Guest Post from Virginia Commonwealth University: Organizing a Pro-Choice Counter-Protest on Campus

Hello! This is Sarah tuning in from Richmond, VA.

I’m the campus coordinator of #TruthFail at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). We are a campus of 32,000 centered in the heart of Richmond – a mix of southern conservatives and liberal progressives.

Last week we had Students for Life sponsor the Genocide Awareness Project for two days on our campus. It was terribly violent. Although there were no physical altercations among pro-choicers and anti-choicers, there were pictures ranging from 5′x8′ to 2′x4′ of genocide victims in Rwanda, Armenia, and Europe with NO trigger warnings. Additionally, they used language such as “evil” and “demonizing” to describe the decision to have an abortion.

They initially set up on a Wednesday, unbeknownst to me, and continued to demonstrate the following Thursday. When I checked my phone on my break at work on Wednesday, I was berated with texts and voicemails from concerned feminists on our campus. After work, plans were set in motion to counter their demonstration the next day. I posted on Facebook about an impromptu meeting to counter-organize. About ten people showed up and we brainstormed for about 2 hours on how we wanted to create a safe space for those people witnessing the spectacle. We came up with 13 slogans and bought the posters the next morning. These slogans included alternative definitions to genocide, trigger warnings, “abortion is not equal to shame,” and other related titles.

We were planning on meeting at 8:30am to make the posters, but got a call from another feminist letting us know that GAP were setting up at 9am. Needless to say, we quickly woke up and started a pot of coffee. We collaborated briefly, made some more signage and bought some chalk. Our idea with the chalk was to foster an interactive “safe-space” for people to share their stories and silently protest. It was one of my favorite parts of the rally.

Two gals and a man-friend met me at the compass around 8:45-9:00am and we began our long day of standing in opposition. We started with about 5 people and ended up with 60+ standing in solidarity against the GAP. We sang, we danced, we chanted: “Not the church, not the state, women must decide our fate.” Though we earnestly tried to disengage ourselves from the speakers of GAP, there were several times that we all chanted in unison over top of their megaphone.

There were certain times in our stay (from 9am-5pm) where conversations were had amongst pro-choicers and anti-choicers. They were mediocre at best. We, the organizers, had made sure that everyone knew that if there was a one-on-one confrontation to make sure that we all were looking out for each other – we did this mostly for the emotional safety of each other. There was a point in which an anti-choicer triggered a rape victim – from that point on there was never one person standing alone in conversation.

Overall, the rally went well. The turn-out was great and the collaboration was superb! Though the 10 of us met at the bar the night before, the turn-out would not have been so high if another local feminist had not already started a counter-protest Facebook event. We sure are lucky to live in a community that cares about our women – though we live in separate spaces, we all seem to come together when we need it the most.

My favorite part of the day? Standing in unison with people of different races, genders, and dispositions while holding up signs and chanting in the rain. We stood for 9 hours. We laughed. We cried. We screamed. We showed our campus and our community that there was obvious and strong opposition to the anti-choice movement. And that is worth something.

As a result, it seems that the vice-provost has initiated a revision to the student code of conduct that would result in our counter-protest(s) being deemed unacceptable and inexcusable without a permit. For example, we would have been kicked off of our campus for being in public opposition to the GAP. This is something that is being actively discussed in our GSEX department. There are already petitions going around campus to have this revision taken out of our student code of conduct.

Cheers to you all! Don’t get discouraged and continue doing the work that can seem to be so tedious! You have support in places you would never expect!

Reach out!

Love to all!

Sarah

The War Against Women: Coming to a Town Near You

By Brooke

Yesterday, Amanda Iacone of Virginia Statehouse News published an article documenting the war on women that is occurring locally as well as on a national level.

Several states have pursued “copycat” legislation with the overall goal of limiting women’s access to reproductive healthcare. (Copycat laws are just that – laws passed in one state to further restrict women’s health that another state copies.)

Virginia is no exception.

Banning abortion coverage through private insurance exchanges is just one example of such legislation across the country and in Virginia.

Virginia women have also been subjected to TRAP (Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers) laws that passed in the last session of the General Assembly; a type of legislation that Virginia Statehouse News calls “one of the most common methods lawmakers use to curb the number of abortions by limiting women’s access or shutting down the providers.”

President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, Nancy Keenan, was featured in the article, calling out politicians who came into office with big promises of job creation and economic relief, but have thus far only delivered attacks on women’s rights. Keenan stated: “In (the) next 18 months, I think you’re going to see a backlash of the public. First they thought this was about jobs and the economy — it really has been more about outlawing abortion care in this country.”

The fear for Virginia women and families now lies in the potential for other copycat legislation. Virginia’s anti-choice elected officials put Virginia at risk of anti-choice legislation that has been seen in other areas of the country such as the defunding of Planned Parenthood, requirements that women wait up to 72 hours before abortions, or even criminalization of doctors who perform abortions.

To see the damage that has been done by anti-choice officials in the General Assembly and Governor McDonnell’s administration regarding this war against women, check out our “The McDonnell Administration’s War on Women’s Health: By the Numbers” video. Don’t forget to see how you state legislator stacks up on women’s health issues by reviewing our 2011 Legislative Scorecard.

Summer Intern Series Part 2: Sex & Politics in the Capital City

By Brooke

This summer, Advocates for Youth, the Center for Health and Gender Equity, Choice USA and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the US (SIECUS), along with partner organizations are holding a series of lunchtime talks for DC-area interns working for organizations with similar goals.

In yesterday’s third segment of Sex & Politics in theCapitalCity, the topic was “Understanding the Attacks on Federally Funded Programs: Discussion on Title X, Medicaid and the Role of Organizations.”

A principal theme of this week’s talk was that there is a national war occurring against women and, more specifically, minority women. The luncheon was led by a panel with representatives from the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, the National Health Law Program, and the DC Abortion Fund.

A lot of our discussion centered on the topic of reproductive healthcare for poverty-stricken minority groups. There was a clear focus on the impact that funding cuts to Title X and Medicaid specifically will have on women’s reproductive health and the perpetuation of poverty amongst minorities.

Because 60 percent of people receiving Medicaid are minorities, these funding cuts are affecting minorities the most. Movements to defund Planned Parenthood and other women’s health centers are also affecting minority women disproportionately because minority women are more likely to use a publically funded facility.

A great point made about these funding cuts to healthcare services is that they have been specifically focused on reproductive healthcare, creating segregation between general healthcare and reproductive healthcare. The problem? Reproductive healthcare is healthcare!

What I really took away from this presentation was how much influence politicians have on our rights. If this worries you too, help us support pro-choice candidates who have women’s reproductive rights in mind.

Reproductive Rights in the News: In Case You Missed It

By Brooke

Here are some quick reproductive rights highlights featured in the news recently:

• A Mother Jones article by Kate Sheppard talks about the new TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) laws in Kansas, which are similar to those recently passed in Virginia. In the article, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia executive director Tarina Keene notes TRAP regulations really serve “just to make life extremely difficult, if not impossible, for these facilities.”

Sharon Levin, the vice president of the National Abortion Federation, echoed the statement: “These are really politically motivated laws. These laws have nothing to do with patient safety.”

Providers in Kansas were given only two weeks to comply with the new regulations; it remains to be seen how long Virginia providers will have after draft regulations on September 15th (with final regulations approved by January 1, 2012). There is fear that the state health department will require Virginia providers to follow the same regulations South Carolina adopted in 2003 that “went so far as to dictate proper procedures for mowing the lawn.”

TRAP regulations use unwarranted and unnecessary restrictions to limit women’s ability to access full healthcare options. As Jezebel wrote so markedly in their response to: “We are curious to know what effect janitors’ closets have on the safety of women seeking care.”

• An Op-Ed in the Daily Press from Tamara Dietrich recapped this year in reproductive news. Dietrich cited the attempt to narrow the definition of rape under abortion law, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” and the Virginia General Assembly’s passage of TRAP legislation as the pronounced lows of this year. Tamara Dietrich quoted The Guttmacher Institute’s Elizabeth Nash stating: “It’s pretty much an all-out, anti-abortion free-for-all.”

• The Richmond Times-Dispatch chose to fact check our “McDonnell’s War on Women: By the Numbers” video. They ultimately confirmed the sad fact that we were not exaggerating about the extent of Governor McDonnell’s recent attacks on women’s health and reproductive rights in Virginia.

Reproductive Rights in the News: Week of June 6

By Brooke

Here are some quick highlights from reproductive rights in the news this week:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/economy-dominates-gathering-of-social-conservatives-20110604

This post in the National Journal highlights the speakers at the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington, DC last weekend. As expected, many conservative politicians spoke out on social issues, attempting to garner support from the religious right. Politicians Michele Bachmann (check out her call to defund Planned Parenthood around the 1:23 mark), R-Minn., and Ron Paul, R-Texas, both emphasized the importance of their own views against abortion, and former Ambassador to China, John Huntsman, went so far as using the story his daughter’s adoption to rally the audience around his anti-choice views stating, “There is something more essential than politics and that is life, specifically a child’s life.” This emphasis on social issues has become typical of today’s Republican Party and the Faith and Freedom Conference proved to be the perfect venue for broadcasting anti-choice views.

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https://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2011/06/movement-treat-fetuses-people-gains-ground

An article from the Associated Press this week recognized the growing trend in reproductive rights politics to include fetuses under the legal definition of personhood in state constitutions. Under this new definition, states could pave the way for the eventual overturning of Roe v. Wade. Although such legislative movements go against federal law, anti-choice supporters believe the resulting lawsuits have the potential to spark change that could significantly obstruct women’s reproductive freedom. On Monday, a similar bill was rejected in Maine, although it specified that the definition would only change in the event of an assault perpetrated against a pregnant woman. Pro-choice advocates were opposed to this bill as Maine’s constitution already intensifies punishments for assaults against pregnant women and this type of bill would be a catalyst for a law that would consider a fetus to be under the definition of personhood in any situation.

Bills to grant such “personhood” rights failed in the 2011 Virginia General Assembly.

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http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/jun/04/TDOPIN01-letters-to-the-editor-ar-1084324/

In a letter to the editor from the Richmond Times-Dispatch this week, Hopewell resident Mary K. Martin took on the subject (also addressed here) of how new, national healthcare legislation has the potential to hurt women and small businesses. Martin worries that businesses in Virginia will be hit especially hard by this bill, either having to pay a large fee for coverage that includes abortion (even in cases where the life of the mother is threatened) or waste time shopping around for a different plan that could be much more expensive. Martin calls this bill part of a “narrow social agenda that hurts women and penalizes small businesses.”

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PLANNED_PARENTHOOD_INDIANA?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Another issue grabbing headlines this week has been the controversy occurring between the state of Indiana and federal Medicaid offices. This is due to the new state law eliminating some of Planned Parenthood’s public funding. The issue has been taken to court and U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt is expected to make a ruling by the end of the month. If the new law is upheld, seven of Indiana’s 28 Planned Parenthood health centers could close. The law specifically stops Medicaid from covering abortions and, while the state is arguing that this should not inhibit Planned Parenthood’s other services, it would be difficult to prevent incidental funding overlap for supplies and preparations that are used for abortions as well as other Planned Parenthood services. Representatives from Planned Parenthood and the ACLU believe that this law must be repealed in order to protect Planned Parenthood on both a national and statewide level.

The McDonnell Administration’s War on Virginia Women’s Health: By the Numbers

By Marissa

The McDonnell administration recently released  a video entitled “The McDonnell Administration: By the Numbers,” which shows what the governor wants Virginians to know he has been up to since his inauguration.

But he failed to mention his success in also stripping women of their access to reproductive healthcare.

The governor’s office would have you believe his sole focus during his first year in office was roads, rest stops and reducing taxes.

Unfortunately, the past two General Assembly sessions show us one of the governor’s biggest priorities – to undercut the health of Virginia women and their families.

Since 2010, McDonnell has overridden doctors’ diagnoses and blocked low-income women’s access to abortion care when their health is at grave risk.

McDonnell has banned Virginia women from using their own money to purchase private insurance coverage for abortion care even in tragic health-threatening and fetal abnormality cases.

McDonnell has approved new, unwarranted regulations to single out first-trimester abortion providers from other doctors’ office and turn them  into hospitals, essentially shutting them down and banning access to safe, affordable reproductive healthcare to a majority of Virginia women.

And, McDonnell restored nearly $900,000 in funding for failed, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in our public schools that deny real information to our youth so they can make healthy, responsible decisions.

Governor McDonnell’s policies and priorities are bad news for Virginia women and their families.

Here is our video response, outlining the ways the McDonnell Administration continues to attack the health of Virginia women and their families.

Contact Governor McDonnell today, and ask him to stop his War on Women

The McDonnell Administration’s War on Virginia Women’s Health: By the Numbers

4 – Pieces of anti-choice legislation signed into law by Governor McDonnell since his inauguration in 2010[1]

1 – Type of doctor’s office singled out for new hospital-style regulation under recent legislation (SB 924): First-trimester abortion providers

80 – Percentage of abortion providers forced to close in Texas after similar legislation was enacted in 1997[2]

86 – Percent of counties in Virginia currently without a dedicated abortion provider

0 –Private insurance providers allowed to cover a woman’s unfettered right to choose under the governor’s amendment to a health exchange bill (HB 2434)

39 – Virginia’s nationwide ranking from NARAL Pro-Choice America’s Who Decides? reproductive report card during McDonnell’s time in office[3]

2 –States that applied solely for unproven abstinence-only-until-marriage program funding in 2010: Minnesota and Virginia[4]

$898,000 – Money McDonnell restored to failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs while eliminating a similar amount from programs to help families in need

$400,000 – Approximate cost to Virginians in order to fund ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs[5]

$2.5 million – Federal funding for comprehensive sex education programs Virginia lost due to McDonnell’s political agenda[6]

$0 – State money required for said comprehensive sexual education, which McDonnell rejected in favor of taxpayer-funded, ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs

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[1] HB 1500 Item 297; HB 1500 § 4-5.04(j)

[2] http://www.prochoicetexas.org/news/headlines/200601244.shtml

[3] http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/government-and-you/who-decides/who-decides-2011.pdf

[4] http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&featureID=1940

[5] http://hamptonroads.com/2010/08/mcdonnell-seeks-abstinenceonly-education-funds

[6] http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/view/HHS-2010-ACF-ACYF-PREP-0125

Virginia Becoming More Hostile Toward Women’s Health

By Sara Cardelle

There is currently a National War on Women in the United States regarding reproductive rights. The attacks on women’s health care access range from attempts to defund Planned Parenthood (on Wednesday, Indiana became the first state to succeed) to requirements that pregnant women undergo an ultrasound prior to obtaining an abortion. In total, there have been 916 state bills related to reproductive rights issues proposed throughout the country this year alone. Unfortunately, the war on women has been equally successful in the state of Virginia. We saw a total of 10 bills or amendments restricting reproductive health care proposed during the 2011 General Assembly. Three of the bills and amendments are now law and could have a devastating impact on women’s health and access to care in Virginia. At NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia’s Choice Legislative Debriefing, Delegate Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, stated, “We have essentially overturned a lot of case laws since Roe v. Wade, making Virginia one of the less desirable states in terms of women’s reproductive rights and I think it’s just outrageous.”

Delegate Hope’s statement certainly rings true as we review NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia’s 2011 Legislative Scorecard.

In comparing this year to last year’s results, there is evidence of a push to more anti-choice partisanship. The number of Virginia legislators earning a zero percent pro-choice rating from has nearly doubled from 2010 to 2011. Last year, 36 delegates and nine senators earned a zero percent pro-choice rating. In 2011, the number of Delegates earning a zero percent pro-choice rating went up to 60. This means that, this year, 60 percent of the House of Delegates voted in favor of any and all bills and amendments attacking reproductive rights.

The number of Senators with a zero percent pro-choice rating increased to 15 which, like the House of Delegates, nearly doubles that of last year. There was also a decrease in 100 percent pro-choice senators (from 22 in 2010 to only 19 in 2011). This means there is no pro-choice majority in the Senate. This small but crucial change came into play often during the session, as we saw three bills or amendments restricting reproductive choice pass by only one vote in the Senate.

During the legislative debriefing, Senator George Barker, D-Fairfax, discussed this issue stating, “The pressure on [moderate legislators] is extraordinary right now, from all kinds of groups out there. And the fear they have is if they take a vote that is not an anti-choice vote, on any single issue, [these groups] will automatically guarantee that they have a primary challenge and in most instances will guarantee that they lose that primary challenge.”

This past session reminds us how important it is to make sure Virginians elect pro-choice candidates in the state legislature and especially in the executive branch. Of the three new anti-choice laws on the books, two were amendments from the governor. Governor McDonnell’s amendments include banning private abortion coverage for all women participating in the new health care insurance exchange, and prohibiting private insurance companies from offering coverage on abortions. The other amendment restores nearly $900,000 in funding for failed, abstinence-only programs. In addition to these two amendments (which are now law after passing the state Senate by only one vote), the governor will also have the final say on new, unwarranted regulations singling out first-trimester abortion providers.

This has been a hard year for reproductive rights in the state of Virginia and across the country. However, there is an opportunity for Virginia citizens to take our state back and that involves us coming out to vote this year on November 8th when all 140 General Assembly seats are up for grabs. The legislative scorecard gives you a chance to see if your legislator is pro-choice or not. I will certainly be taking that information with me into November, and I hope you will as well.

Lesson Learned

By: Brett Copeland, League of Young Leaders (LoYL) Co-Chair

Guest Blogger

Last week I went to my first volunteer training with NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia. Frankly, it left me appalled and inspired—appalled at how much anti-choice activity is going on in the state at any one time and inspired that I now know how to do something about it.

Joey Richards, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia’s Program and Communications Manager, connected the dots for us, from the legislative achievements for the year to anti-choice officials’ radical social agenda and, lastly, Senate Bill 924.

The largest lesson I learned from the orientation was that the battle for choice is being waged at the state-level, everyday, all the time. Out-of-touch members of the Virginia General Assembly have proven they are not afraid to champion their anti-choice crusade from the seat of elected power—to the detriment of men and women all over Virginia.

SB 924 is so disturbing because it will force in-office providers to be defined as a category of hospital—but only for abortion providers. Anti-choice lawmakers could not be clearer—they are going to strip away fundamental reproductive human rights, and they are going to do it through shady political maneuvering right under the noses of citizens.

The silent assault they perpetrated puts choice at a higher risk in Virginia than it has been for a long time—17 of the 21 clinics that provide valuable healthcare services to Virginians may close due to SB 924. It would be a devastating moment for healthcare in Virginia. The worst part is that there is only a small window for our public comment.

So what exactly can we do about it? For starters, we can contact Governor McDonnell and ask him to veto the new abortion restrictions. We can write letters to local papers to let our officials know these unprecedented and reckless attacks on women’s healthcare will not stand. We can also be prepared to attend the September 15 Board of Health meeting. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to learning more about what’s next by attending more NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia trainings. Will you join me?

*To sign up to volunteer or attend an upcoming orientation and training, contact Joey*

Ask Governor McDonnell to veto new abortion restrictions [Action Alert]

Anti-choice politicians in Virginia have shown yet again just how far they are willing to go to increase government interference in reproductive health care and restrict Virginia women’s ability to choose abortion.

Now it’s time to show them that we won’t back down.

The Virginia General Assembly’s anti-choice legislators launched a sneak attack as the 2011 legislative session came to a close. Members in the House of Delegates added an amendment onto a bill that originally had nothing to do with abortion that redefines first-trimester abortion providers’ facilities as “hospitals” and instructs the State Board of Health to single them out from among similar medical professionals for additional regulation.

Anti-choice Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling cast the tie-breaking vote to pass this bill in our state Senate. Now this legislation moves to Gov. Bob McDonnell, who could sign it any day now.

This is a blatant attempt to put the majority of Virginia’s abortion providers out of business and cut off the ability of women throughout the Commonwealth to access safe, legal abortion care.

I hope you will join us in telling Gov. McDonnell that this egregious attack on reproductive health-care providers and the women they serve is unacceptable.

Even if the governor chooses to place women’s health in danger and signs this legislation into law, this fight is far from over. It would then be up to the State Board of Health to issue new regulations, which means we will have a chance to ensure that abortion providers are not unfairly singled out to serve an ideological agenda.

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia is ready to fight back and mobilize pro-choice Virginians to oppose regulations that would restrict a woman’s right to choose in our state. Will you join us?

It will be a tough battle, but access to abortion and reproductive health care is just not something Virginia’s women can afford to lose. That’s why we need you to contact the governor today to protect women’s rights and health. Thank you for your support!