions on all levels of society by National Advocates for Pregnant Women communicating policy issues and practices that affect their lives. www.advocatesforpregnantwomen.org NAPW works to secure the human and civil rights, health and welfare Our Truths of all women, focusing particularly on pregnant and parenting women, www.ourtruths.org and those who are most vulnerable — low-income women, women of A biannual print and online magazine dedicated to bringing to light color and drug-using women. NAPW seeks to ensure that women do the diversity of abortion experiences, while creating a safe space for not lose their constitutional and human rights as a result of pregnancy, people of all genders to speak their truths. that addiction and other health and welfare problems they face during pregnancy are addressed as health issues, not as crimes; that families Political Research Associates are not needlessly separated based on medical misinformation; and that www.publiceye.org pregnant and parenting women have access to a full range of reproductive health services, as well as non punitive drug treatment services. An independent, nonprofit, progressive research center for activists defending democracy, building equality and challenging bigotry and National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum oppression. Through our research and publications, and as a national www.napawf.org resource and support center for activists, journalists and others, PRA helps to build the movement for progressive social change and pro- The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) is a motes democratic values and principles. national grassroots advocacy organization committed to a progressive movement for social and economic justice and the political empower- Population Action International ment of Asian and Pacific American (APA) women and girls. www.populationaction.org An independent policy advocacy group working to strengthen public awareness and political and financial support worldwide for population programs grounded in individual rights. Pro-Choice Public Education Project United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) www.protectchoice.org www.unfpa.org The Pro-Choice Public Education Project (PEP)’s mission is to educate young Works with governments and non governmental organizations world- women, ages 16-25, about reproductive freedom and choice, thereby wide with the support of the international community. UNFPA supports developing a new generation of pro-choice leaders and supporters. family planning, violence prevention and health programs.

Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice U.S. Human Rights Network www.rcrc.org www.ushrnetwork.org National source of accurate information about religious views on Formed to promote U.S. accountability to universal human rights stan- reproductive health issues, including abortion, family planning and dards by building linkages between organizations, as well as individu- responsible sexuality education. als, working on human rights issues in the United States.

Reproductive Health Response in Conflict Consortium (RHRC) Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) www.rhrc.org www.wedo.org Dedicated to the promotion of reproductive health among all persons International organization that advocates for women’s equality in affected by armed conflict. global policy.

RH Reality Check Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights www.rhrealitycheck.org www.wgnrr.org RH Reality Check is an online community and publication serving indi- Autonomous network of groups and individuals in every continent viduals and organizations committed to advancing sexual and repro- who aim to achieve and support reproductive rights for women. ductive health and rights. Women on Waves Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United www.womenonwaves.org States (SIECUS) Women on Waves aims to prevent unsafe abortions and empower wom- www.siecus.org en to exercise their human rights to physical and mental autonomy by Distributes print and electronic resources to those working to expand combining free health-care services and sexual education with advocacy. sexual health programs, policies and understanding. World Health Organization (WHO) SisterLove www.who.int/reproductive-health www.sisterlove.org A link to international accounts of reproductive health, lists of health SisterLove is on a mission to eradicate the impact of HIV/AIDS and topics, as well as cross-cutting issues, such as economics and eth- other reproductive health challenges upon women and their families ics. Also, a connection to the United Nations’ Human Reproduction through education, prevention, support and human rights advocacy in Program, which connects health-care providers, policymakers, scien- the United States and around the world. tists and clinicians to address research aimed at improving sexual and reproductive health. SisterSong: Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective www.sistersong.net Yogyakarta Principles www.yogyakartaprinciples.org SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective is made up of 70 local, regional and national grassroots organizations and more Yogyakarta Principles are on the Application of International Human than 400 individuals, as well as white and male allies who support our Rights Law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. They goal of improving the lives of women of color in the United States. address a broad range of human rights standards and their application to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom www.syrf.org Youth Coalition www.youthcoalition.org Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom (SYRF) educates, organizes and empowers youth and young adults (ages 16-30) to put their faith An international organization of young people between the ages of 15 into action and advocate for pro-choice social justice. SYRF is a pro- and 29 committed to promoting youth sexual and reproductive rights gram of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. at the national, regional and international levels. We are students, researchers, volunteers, educators and activists.

The Sexual Health Network www.sexualhealth.com Youth-policy.com www.youth-policy.com Provides resources, education, support for and information on sexual health. Addressing both men’s and women’s issues, along with rela- Youth-policy.com is a collaboration of the POLICY Project and Youth- tionship information, details on disability and chronic conditions, sexu- Net. Youth-policy.com is an online resource for improving youth ally transmitted infections and sexual health resources. reproductive health and HIV/AIDS policy worldwide. The searchable database contains more than 100 full-text policies addressing youth reproductive health from over 40 countries. Third Wave Foundation www.thirdwavefoundation.org The Third Wave Foundation helps give young women, ages 15 to 30, the skills they need to assume leadership positions by providing resources, public education and relationship building opportunities. Books on Sexual and Reproductive Rights

Historical and multicultural encyclopedia of women’s Global sex workers: Rights, resistance, and redefinition reproductive rights in the United States Kempadoo, Kamala and Jo Doezema Baer, Judith A. Reproductive rights in a global context: South Africa, Ugan- Violence against women: The bloody footprints da, Peru, Denmark, the United States, Vietnam, Jordan Bart, Pauline B. Knudsen, Lara M.

Choice: True stories of birth, contraception, infertility, How the pro-choice movement saved America: Freedom, adoption, single parenthood, and abortion politics, and the war on sex Bender, Karen E. and Nina de Gramont Page, Cristina

Sexual identities, queer politics Global prescriptions: Gendering health and human rights Blasius, Mark Petchesky, Rosalind Pollack

Replacing citizenship: AIDS activism and radical democracy Sacred choices: The right to contraception and abortion in Brown, Michael P. ten world religions Maguire, Daniel C. Born again: The Christian right globalized Butler, Jennifer S. Standing out, standing together: The social and political impact of gay-straight alliances Young men as equal partners Miceli, Melinda Centerwall, Erik and Stefan Laack With liberty and justice for all: A life spent protecting the War on choice: The right-wing attack on women’s rights right to choose and how to fight back Michelman, Kate Feldt, Gloria This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women Human rights and public health in the AIDS pandemic of color Gostin, Lawrence O. and Zita Lazzarini Moraga, Cherríe and Gloria Anzaldúa

Feminist theory from margin to center From outrage to courage: Women taking action for health hooks, bell and justice Murray, Anne Firth Obstacles and opportunities: Overcoming the opposition to sexual and reproductive health and rights Women of color and the reproductive rights movement International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Nelson, Jennifer

Agenda setting, the UN, and NGOs: Gender violence and Killing the black body: Race, reproduction, and the reproductive rights meaning of liberty Joachim, Jutta M. Roberts, Dorothy

With God on their side: How Christian fundamentalists Safe, legal, and unavailable? Abortion politics in the trampled science, policy, and democracy in George W. United States Bush’s White House Rose, Melody Kaplan, Esther Choice and coercion: Birth control, sterilization, and Activists beyond borders: Advocacy networks in abortion In public health and welfare international politics Schoen, Johanna Keck, Margaret E. and Kathryn Sikkink Policing the National Body: Race, Gender, Access denied: U.S. restrictions on international and Criminalization family planning Silliman, Jael and Anannya Bhattacharjee The Global Gag Rule Impact Project

Undivided rights: Women of color organize for reproduc- Abortion under attack: Women on the challenges tive justice facing choice Silliman, Jael, Marlene Gerber Fried, Loretta Ross and Walker, Rebecca and Krista Jacob Elena Gutiérrez This common secret: My journey as an abortion doctor Beggars and choosers: How the politics of choice shapes Wicklund, Susan adoption, abortion, and welfare in the United States Solinger, Rickie Leading 100 new foundations funding women and girls Women and Philanthropy Pregnancy and power: A short history of reproductive politics in America Learning to dance: Advancing women’s reproductive Solinger, Rickie health and well-being from the perspectives of public health and human rights The A word, abortion: Real women, tough choices, Yamin, Alicia Ely personal freedom Sorrentino, Mary Ann

MANUALS: Medical student’s guide to improving reproductive Advocacy guide for sexual and reproductive health health curricula and rights Association of Reproductive Health Professionals and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Medical Students for Choice Don’t think of an elephant: Know your values and frame Cutting edge pack: Gender and budgets the debate — The essential guide for progressives BRIDGE Lakoff, George

From rights to reality: How to advocate for women’s EC at the grassroots: A manual for developing an emergen- reproductive freedom worldwide cy contraception (EC) access campaign in your community Center for Reproductive Rights National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF)

Introduction to reproductive health issues in refugee Fighting words: A toolkit for combating the religious right settings: One day awareness building module Morgan, Robin CARE Breaking barriers: A policy action kit promoting the repro- Faith community responses to HIV/AIDS ductive health of women of color and low-income women Cucuzza, Laurette and Laura Moch NARAL

Gender or sex: Who cares? Skills-building resource pack Making safe abortion accessible: A practical guide on gender and reproductive health for adolescents and for advocates youth workers Smith, Charlotte Hord de Bruyn, Maria and Nadine France

Strengthening strategic planning for advocacy: A workshop manual Hlatsswayo, Zanele and Barbara Klugman Videos on Sexual and Reproductive Rights

30 days: Abortion to HIV prevention as part of its global HIV/AIDS assistance. Morgan Spurlock; FX Abstaining from Reality examines how these ideologically-driv- 2006 en programs are actually endangering the lives of the people 60 minutes they’re supposed to be protecting. This policy is disconnected 29-year-old Jennifer from Atlanta is a counselor at a reproduc- from the reality of the lives of women and young people, who tive health clinic who is strongly pro-choice. For 30 days she’ll are disproportionately affected by the epidemic. The film urges live in His Nesting Place, a residential Christian crisis pregnancy a balanced, comprehensive approach to preventing HIV infec- center in Long Beach, California run by former Operation Res- tions by providing full and accurate information and a range of cue activists. services that empower individuals to make informed decisions.

Abortion diaries Abstinence comes to Albuquerque Penny Lane Charles C. Stuart; Stuart Television Productions 2005 2006 30 minutes 28 minutes Abortion Diaries is a documentary featuring 12 women who A documentary about the controversy over abstinence educa- speak candidly about their experiences with abortion. The tion coming to the Albuquerque public school system and its women are doctors, subway workers, artists, activists, military impact on the national debate. This documentary gives voice personnel, teachers and students; they are black, Latina, Jewish to a diverse spectrum of people; teens, parents, public health and white; they are mothers or child-free; they range in age officials, and educators, right up the line to state officials and from 19 to 54. Their stories weave together with the filmmak- national advocates on both sides of this important issue. Discus- er’s diary entries to present a compelling, moving and, at times, sion guide included in DVD case. surprisingly funny “dinner party” where the audience is invited to hear what women say behind closed doors about mother- Access to sexual and reproductive health: A matter hood, medical technology, sex, spirituality, love, work and their of social justice — A documentary about how com- own bodies. munity organizations have integrated reproductive rights into their work Aborto sin pena (Abortion without shame/Abortion Institute for Women’s Health (PIWH), East Los Angeles without penalty) Women’s Center, Los Angeles Indigenous Peoples’ Alli- Greg Berger; Gringoyo Productions ance, Organizacion de Lideres Campesinas en California, 2007 Pacific Institute for Women’s Health (PIWH) 20 minutes 2006 Spanish with English and German subtitles 22 minutes Spanish with English subtitles In Mexico, the voices of women who have chosen to have an abortion are virtually absent from public debate. Aborto Sin A documentary about a two-year project funded by the Cali- Pena will introduce to you three of these women, from distinct fornia endowment to work with Latino community-based cultural backgrounds. What they say will surprise you. With organizations in Los Angeles to introduce them to reproductive support from Ipas Mexico. health and rights. The goal is to introduce reproductive health to organizations not necessarily focused on reproductive health. Abstaining from reality: For an English-speaking audience, although most of the film is U.S. restrictions on HIV prevention in Spanish with English subtitles. Daniele Anastasion; Population Action International 2007 9 minutes Filmed in Kenya and Uganda, this short documentary provides a snapshot of the Bush administration’s abstinence-only approach ¡Basta! The health sector addresses Brokeback mountain gender-based violence Ang Lee; Focus Features International Planned Parenthood Federation 2005 2003 134 minutes 30 minutes Winner of three Academy Awards®, including Best Director. Spanish, or Spanish with English subtitles Relive the sweeping epic that explores the lives of two young This video is intended as a general sensitization tool on the men (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal), a ranch hand and a issue of gender-based violence (GBV), providing key definitions rodeo cowboy, who meet in the summer of 1963 and unex- and addressing some of the most common myths about GBV. pectedly forge a lifelong connection, one whose complications, More than a dozen survivors of violence who were reached joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and through IPPF/WHR’s project share how the violence in their lives power of love. affected their health and well-being. They talk about the com- plexities involved in leaving a violent relationship and share the Cider house rules steps they took to overcome the violent situation. In addition, Lasse Hallström; FilmColony they offer their opinions as to what victims of violence need 1999 from health-care providers, family and friends. 126 minutes Homer is an orphan in remote St. Cloud, Maine. Never ad- Boys Don’t cry opted, he becomes the favorite of orphanage director, Dr. Kimberly Peirce; Fox Searchlight Larch, who imparts his full medical knowledge on Homer, who 1999 becomes a skilled, albeit unlicensed, physician. But Homer 118 minutes yearns for a self-chosen life outside the orphanage. When Wally From the middle of America emerged an extraordinary double and pregnant Candy visit the orphanage, Homer learns that Dr. life, a complicated love story and a crime that would shatter the Larch provides medically safe, illegal abortions. A coming-of- heartland. In Falls City, Nebraska, Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank) age story about life, love and destiny. was a newcomer with a future who had the small rural community enchanted. Women adored him and almost everyone The Education of Shelby Knox who met this charismatic stranger was drawn to his charming Marion Lipshultz and Rose Rosenblatt; InCite Pictures innocence. But, Falls City’s hottest date and truest friend had 2005 one secret: he wasn’t the person people thought he was. Back 87 minutes home in Lincoln just 75 miles away, Brandon Teena was a differ- What’s it like to be a Christian teenage girl today? The Educa- ent person caught up in a personal crisis that had haunted him tion of Shelby Knox profiles a young native of Lubbock, Texas, his entire life. Like many young people, he made costly mis- on the rocky road through high school. At 15, Shelby pledges takes and when he inadvertently trespassed between his new celibacy until marriage, but because Lubbock has one of the love Lana (Chloë Sevigny) and her reckless friend John (Peter highest teen pregnancy and STD rates in the state, she also Sarsgaard), the mystery unraveled into violence. In a single, spearheads a campaign for comprehensive sex education in the short life Brandon Teena was at once a dashing lover and a high schools, opposing the established “abstinence-only” cur- trapped outsider, both an impoverished nobody and a flamboy- riculum. When the campaign broadens with a fight for a gay- ant dreamer, a daring thief and the tragic victim of an unjust straight alliance club in the high school, Shelby confronts her crime. Boys Don’t Cry explores the contradictions of American parents and her faith as she begins to understand how deeply youth and identity through the true life and death of Brandon personal beliefs can inform political action. A co-presentation Teena. What emerges from a dust cloud of mayhem, desire and with the Independent Television Service (ITVS). murder is the story of a young American drifter searching for love, a sense of self and a place to call home. Forgotten children: The legacy of poverty and AIDS in Africa Breaking the silence: Issues in lesbian health care USAID Ortho-McNeil, NPWH, NCME 2001 1999 13 minutes 20 minutes This video chronicles a day in the lives of several children surviv- This video is designed to educate providers about the special ing on the streets of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. Shot from the health-care issues facing lesbians. Health risks include increased children’s point of view, the film highlights the boys’ natural risk of breast, ovarian and uterine cancer due to fewer regular dignity and resourcefulness. The video’s purpose is to give checkups and screenings, lower use of birth control, obesity information that will raise awareness and mobilize resources to and null parity. Includes suggestions on how to help lesbians to confront this crisis. The problems of street children, worsened feel comfortable in the health-care environment; guidelines for by poverty, as well as by the AIDS pandemic, create a stagger- the personal approach to the patient, including special linguistic ing burden on families and communities. considerations; diagnostic categories including cancer, dysmen- orrhea and mental health issues; issues surrounding artificial insemination and childcare; and counseling on medical-legal documents for homosexual couples. Fragile promise of choice: Abortion in the United Globalize this! Women’s rights in development States today Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) Dorothy Fadiman; Concentric Media 2004 1996 37 minutes 27 minutes A documentary exploring the challenges of globalization and As a result of restrictive legislation, cutbacks in funding and how women’s rights activists are taking them on. In 2002, over sieges of harassment and violence, access to legal abortion is 1000 women from around the world gathered in Mexico for declining. The Fragile Promise of Choice examines how these Re-inventing Globalization, the Ninth International Forum of conditions have affected the lives of providers and the women the Association for Women’s Rights in Development. Out of who seek their services. that joyous and challenging event comes this DVD, a tri-lingual, essential tool for teaching, thinking, learning and debating Freedom to marry globalization and its effects on women’s rights. Carmen Goodyear and Laurie York; Turtle Time Productions Great betrayal 2005 Ingolo wa Keya, Khama Rogo, Lisa Bohmer, Center for 56 minutes Study of Adolescents (CSA) and Pacific Institute of Wom- This uplifting, poignant, and soul-opening documentary, aired en’s Health (PIWH); ACE Communications on PBS stations, highlights a momentous, historical milestone 2001 when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom engaged in ground- 55 minutes breaking civil disobedience as he allowed same-sex couples to A young and ambitious schoolgirl, Koso, played by newcomer marry at San Francisco City Hall. With rousing speeches from Joyce Kanyagi, unfortunately gets pregnant while still in school beloved comic Margaret Cho, marriage-equality leaders and and the trials and tribulations that she faces are deplorable. interviews with seven long-term same sex couples, Freedom to Faced with rejection from her boyfriend, the family offers no Marry brings a joyful, personal face to marriage equality at the better respite. To the society and the church, Koso and her ilk height of this burgeoning, worldwide civil rights movement. are sinners — sinners who have no place in an upright society. The school will not accept young mothers among its “pure and From danger to dignity: The fight for safe abortion unspoilt” young girls. She is faced with opposition and a cruel Dorothy Fadiman; Concentric Media eye in every direction that she tums. The film follows through 1995 Koso’s options as she tries to find a footing in a society that has 57 minutes no time for her. This eye-opening documentary chronicles the double-pronged movement — the grassroots activism and intensive legislative Haba na haba (Little by little): Stories of culture, lobbying — that culminated in Roe v. Wade. Rare footage and health, and community interviews with movement participants are intercut with wom- Cascade Health Communication Group en’s shared recollections of back-alley or self-induced abortions. 2003 Directed by Oscar nominee Fadiman, the film honors those who 38 minutes broke the silence, saved women’s lives and fought to end the What is the relationship between traditional culture and com- shame surrounding abortion when it was a crime. Produced in munity health? Are newer ways always better? In Haba na association with KTEH-TV. Haba, these questions are explored by four local groups in Kenyan tribal communities. Each group is working to preserve, Generation 2000: Changing girls’ realities revive, discourage or adapt a traditional practice in order to Fonda Inc. and the International Women’s Health Coali- improve the health of their community. tion 2000 Hell house 15 minutes George Ratcliff; Cantina Pictures, Inc. Generation 2000: Changing Girls’ Realities is a film about ado- 2001 lescent girls in Nigeria, conceived and narrated by Jane Fonda 85 minutes in collaboration with the International Women’s Health Coali- Each Halloween, the parishioners of the Trinity Assembly of God tion (IWHC). This 15-minute documentary played an important Church near Dallas put on an unusual kind of haunted house. role in the five-year review of the implementation of the Fourth The frights within are not the traditional supernatural ones; to World Conference on Women (Beijing + 5) in June 2000 and these fundamentalist Christians, even to suggest the existence continues to have an impact on diverse audiences in many parts of ghosts and vampires would be a concession to satanic forces. of the world. Instead, there are grisly representations of modern horrors like drug abuse, drunk driving and AIDS. I witness the ways in which the world’s leading religions view a woman’s Janet Goldwater and Barbara Attie; Attie & Goldwater right to choose contraception and abortion. The full transcripts Production from the program interviews can also be viewed on this website. 1998 56 minutes Iron jawed angles Portrays religious terrorism in Pensacola, Florida, which has Katja von Garnier; HBO Films become the epicenter of the national debate over abortion, 2004 including a 1984 clinic bombing, the 1993 murder of a clinic 125 minutes physician and the 1994 murder of another clinic physician and Iron Jawed Angels recounts for a contemporary audience a key his escort. The video combines “found” video shot by clinic chapter in U.S. history: in this case, the struggle of suffragists escorts, which portrays the escalation of violence by anti-abor- who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. Focusing tion protesters at a clinic before the shootings, with interviews on the two defiant women, Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy with a diverse group of civic and religious leaders who discuss Burns (Frances O’Connor), the film shows how these activists the religious fervor and violence which has characterized this broke from the mainstream women’s rights movement and conservative community, as well as their own convictions and created a more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries responsibilities surrounding these controversial issues. of political protest to secure women’s voting rights in 1920. Breathing life into the relationships between Paul, Burns and If these walls could talk others, the movie makes the women feel like complete charac- HBO Studios ters instead of one-dimensional figures from a distant past. 1996 97 minutes Jane: An abortion service Three women, three time periods, one house: each finds herself Kate Kirtz and Nell Lundy in trouble and must face the overwhelming decision about 1996 what to do with the unwanted pregnancy. The first segment is 58 minutes the most powerful, featuring Demi Moore as a young, recently This fascinating political look at a little-known chapter in widowed nurse in 1952. With no one to turn to and limited women’s history tells the story of “Jane”, the Chicago-based financial means, her options are few. Catherine Keener costars women’s health group who performed nearly 12,000 safe, as her harshly judgmental sister-in-law. The next piece occurs in illegal abortions between 1969 and 1973 with no formal medi- 1974, as Sissy Spacek, a mother of four who is trying to earn cal training. As Jane members describe finding feminism and a college degree, discovers she’s pregnant with her fifth child. clients describe finding Jane, archival footage and recreations Her utterly modern feminist daughter encourages Spacek to get mingle to depict how the repression of the early 1960s and so- a newly legal abortion, but it’s a complex decision. In the final cial movements of the late 1960s influenced this unique group. segment, college student Anne Heche becomes pregnant by Both vital knowledge and meditation on the process of empow- her married professor. Her best friend, played by Jada Pinkett, erment, Jane: An Abortion Service showcases the importance of is resolutely against abortion and the two wrangle over right preserving women’s knowledge in the face of revisionist history. and wrong. As the young woman tries to learn about her options, she finds herself enmeshed in the pro-life demonstrations Jesus camp outside the abortion clinic. Cher, who directs this segment (the Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady; other two are directed by Nancy Savoca), costars as a doctor at Magnolia Home Entertainment the clinic. 2006 84 minutes If these walls could talk 2 A growing number of Evangelical Christians believe there is a HBO Studios revival underway in America that requires Christian youth to as- 2000 sume leadership roles in advocating the causes of their religious 96 minutes movement. Jesus Camp follows Levi, Rachael and Tory to Pastor Semi-follow up of the firstIf These Walls Could Talk with three Becky Fischer’s “Kids on Fire” summer camp in Devil’s Lake, segments set in the same house, but with different occupants North Dakota, where kids as young as six years-old are taught which spans nearly 40 years. While the first film dealt with to become dedicated Christian soldiers in “God’s army.” Their women and the topic of abortion, this deals with women and film follows these children at camp as they hone their “pro- the topic of lesbianism. phetic gifts” and are schooled in how to “take back America for Christ.” In a just world: Abortion, contraception and world religion The Duncan Group 2003 60 minutes This one-hour program was produced in association with WTTW-TV Chicago and was funded by the Packard Foundation. In A Just World began airing nationwide on PBS in September 2003. The show provides an in-depth, fair and balanced look at Last abortion clinic Live free or die Frontline; Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt; Cine Qua Non, 2005 Paradise Productions 60 minutes 2000 Pro-life advocates have waged a successful campaign to reduce 70 minutes abortions throughout the country, using state laws to regulate Wayne Goldner, an obstetrician and gynecologist, performs and limit the procedure and creating clinics offering alterna- abortions as part of his general practice. When we first meet tives. This incisive documentary investigates the steady decline Goldner he is fighting a merger between the Catholic Medical in the number of physicians and clinics carrying out abortions Center and Eliot Hospital that would threaten access to family and focuses on local political battles in states such as Missis- planning services in the city of Machester. Goldner’s activism sippi, where only a single clinic performs the operation. attracts pro-life protesters to his doorstep, and soon his home- town of Bedford is caught up in a divisive controversy. Legal but out of reach Janet Goldwater and Barbara Attie; National Network of Love, labor, loss: A documentary film on obstetric Abortion Funds (NNAF) fistula in Niger 2000 Lisa Russell; Governess Films 24 minutes 2005 After Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion was, for a brief time, cov- 15 minutes ered by Medicaid, until the Hyde Amendment in 1976 banned Love, Labor, Loss is pleased to present the 15-minute advocacy Medicaid coverage for abortion unless the woman’s life was video, narrated by Tonya Pinkins with music by Zap Mama. The in danger. This consciousness-raising video explores the eco- advocacy video is available to NGOs, community groups and nomic barriers to abortion, using the stories of six women as individuals who are interested in hosting a screening to help case studies. Their stories cover issues ranging from sexual as- raise awareness and/or funds for fistula or related programs. sault, teen pregnancy, disability and drug addiction. Study and It is a good resource to help explain to audiences what fistula discussion guide provides a suggested program for viewing and is, how it develops, how it can be treated and prevented, and discussing the video, handouts to photocopy and distribute, what individuals can do to help in the fight to end fistula. Inter- and research and discussion questions to be asked. views with Niger’s First Lady, Representative Carolyn Maloney and representatives from UNFPA and EngenderHealth help give Legislating a tragedy perspective to the global scope of the problem, while empha- Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP) sizing specific challenges in Niger. A feature-length film was 1996 also made. 20 minutes This video, made to counter the first so-called “Partial Birth The Magdalene Sisters Abortion” ban, showcases testimonials from two women who Peter Mullan; Miramax have had late-term abortions due to fetal abnormality. 2002 119 minutes Leona’s sister Gerri Four women are given into the custody of the Madgalene Jane Gillooly; New Day Films sisterhood asylum to correct their more-or-less sinful behavior: 1995 Crispina and Rose have given birth to a child out of wedlock, 57 minutes Margaret was raped by her cousin and the orphan Bernadette Leona’s Sister Gerri tells the dramatic story of Gerri Santoro, a had been repeatedly caught flirting with the boys. All have to mother of two and the real person in the now famous photo work in a laundry under the strict supervision of the nuns, who of an anonymous woman on a motel floor, dead from an illegal break their wills through sadistic punishments. Some of the abortion. Reprinted thousands of times on placards and in the inmates develop countermeasures, while others perish under media, this grisly photo became a pro-choice icon. the treatment.

Like a ship in the night Making your choice: A women’s guide Melissa Thompson; Ipas to medical abortion 2006 National Abortion Federation (NAF) 30 minutes 2001 17 minutes Abortion is illegal in Ireland, North and South, potentially punishable by life imprisonment. And yet at least 8,000 Irish A video for women considering or choosing medical abortion. women a year travel to England for abortions. They make this Covers the options for pregnancy, differences between medical journey in secret and return in silence, some of them never and surgical abortion, the medications themselves and what to telling a soul. Like a Ship in the Night is a 30-minute documen- expect during a medical abortion. tary that follows a young painter, a working class mother of five, and a self-proclaimed country girl as they plan their secret journeys across the Irish sea. Motherless: A legacy of loss from illegal abortion Pandemic: Facing AIDS Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater and Diane Pontius; Attie Rory Kennedy; Moxie Firecracker Films and Goldwater Productions and HBO Productions 1994 2002 27 minutes 120 minutes Through interviews with people whose mothers died due to Narrated by Elton John, Pandemic: Facing AIDS is a documentary complications from abortion before its legalization, this video series of five half-hour films by Rory Kennedy that takes a unique examines the tragedy of deaths from illegal abortions and the look at the worldwide AIDS epidemic, melding intimate personal trauma of losing a mother at a young age. Social and historical stories with a global perspective. Featuring an original score by context for these emotionally powerful interviews is provided Philip Glass. by a physician who treated hundreds of women dying from septic abortions and a medical historian, who discuss the medi- Roe v. Wade 30 years later: How have abortion prac- cal, legislative and social history of abortion from the late 19th tices, policy, politics, and public opinion changed century until its legalization in 1973. Kaiser Family Foundation 2002 Never go back: The threat to legalized abortion Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) A panel of researchers, public policy experts and abortion pro- 15 minutes viders discuss the current state of abortion politics and policies, the rates of abortion in recent years, who is having abortions Produced by FMF Board Member Lorraine Sheinberg and narrat- today, how and why have these profiles changed and what the ed by Carrie Fisher, this 15-minute video outlines the threat that future of the Supreme Court holds for abortion. upcoming Supreme Court retirements pose to accessible, legal abortion in the United States. Learn why a filibuster in the U.S. Sex and the Holy City Senate may be the most viable strategy to prevent Roe v. Wade Bullfrog Films and the BBC from being overturned and how you can help. 2003 50 minutes O adolescente e a arte pelos direitos humanos (The teenager and the art of human rights) In the West, many Catholics ignore the Church’s teachings Movimento de Intercâmbio Artístico Cultural Pela Cidadania on sex. But in poorer countries the words of the Church still 1998 matter, whether spoken from the pulpit or through a govern- 18 minutes ment minister. Pope John Paul believed everyone — not just the world’s billion Catholics — should follow the Vatican’s teach- In 1998, 33 city agencies designed a project reaching over ings. And he tried to make sure the world listened, becoming a 7,000 adolescents in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil was organized key player in the bitter global debate over women’s rights and addressing 12 topics ranging from family and sexuality to reproductive health. In this unique documentary, BBC reporter HIV/AIDS. Adolescents designed artistic expressions from these Steve Bradshaw investigates how the late Pope, who tried to 12 topics over a period of six months, while also visiting other act in the best interests of women, came to be accused of ruin- groups and sharing experiences. The project culminated in a ing so many lives. festival, where the artistic performances were presented. Silent choices Out in the heartland Faith Pennick; Women Make Movies, Inc. Gretchen Hildebran 2007 2005 60 minutes 19 minutes Silent Choices is about abortion and its impact on the lives Out in the Heartland explores the human impact of a campaign of African American women. From African Americans’ cau- to ban gay marriage in Kentucky. Through the stories of gay tious involvement with Margaret Sanger during the early birth parents in the state, the film examines how our nation’s politi- control movement to black nationalists and civil rights activ- cal, social and religious environment has been altered by recent ists who staunchly opposed abortion (or stayed silent on the anti-gay constitutional amendments. While these families live issue), Silent Choices examines the juxtaposition of race and their daily lives in neighborhoods, churches and schools, the reproductive politics. Three black women also share their sto- amendment ascends from the mega-churches to the ballot ries of their abortions. box. As momentum grows, these parents begin to fear for their safety and the futures of their families. By giving a face to those at the center of this issue, Out in the Heartland illuminates the long-term consequences anti-gay amendments have for us all. Soldiers in the Army of God Transparent focuses on its subjects’ lives as parents, revealing Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson; HBO the diverse ways in which each person reconciles giving birth 2000 and being biological mothers now that they identify as male 70 minutes and are perceived by the world as men. The first-person stories Many of the most extreme members of the anti-abortion move- in Transparent explain how changing genders is dealt with and ment reveal themselves to HBO cameras for the first time in this impacts the relationships, if at all, within these families. disturbing documentary. The film focuses primarily on “soldiers” in the Army of God, a pro-life group bonded together Tumaini: Stories of hope and challenge by the Internet, organized rallies and by a common belief that University of Washington abortions must be stopped at all costs. 2001 30 minutes Speak out: I had an abortion Filmed on location in Kenya in May 2001, this half-hour video Gillian Aldrich and Jennifer Baumgardner tells the stories of women struggling to find a way out of 2005 prostitution in Nairobi’s poorest neighborhoods. Asha, one of 55 minutes 16 children living with her single mother, began prostitution at Underneath the din of politicians posturing about “life” and age 12. Now, with a micro-loan, she has begun a small busi- “choice” and beyond the shouted slogans about murder and ness selling used clothing. Mary, whose parents died of AIDS, rights, there are real stories of real women who have had abor- was left with no source of income to care for her siblings, and tions. Each year in the U.S., 1.3 million abortions occur, but the turned to prostitution in desperation. Rukia, who founded a topic is still so stigmatized it’s never discussed in polite compa- hair salon with a microloan from the Kenya Voluntary Women ny. Powerful, poignant and fiercely honest, the film tackles this Rehabilitation Centre (K-VOWRC), is now successful enough to taboo, featuring 10 women — including famed feminist Gloria be training other girls in the art of hairdressing and was recently Steinem — who candidly describe experiences spanning seven married. And Judy, who managed a brothel, now works for decades, from the years before Roe v. Wade to the present day. K-VOWRC as a community mobilizer, encouraging prostitutes Filmmakers Jennifer Baumgardner (author of Manifesta: Young to join support groups and apply for training and loans to start Women, Feminism, and the Future) and Gillian Aldrich insight- small businesses. fully document how changing societal pressures have affected women’s choices and experiences. Unborn in the USA: Inside the war on abortion Stephen Fell and Will Thompson; First Run Features Speaking out: Women, AIDS, and hope in Mali 2007 Joanne Burke 105 minutes 2002 Provocative and bracing, Unborn in the USA provides a rivet- Speaking Out tells the story of a remarkable HIV/AIDS support ing look into the deep secrets and deep pockets of the pro-life project in Mali and, in particular, three courageous women movement. Traveling across 35 states, the filmmakers are grant- who attend it. Risking social ostracism and family rejection, ed unprecedented access to pro-life groups, movement icons, Aminita, Oumou and Aissata were among a group that dared fundraising machines and even into classes where university to speak publicly about their HIV-positive status in the hope students are being groomed to carry empathetic pro-life mes- of demonstrating to the Mali government how desperately a sages to campuses around the country. More than 70 exclusive more pro-active HIV and AIDS strategy was needed. French ver- interviews are interwoven with astonishing archival footage and sion is available. startling street confrontations to document one of the most controversial social movements in American history. Transamerica Duncan Tucker; BAC Films Vera Drake 2005 Mike Leigh; Warner Home Video 103 minutes 2005 125 minutes Transamerica tells the story of Bree (Felicity Huffman), a conservative transsexual woman who takes an unexpected journey Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton, who earned an Oscar nomination when she learns that she fathered a son (Kevin Zegers), now a for her portrayal) spends her days doting on her working-class teenage runaway on the streets of New York. family. But Vera also has a secret side: Her family and friends don’t know that she visits women and helps them induce mis- Transparent carriages for their unwanted pregnancies — an illegal practice Jules Rosskam; MamSir Productions in 1950s England. When her crime is discovered by authorities, 2005 Vera’s world quickly falls apart, deeply affecting both her and 61 minutes her family.

Pink or blue. Male or Female. Mommy or Daddy. Categories that we all take for granted are blown wide open in Transparent, a new documentary film about 19 female-to-male transsexuals living in the United States who have given birth and, in all but a few stories, have gone on to raise their biological children. Voices of choice: Physicians who provided abortions before Roe v. Wade Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH) 2003 24 minutes Among the many doctors who put their lives and reputations on the line to make sure that women had access to a safe abortion services, here are a few who share their fascinating, surprising and moving stories for the first time. What motivated these physicians to get involved? What was the pre-Roe period like for them? How does that time compare to the present situation in abortion provision? These and other questions are answered in this video. Narrated by Janel Moloney of the critically acclaimed television drama “West Wing.”

We can do better: The new 3Rs in Oregon and beyond Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon. 2007 22 minutes This DVD documents the evolution of the new 3Rs: Rights, Respect, Responsibility — a bold and innovative social change initiative that supports young people in developing healthy sexual attitudes and behaviors. The new 3Rs has inspired numerous collaborations and breakthrough activities, drawing together surprisingly diverse segments within Oregon communities for the purpose of working to ensure the health and safety of youth. We Can Do Better captures the success of the new 3Rs framework in Oregon, and how it is being adapted in communities across the country. Sexual and Reproductive Rights Case Studies Adapted from an activity in Ipas’s Woman-centered postabortion care: Additional module activities.

Objective Activity In this activity, participants think critically about sexual and • Assign one-third of the participants to Case 1, one-third to reproductive rights and how they might apply – or how they Case 2 and one-third to Case 3. may be being violated — in each settings • Ensure that each participant has a copy of the Sexual and Reproductive Rights Case Studies and a Charter on Sexual and TIME Reproductive Rights handout. 50 minutes total • Ask each person to individually read the case study assigned • 10 minutes for introductions (optional) to her/him and handout. • 30 minutes for activity • 10 minutes for discussion • Ask participants to get in pairs with another person assigned to the same case. MATERIALS • Ask the pairs to talk about their case study, and write on a For each participant: separate sheet of paper the numbers of one of the rights • Copy of case studies from the Charter that was violated and their rationale for • Charter on Sexual and Reproductive Rights handout why they believe that right was violated. • Paper and pens/pencils n They don’t have to write complete sentences, just a phrase • Optional: flipchart or dry erase board, markers, blank paper or two.

For facilitator(s): n Example: If Right #4: Right to privacy, is violated, partici- • Something large to write on that everyone can see (flipchart, pants should write “#4” with the rationale that “She is whiteboard, chalkboard) not able to lock her bedroom door.” • Markers • Discuss responses for all case studies as a large group when • Case Study Key everyone has finished filling in their sheets. • Ask one pair to state the rights that were violated and PREPARATION their rationale. Minimal preparation required. Facilitators should familiarize n Ask other pairs who answered the same case study to provide themselves with ase studies, Case Study Key and Charter on missing responses or explain if they had different responses. Sexual and Reproductive Rights.

Discussion Questions INSTRUCTIONS • Do you think all people have the right to immediate health care and counseling, including abortion care? Introductions • Do all people have the right to information about their If this is an opening activity, ask participants to say their names health and medical options and to make informed decisions and a word or phrase they think of when they hear “sexual and regarding their medical and reproductive options? reproductive rights.” Write their responses on a board or flip- • How might this Charter, and its application, be open to chart, if possible, all in one color. interpretation? • Is the Charter sufficient for addressing sexual and reproductive rights? If not, what is missing, or how could it be strengthened? • What are some other examples of cases in which the rights outlined in the Charter could apply? • How can you use these rights locally, nationally and interna- TIPS FOR FACILITATORS tionally to advocate for sexual and women’s rights? Remind the participants that a single action can violate more • Are there any other reactions to the activity and discussion? than one right, so they may list the same rationale for more than one violation. For instance, rape can be a violation of both the Closing right to be free from torture and ill-treatment and the right to Ask participants to offer more words and phrases that they think security of person. of when they hear “sexual and reproductive rights” and write them on the same flipchart/board/paper as the original list, but The cases in this activity are meant to be illustrative and cover a in a different color. range of threats to sexual and reproductive rights, not to resem- ble the actual experience of any one individual. Try to prevent VARIATIONS the conversation from focusing on how realistic the cases are.

If you have a small number of participants (less than 12 people), If participants start talking about laws regulating these issues the three groups can go through their assigned cases as a group (for example, “but that’s illegal!”), ask them to consider the rather than in pairs. cases as if they were taking place in a different country where the laws might be different.

Sexual and Reproductive Rights Case Studies: Key Case 1: The farm 9. Right to health care and health protection Possible rights violations and rationale Rationale: The man did not have health insurance and had many challenges in scheduling appointments. He was neglected in the waiting room despite his emer- 2. Right to liberty and security of the person gency situation. Rationale: The son of her employer rapes her; she is not able to lock her bedroom 10. Right to the benefits of scientific progress door or leave the farm. Rationale: The man may have been able to continue the pregnancy or carry future 3. Right to equality and to be free from all forms of discrimination pregnancies, but he was not offered any alternatives to abortion and sterilization. Rationale: She is made to work in the house because she is female. 12. Right to be free from torture and ill-treatment 4. Right to privacy Rationale: Harassment from the clinic staff, neglect, forced abortion and steriliza- Rationale: She is not able to lock her bedroom door. tion are tantamount to institutional abuse. 7. Right to choose whether or not to marry and to found and plan a family Rationale: She may be pregnant as the result of rape. Case 3: The group home 8. Right to decide whether or when to have children Possible rights violations and rationale Rationale: She can’t get emergency contraception or find an abortion provider. 1. Right to life 9. Right to health care and health protection Rationale: The residents’ lives may be at risk if they contract a fatal virus from Rationale: She cannot find a health-care provider within a reasonable distance. unprotected sex. 10. Right to the benefits of scientific progress 2. Right to liberty and security of the person Rationale: She is not able to get reproductive health technologies Rationale: The residents are forced to have contraceptive injections and are locked (emergency contraception). in their room for expressing their sexuality. 12. Right to be free from torture and ill-treatment 3. Right to equality and to be free from all forms of discrimination Rationale: The son of her employers raped her. Rationale: The forced contraceptives are a form of gender-based discrimination against the female residents. The males are denied any form of contraceptives. Case 2: The waiting room 4. Right to privacy Possible rights violations and rationale Rationale: The residents and their families are denied the right to make autonomous choices about contraception. The residents are denied the right to express 1. Right to life their sexuality. Rationale: The man’s long stay in the waiting room and delayed treatment, despite his emergency situation, endangered his life. 6. Right to information and education Rationale: The residents and their families are denied information about the pos- 3. Right to equality and to be free from all forms of discrimination sible long-term effects of the contraceptive method the residents are given. The Rationale: The man was discriminated against because of his gender identity: He residents are denied information about condoms and infection prevention. was ridiculed, delayed treatment and sterilized without his consent. Also, he was not eligible for his partner’s health insurance, possibly because of restrictions on 8. Right to decide whether or when to have children eligibility based on marital status. Rationale: The forced contraceptives result in the denial of the residents’ ability to decide whether or not to have children. Certain infections that the residents may 4. Right to privacy be exposed to because they don’t have condoms could result in an inability to have Rationale: The man was ridiculed loudly by the clinic staff. children. 6. Right to information and education 9. Right to health care and health protection Rationale: The man was not told why he was sterilized or what condition he may Rationale: The residents are denied the highest quality of care because they are not have had, if any. given condoms or information on infection prevention. 7. Right to choose whether or not to marry and found and plan a family 12. Right to be free from torture and ill-treatment Rationale: The man may not have been able to marry his partner because of Rationale: The residents were locked in their rooms for expressing their sexuality. gender-based restrictions on marriage. He underwent an abortion and sterilization without his consent. 8. Right to decide whether or when to have children Rationale: He underwent an abortion and sterilization without his consent. International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF): Charter on Sexual and Reproductive Rights

1. Right to life, which means, among other things, that no woman’s life should be put at risk by reason of pregnancy;

2. Right to liberty and security of the person, which recognizes that no person should be subject to female genital mutilation, forced pregnancy, sterilization or abortion;

3. Right to equality and to be free from all forms of discrimination including in one’s sexual and reproductive life;

4. Right to privacy, which means that all sexual and reproductive health-care services should be confidential, and all women have the right to autonomous reproductive choices;

5. Right to freedom of thought, which includes freedom from the restrictive interpretation of religious texts, beliefs, philosophies and customs as tools to cur- tail freedom of thought on sexual and reproductive health care and other issues;

6. Right to information and education, as it relates to sexual and reproductive health for all, including access to full information on the benefits, risks and effectiveness of all methods of fertility regulation, in order that all decisions taken are made on the basis of full, free and informed consent;

7. Right to choose whether or not to marry and to found and plan a family;

8. Right to decide whether or when to have children;

9. Right to health care and health protection, which includes the right of health-care clients to the highest possible quality of health care and the right to be free from traditional practices that are harmful to health;

10. Right to the benefits of scientific progress, which includes the right of sexual and reproductive health-service clients to new reproductive health technologies that are safe, effective and acceptable;

11. Right to freedom of assembly and political participation, which includes the right of all persons to seek to influence communities and governments to prioritize sexual and reproductive health and rights;

12. Right to be free from torture and ill-treatment, which includes the rights of all women, men and young people to protection from violence, sexual exploitation and abuse.

International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). 1996. IPPF Charter on sexual and reproductive rights. London, IPPF. Sexual and Reproductive Rights Case Studies

Directions: Read the Charter on Sexual and Reproductive Rights and the following Sexual and Reproductive Rights case studies. For each case, list on a separate piece of paper the numbers corresponding to the sexual and reproductive rights that were violated and a short rationale for your answers.

Case 1: The farm After her mother dies of cancer, a 15-year-old girl and ing the police but remembers that the family is prominent her father decide she should go work on a farm of fam- in the area and that the son went to high school with sev- ily friends during her summer vacation. During the school eral members of the small, local police force. She knows year she spends most of her time taking care of her about emergency contraception, but doesn’t know where younger siblings, and her father thinks that some inde- to go for it or if she can get it because of her age. Because pendence and time away would be good for her. The girl’s she spends most of her time in the house she feels she family is having financial difficulties because of her moth- doesn’t know the other farm workers well enough to ask er’s medical and funeral costs; the farm is very successful, for their help. She’s afraid to upset her father by telling and the owners offer to pay the girl’s college tuition in him or risk her chances of going to college. She doesn’t exchange for the summer help. She is excited because know how to drive and can’t leave the farm on her own. she plans to study environmental science in college. The There’s no lock on her door, so she can’t keep the son out, family decides that because she’s female, she should work and he continues to rape her until she comes up with an in the house doing chores and not outside with the other excuse to leave the farm. She thinks she’s pregnant but farm workers, who are all male. She sleeps in the room of doesn’t want to have a baby and doesn’t know where their daughter who is away for the summer. One weekend to go for help. She looks online but the closest abortion when the parents are gone, their 23-year-old son enters provider she can find is over 100 miles away. her room in the night and, despite her efforts to fight him off, forces her to have sex with him. She thinks about call-

Case 2: The waiting room A transgender (female to male) man becomes pregnant, him wait a long time to see a doctor, while joking loudly however, he has no health insurance because his job about “the pregnant man in the waiting room.” They say doesn’t provide benefits, and he can’t be covered on his they might not have any providers who can treat him. partner’s health insurance because they are not legally When he finally gets examined, the doctor tells him he married due to the state’s restrictive definition of mar- has to have an emergency abortion, and that there may riage. He has difficulty making prenatal appointments be complications. They rush him into surgery, but he never and ends up seeing a different health-care provider each agrees to the procedure. When he wakes up in the re- time, having to explain his situation repeatedly, often covery room, he finds out he had a full hysterectomy and feeling harassed and misunderstood by clinic staff. Late in was permanently sterilized, but the doctor cites no other the pregnancy he starts bleeding and having pain. When reason except possible risks in future pregnancies. he goes to hospital, the staff ignores his needs and makes

Case 3: The group home To make some extra money, a young woman starts work- all given birth control shots, supposedly to regulate their ing part time as an assistant in a group home for people periods, but she’s read that such shots can have negative, with development disabilities. She finds out that the resi- long-term health consequences that the residents and dents aren’t given any information about sex, and when their families may not be aware of. There are no condoms she asks her supervisor about it, the supervisors laughs and available in the home because the residents are not al- says, “We don’t have to worry about that here, they are lowed to have sex. While helping them with their personal not allowed to have sex.” However, the assistant believes needs, she notices that many of the residents have infec- that several of the residents are sexually active. She’s told tions. After reporting the signs of infections to her supervi- that if she notices them trying to have sexual interactions, sor, the residents are given medical treatment but are not she should lock them in separate rooms until they have informed of the risks of unprotected sex. “calmed down.” She also realizes that the residents are Drawing the Connections: Reproductive Justice and the Global Social Justice Movement

Objective INSTRUCTIONS The activity seeks to integrate sexual and reproductive 1. Explain the process and purpose of the activity. rights and justice into the broader global social justice 2. To jumpstart the discussion, draw one of the connections movement by giving reproductive justice activists a tool and explain the link (examples on page 4). to reach out to activists in other movements and to motivate groups working on other issues to address links 3. Encourage the participants to draw the next connection between their work and reproductive justice. By the by asking “How does a reproductive injustice create an end of this activity, participants will be able to describe injustice in these other movements?” concrete links between reproductive justice and other 4. Participants should be encouraged to add other move- justice movements. ments that are not already on the board. 5. You may have to prompt participants with a scenario for TIME the link for the first (or first few) movements, but this 30 minutes activity should be based on group participation. 60 minutes with optional small group discussion 6. As participants make links, draw an outward arrow from the Reproductive Justice box to the appropriate move- MATERIALS ment’s box. Markers and flipchart or whiteboard 7. The activity ends when there are arrows extending from Reproductive Justice to all of the surrounding move- PREPARATION ments’ boxes. Read the resources documents listed below. Replicate 8. Confirm with the group that you have shown that reproduc- the Drawing the Connections template on a whiteboard tive justice is essential to all of the movements listed. or flipchart.

Variations Resources Optional small group discussion Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice. 2005. A new 1. Have participants split into groups based on their interests vision for advancing our movement for reproductive health, or field of work. reproductive rights and reproductive justice. Available at http://www.reproductivejustice.org/download ACRJ_A_New_ 2. Ask them to discuss specific actions related to reproductive Vision.pdf justice that they can initiate within their movements. 3. Monitor the groups, and give input if you feel they are The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Cen- getting stuck. ter. Causes in common: Reproductive rights and LGBT liberation. Available at http://www.gaycenter.org/program_fold- 4. Ask the groups to choose a person who will report back to ers/cicbooklet.pdf the larger group. 5. Actively moderate the process of reporting back to ensure SisterSong. 2006. Understanding reproductive justice. Avail- that all small groups’ ideas are shared. able at http://www.sistersong.net/publications_and_articles/ 6. Listen to responses from the groups, and keep detailed Understanding_RJ.pdf notes on their ideas on the flipchart or whiteboard.

7. After all groups have reported, summarize their ideas and conclude the activity.

Drawing the Connections template Draw this model on the flipchart before the workshop and leave room in case additional issues need to be added.

Religious Issues Labor Rights

LGBTQ Rights Youth Rights

Reproductive Justice

Violence Economic Justice

Environmental Justice Communities of Color Drawing the Connections completed with examples After the activity there should be arrows from reproductive justice to all of the surrounding issues drawn on the flipchart. These examples can be used to prompt participants.

Religious Issues Labor Rights A woman is raped and subsequently has an In the factory where the majority of abortion. She was an active member of her people in one town hold jobs, women spiritual community and initially received who become pregnant while employed support from community members after the are fired. rape. However, when she finds out she is pregnant and ultimately opts for an abortion, she feels isolated and ostracized.

Youth Rights Because of state-mandated abstinence- LGBTQ Rights only sexual education curricula and parental notification laws on abortion and In a U.S. city, the only facility offering in contraception, youth are unable to access vitro fertilization refuses to provide its quality reproductive health care and services to unmarried women. A lesbian information. In communities across the couple wanting to have a child is unable state, youth experience increased rates of to access in-vitro services in their city. unwanted pregnancy and STDs.

Reproductive Justice

Violence Economic Justice A woman experiences unwanted pregnan- A woman can’t afford her birth control cy and doesn’t have access to abortion. pills one month and experiences an un- She decides she has to “make it work” wanted pregnancy. To pay for an abortion, with the father, although he is abusive. she has to borrow $500 from a preda- She is beaten throughout pregnancy. tory “payday-advance” loan service. She quickly becomes $2000 in debt.

Environmental Justice Communities of Color In a small community, access to methods In a community of color where the major- of fertility control is severely limited. ity of the women are uninsured or on Families are not able to manage their Medicaid, reproductive health services size in a way they deem appropriate for are extremely inadequate. Infant mortal- the resources available. The community ity in the community is nearly twice the quickly outgrows the capacity of their rate of the neighboring predominantly limited water resources. white community.

Stand/Sit Icebreaker

Objective Stand if:

This exercise is designed to get your group more com- 1. You have ever felt nervous buying condoms. fortable with each other and with talking about sexual and reproductive rights. It also helps participants think 2. You have ever lowered your voice when talking about about how sexual and reproductive rights affect their abortion. everyday lives. 3. Your parents talked to you about sex. 4. You’ve heard people making fun of LGBTQ-identified TIME people. 10-15 minutes 5. Someone has confided in you about their sexually transmitted infection (STI). INSTRUCTIONS 6. If you ever heard someone speaking positively about a teenage girl choosing to continue a pregnancy? • Read each statement to the group. 7. If you ever heard someone speaking negatively about • Participants should stand if the answer to the questions a teenage girl choosing to have an abortion? is yes and sit if the answer is no. 8. If you have read news stories about the sexual and • Pause between each statement to give the participants reproductive health needs of survivors of a natural time for processing. disaster? 9. If you’ve heard that emergency contraception (EC) causes an abortion. 10. If you have heard someone rationalize their abusive partner’s behavior. Privilege Walk This activity has been adapted from the New Conversations Activity developed by Dinushika Mohottige

Objective FACILITATION NOTES This exercise encourages participants to become critical This event may be shortened by cutting out the state- of their personal privileges associated with race, eth- ments below, if time is an issue. This event can also be nicity, class, ability, religion and sexual orientation. lengthened by adding additional statements, if necessary. Please be sure to cut or add an equal amount of steps TIME forward and back, to keep the exercise even. 45 minutes total • 10 minutes for introductions (optional) END OF QUESTIONS • 20 minutes for activity The facilitator should now move to the middle of the • 15 minutes for discussion room to begin processing this exercise. Ask participants to sit where they are and allow a few minutes for silent processing, and then ask participants to INSTRUCTIONS think about what they learned about the impact of privi- The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate how social lege that they did not know before. identifiers that are out of participants’ control have af- Lead a discussion on the exercise, using the process ques- fected their privilege and the rights of members of their tions below as a guide for discussion. community. Invite participants to stand shoulder to shoulder in a Process Questions straight line in the middle of the room. The head facilitator informs the participants that a series of statements What do you see around the room? Who do you see in are about to be read. Participants take a step forward or the front, middle and back? backward based on what the statement asks and if it ap- In what ways do the people near you reflect or not reflect plies to them. If a statement is not relevant or they do not your community? wish to respond, they may stand still. Encourage participants to be as honest as possible. However, if they do not How do you feel about where you are relative to the oth- feel comfortable they do not have to move. ers in the room? How do you feel about where others are in relation to you? GROUND RULES What went through your mind as you moved forward Make sure that the group establishes ground rules for a and backward? safe learning environment since participants will be re- Which of the statements did you find most meaningful or vealing personal details about themselves. eye opening? Why? Warning! This activity can trigger challenging questions Which of the statements, if any, hurt? Why? and emotions for the participants. The facilitator should What does your position in the room say about societal be experienced with and prepared for these situations. messages about your worth and the worth of people with This activity should be done only in venues in which the similar privilege levels? facilitator feels comfortable handling issues that may arise. How has privilege affected you, your family and your community, in terms of opportunity and access? How are social class and privilege tied to prejudice? Read the following list of statements one by one, allowing enough time for people to consider each statement and respond.

Statements:

1. If your primary ethnic identity is American, take one 16. If your family ever had to skip a meal because there step forward. was not enough money to buy food when you were growing up, please take one step back. 2. If your ancestors came to the United States by force, take one step back. 17. If you can show affection for your romantic partner in public without fear of ridicule or violence, please take 3. If there were more than 50 books in your house grow- one step forward. ing up, take one step forward. 18. If one of your parents was laid off or unemployed 4. If you ever felt unsafe because of your sexual orienta- involuntarily, take one step back. tion, take one step back. 19. If your family ever had to move because they could 5. If you were ever denied employment because of your not afford to pay the rent or mortgage, please take race or ethnicity, take one step back one step back.

6. If you were ever paid less or treated less fairly because 20. If you were often embarrassed or ashamed of your of your gender, please take one step back clothes or house while you were growing up, please take one step back. 7. If you feel as though you currently have the resources necessary to raise a child, take one step forward. 21. If your parents or guardians attended college, please take one step forward. 8. If you have ever inherited money or property, take one step forward. 22. If you have ever felt as though members of your community were feared or unwanted members of Ameri- 9. If you ever had to rely primarily on public transporta- can society, please take one step back. tion, take one step back. 23. If you were raised in an area where there was crime, 10. If you were ever stopped or questioned by the police drug activity, etc., please take one step back. because of your race, take one step back. 24. If you ever felt that you were being discriminated 11. If you have ever been unable to afford your birth con- against by a health-care provider, please take one trol, take one step back. step back. 12. If you ever felt uncomfortable about a joke about 25. If you ever tried to change your appearance, speech or your gender, but felt unsafe confronting the situation, mannerisms to gain more credibility, please take one take one step back. step back. 13. If you have received comprehensive reproductive 26. If you studied the culture of your ancestors in school, health education in school, take one step forward. take one step forward. 14. If you feel as though you have a safe environment in 27. If your native language is not English, please take one which to raise a child, please take one step forward. step back. 15. If you have ever heard individuals who share your ability status described as “unfit” to reproduce, please take one step back. Sexual and Reproductive Rights Timeline Facilitator’s Guide

Objective • Pass out cards to participants/volunteers. This is an interactive activity to inform the group of vari- • Tell participants to stand under the decade sign in which ous events in the history of sexual and reproductive rights they think their event occurred. in the U.S. and internationally. This activity is best used • Go around the room and have the participants read aloud as an introductory activity to energize group participants the text on the front of the card, then open it and read about issues that might be discussed further or presented the actual date and additional details. Not all events will by a speaker or film. have additional details listed. TIME • Remember to collect your cards at the end so you can use them again. 30 minutes total • 5 minutes, introduce activity and pass out folded cards • 20 minutes, human timeline Discussion questions • 5 minutes, discussion • What was surprising about this activity? • What kind of events weren’t included that you though MATERIALS would be? • Event sheets, printed and folded • What kind of trends do the events reveal? • Decade sheets (with 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, etc. printed on them) • Tape Facilitation Notes • Room to move around If you have a very active group, have them yell out the dates they think the event occurred after the event is read aloud PREPARATION but before the date is revealed.

• Select relevant and appropriate number of events If your group seems intimidated by the activity, use the varia- from the timeline list and print them on brightly tion below that encourages the group to guess the dates colored paper, folding them so the event appears on rather than the individual. If the group has no guesses for a the front cover, and the date and further details are particular event, don’t force them to answer, simply ask the hidden inside. person with the card to read the answer. The activity is not • Print decades on separate sheets of paper and tape designed to be a contest, but an opener for discussion or for them high on the walls around the room, leaving another presentation. space for participants to stand under the signs. Variations If you have a very small group, pass out all your date cards so INSTRUCTIONS that each participant has multiple cards. Instead of standing under the decade signs, have them stay in their seats and • Explain the activity. If you have more participants than read aloud the event on the front of the card and have the event cards, ask for volunteers. other participants guess the date. Go around the circle until • Tell participants to only read the top page (to themselves), all the cards are read. and not to open up the cards. Be sure to emphasize that they are not expected to know the dates for all the events, the activity is designed to surprise! 1918 New York court decision legalizes use of contraceptives to 1989 Romanian law prohibiting abortion is liberalized, resulting prevent infection transmission in a 50% decrease in the number of deaths from unsafe abortion in the year following the reform 1965 Tunisia becomes first Muslim country to liberalize its abortion law and now permits abortion without restriction 1994 The International Conference on Population and Develop- ment (ICPD) is held in Cairo 1969 The Jane Collective is formed; it facilitates access to safe The U.S. delegation is instrumental in formulating the language but illegal abortion services in the U.S. recognizing reproductive rights. Jane provided safe, effective and supportive illegal abortions for more than 11,000 women with a safety record comparable to that 2002 At an international conference, the U.S. delegation argues of legal abortions performed in medical facilities. against stating that “consistent condom use” is a viable method of preventing HIV/AIDS transmission 1970 Title X, the U.S.’s national family-planning program, was Fifth Asian Pacific population conference established with bipartisan support in congress The U.S. position was defeated by a vote of 32-1. The establishment of Title X fulfills President Nixon’s declaration that “no American woman should be denied access to family-planning 2002 Nepal’s king signs law permitting abortion on assistance because of her economic condition” broad grounds Immediately following legalization, more than 200 women and girls 1973 U.S. Supreme Court delivers landmark decision in Roe v were released from prison where they were serving sentences for abor- Wade, interpreting the constiutional right to privacy to tion-related crimes. A few still remain in prison awaiting pardon. Com- “encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to termi- prehensive abortion care is now offered in 35 of Nepal’s 70 districts. nate her pregnancy” 2004 Massachusetts becomes the first and only U.S. state to 1973 Federal legislation passes that prohibits use of U.S. funds have full marriage rights for LGBTQ couples for abortion care overseas Helms Amendment 2005 Gabriela Flores, a 22-year-old mother of three, is arrested in South Carolina for inducing a miscarriage using cytotec, an FDA-approved ulcer drug commonly used by health-care 1976 Congress passes amendment banning use of Medicaid providers to induce abortions funds for abortion care Flores, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, currently awaits Hyde Amendment trial. If convicted, she faces two years in prison and a $1000 fine. In a handwritten police statement in Spanish, Flores said “I knew that 1977 Rosie Jimenez, a young mother, crosses the border from the I was not going to be able to support four kids — two here and U.S. to Mexico in search of an affordable, illegal abortion. two in Mexico…please understand me. They need me a lot. They are As a result of the complications, she dies of sepsis in a hos- little. Please forgive me.” pital in Texas with an uncashed college scholarship check still in her purse. 2006 U.S. secretary of state votes to reject the application of two LGBTQ organizations seeking consultative status to The first documented case of death connected with the Hyde Amend- the United Nations Economic and Social Council ment. Rosie was denied Medicaid funding for an abortion in the U.S. 2006 Mexico City (Federal District) legalizes same-sex civil unions 1979 The convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) is adopted by the un 2006 Colombia’s Constitutional Court decriminalizes abortion in general assembly certain circumstances, easing the country’s previous ban on The U.S. has yet to ratify CEDAW the procedure 2006 Nicaragua’s legislature votes to ban all abortions, eliminat- 1980 Since Roe, first president with ties to the anti-choice move- ing exceptions for rape, fetal impairment and risk to the ment elected to office life or health of the woman Ronald Reagan stacked the courts with anti-choice judges, enacted the Mexico City Policy (or Global Gag Rule), and on the 10th anni- 2007 The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, passed by Congress in versary of Roe v. Wade, wrote that the decision was unconstitutional 2003 to prohibit intact dilation and extraction as an abor- and vowed he would continue working to overturn it. tion method, is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court

2007 The legislative assembly of the Federal District of Mexico 1984 The White House announces and enforces the Mexico City City passes landmark legislation to decriminalize abortion policy aka the global gag rule during the first trimester of pregnancy The Global Gag Rule restricts international NGOs that receive U.S. funding from providing or referring for abortions or advocating for abortion reform, even with their own non-U.S. Funds. The gag rule was declared by Reagan at a united nations conference on population held in Mexico City. The gag rule was rescinded by Clinton and reinstated by George Bush.