CWLU Herstory Blog

Our Bodies Ourselves has posted “Choices in Childbirth: A Statement by Physicians, Midwives and Women’s Health Advocates who Support Safe Choices in Childbirth,” which articulates concerns about preserving safe choices in childbirth and respect for the diversity of women’s needs. If you would like to sign this statement and insure that women have choices in how they  give birth, there is more information after the jump.

Judith Arcana has been a teacher and writer for many years. In the 1970's, she was a member of the Abortion Counseling Service for Women's Liberation, better known as Jane. Jane performed over 11,000 low costs safe abortions in the dark days before Roe v. Wade. She is still a reprodutive rights activist and speaks at colleges and at feminist gatherings. You may visit her site at www.juditharcana.com

The WE-ACTx Girls Exchange Chicago↔Kigali is an exciting program to link a group of six young women from our WE-ACTx HIV clinics in Kigali, Rwanda with six young women from Chicago. The group will include HIV infected and uninfected youth from both cities who have demonstrated the capacity for leadership.

You are invited to a unique fundraiser and potluck to support this exciting project. You may download the announcement here.

 

National Women's Health Week empowers women across the country to get healthy by taking action. The nationwide initiative, coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health (OWH), encourages women to make their health a top priority and take simple steps for a longer, healthier and happier life.

During the week, families, communities, businesses, government, health organizations and other groups work together to educate women about steps they can take to improve their physical and mental health and prevent disease.

Here are two activities to check out:

Help Women and Girls : Illinois Organizations that help women and girls need donations of all kinds of things. Check out their website to see where you can donate items.

Woman Challenge : This May, thousands of women across the country will embark on an eight-week physical activity challenge for better health. They will be part of the WOMAN Challenge: Women and girls Out Moving Across the Nation. Find out how you can take part and improve your health.

From the Chicago Abortion Fund's First TV Appearance

The Chicago Abortion Fund(CAF) is made up of a diverse group of women who firmly believe that affordable abortions are part and parcel of the fight for reproductive justice. Not content with simply raising money to financially assist women to obtain abortions, CAF has been doing some serious outreach efforts into the communities of Chicagoland.

Now CAF is on cable. To view them on your TV set, you can tune into My Voice, My Choice, as the CAF's leadership group host their own TV talk show/hotline on CAN TV's Channel 21. look for them on the last Wednesday of every month at 8pm.

If you miss them on cable, you can see the broadcasts on YouTube. The main CAF website is at www.chicagoabortionfund.com and they also have a MySpace page where you can friend them and add your supportive comment.

Because the need for their financial assistance far exceeds their available funds, please consider giving them a generous donation.

The Our Bodies, Ourselves (OBOS) group has been teaching us about women's bodies since their first stapled and cheaply printed pamphlet appeared in 1970 and started a revolution in women's health.

Founder Judy Norsigian will be visiting Chicago to introduce the latest book from OBOS, Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth. You can meet Judy and buy a copy of the book.

Monday, April 7, 2008 4:00-6:00 pm at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum University of Illinois at Chicago 800 S. Halsted Street, Chicago, IL

Keynote Speakers: Judy Norsigian, Co-author and Executive Director of Our Bodies Ourselves & Carrie Klima, CNM, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor, UIC College of Nursing

Please come to welcome the newest book from the creators of Our Bodies, Ourselves, as the presenters explore the history of health care for pregnant women in the United States, beginning with midwives and dramatic change that happened with physicians taking over pregnancy and childbirth, and the movement over the last 30 years to take back some of the control for women over their birthing experience.

More info about the book

“This book presents the most up-to-date and accurate information on pregnancy and childbirth. Our Bodies Ourselves is renowned for objective information that is presented without influence of pharmaceutical or other interests aside from those of women themselves,” commented Judy Norsigian, Executive Director of Our Bodies Ourselves.

"The widespread routine use of medical interventions during labor and birth has failed to improve the safety of childbirth for women who are at low risk for medical complications. Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth dispels many common misconceptions about maternity care and provides women with the information they need to make wise decisions and approach birth with confidence.”

Former CWLU member This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it attended the memorial service for women's health activist Barbara Seaman held last week. The following is her report. Laura is now a medical journalist living in New York City.

Barbara Rosner Seaman, Sept. 11, 1935 – February 27, 2008

Barbara Seaman’s contributions to the women’s health movement were celebrated last week at a memorial service in New York. More than 300 people attended the service and 25 people were asked to deliver eulogies. Although best known for her book The Doctor’s Case Against the Pill, her friends pointed to many other accomplishments.

Her work in fighting high-dose birth control pills in the early 1970s led to important changes at the FDA, according to Dr. Philip Corfman, who was at the FDA when Barbara began her organizing. As a result of her work, patient package inserts were added to prescription medicines; FDA meetings became open meetings; and the public got safer pills.

 

We learned of the death of Barbara Seaman last week from Jennifer Baumgartner's remembrance on Feministing and we are updating our original blog entry with an announcement of a memorial service in Barbara's honor. If you are in the NYC area, please attend if you can.

A memorial service for Barbara Seaman will be held on Thursday, March 6 at 5:30 pm at the Riverside Memorial Chapel at 180 West 76th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan.

Barbara Seaman was one of the leaders of the women's health movement. Way back in the 1960's, she warned us about the dangers of birth control pills in her magazine articles and in her book The Doctor's Case Against the Pill . It was largely due to her efforts that warnings were placed on the pill and people became aware of the dangers of excessive estrogen ingestion.

 

When Mardge Cohen and her partner Gordy Schiff left Chicago for Boston, they were warned that their old friends in the Windy City would do what was necessary to drag them back here.

Mardge is one of the world's leading experts on the treatment of HIV/AIDS and a former CWLU member. Gordy is a prof at Harvard and has written extensively on patient safety.

Well, on April 25, Marge will be back in town to receive an award from the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America at their annual dinner. Les Orear of the Illinois Labor History Society and labor lawyer Laurie Burgess will be her co-honorees.

Rose Ann DeMoro of the National Nurses Organizing Committee will be the featured speaker on the theme," Universal Healthcare Now!

Details of the awards dinner are below:

Friday, April 25, 2008
CROWNE PLAZA
CHICAGO METRO,
733 W. MADISON, CHICAGO

Cocktails at 6:00 p.m.
Dinner at 7:00 p.m.
$60 per person

Tickets must be reserved no later than Tuesday, April 22. A limited number of tickets may be available at the door at $70
per person. Make sure you and your organization appear in the program book!

For more details: call (773) 384-0327 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or go to the Chicago DSA website.

Auspices: Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, an Illinois not-for-profit corporation with 501c4 IRS status;
contributions are not tax-deductible.

The Our Bodies, Ourselves crew has a new book on women's health out. Our Bodies, Ourselves has been publishing feminist health info since their first cheaply printed and stapled booklet appeared in 1970 and started a revolution in women's health care.

After a two-year gestation, Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth has arrived!

The new book addresses the questions and needs of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the "fourth trimester" of early motherhood. It covers a wide range of topics, including:

• Choosing a provider and birth setting
• Making decisions about prenatal testing
• Arranging for continuous labor support
• Exploring options for pain relief
• Recovering from birth
• Adjusting to life as a new mother

The book also provides an overview of maternity care practices in the United States and examines why some aspects of the care most women receive are not based on the most reliable research on what is safe and effective.

Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth is already drawing praise from both mothers, midwives, and physicians:

From Tina Cassidy, author of Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born:

As a new mother myself, I appreciated all the scientific evidence that was used to back up recommendations or to question standard practices. And yet this book manages to be a smart, readable guide that is not preachy -- a rarity for pregnancy books.

From Timothy RB Johnson, MD FACOG, Bates Professor and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Michigan:

The trusted Boston Women's Health Book Collective has written a comprehensive, accessible, and up-to-date book for expectant mothers. It balances important facts, scientific data, and evidence with the voice of the 'wise woman'; and it provides questions to ask, issues to think about, and options to consider and discuss. This is the #1 book I am going to recommend to my patients.

For more info and how to order the book please visit the OBOS website .