Help Us Protect Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Today!
Mar 23
Loretta Ross is the definition of the word “survivor.” Ross has lived through sterilization abuse, rape and was forced to raise a child born of incest. Though these conditions, ones that affect women of color disproportionately, could have limited her potential, she instead became an advocate for women’s rights, diversity, and human rights. “I’ve been…
Mar 20
Since its establishment in 1987, Women’s History Month has been celebrated to honor achievements that women have contributed to American popular culture, politics, art, and other aspects of American history. In the second chapter of our yearlong reproductive justice campaign, the Reproductive Health Access Project is excited to highlight visible women who are change-makers and…
Mar 16
Ruth Barnett, an abortionist in the first half of the 1900s, was an example of a self-made woman. After becoming pregnant at the age of 16 and obtaining an abortion from a doctor, she became convinced that all women who sought to have an abortion deserved the right to get one. She connected with Dr.…
Mar 13
When Dr. Kohar Der Simonian moved to Maine from the Bay Area a few years ago, she found that she missed the organized, tight-knit community of reproductive health care providers and advocates back in California. While clinicians and advocates across Maine have always provided and advocated for reproductive health care, they face different challenges than…
Mar 08
One wouldn’t expect such an inflamed reaction for sitting on the bus after a long day, but Rosa Parks did just that—and was arrested for it because she refused to give up her seat in the “colored section” of a bus to a white passenger. Her activism in the civil rights movement, however, began long…
Feb 28
Pauli Murray’s exemplary career as a civil rights lawyer began with a seat on a bus in the whites-only section and a subsequent arrest. The experience of being arrested drove her to begin work with the Workers’ Defense League, which propelled her dream of law school, resulting in a law degree from Howard University, a…
Feb 21
A cowboy hat, pink sunglasses and fake eyelashes…those were the trademark accessories for Florynce Kennedy, a woman who was recognized equally by her staple uniform as she was by her activism. Growing up in Missouri during a time when the Ku Klux Klan was locally operating, she was no stranger to local prejudice and her…
Feb 16
Recognizing that abortions had been illegally performed in hospitals under the guise of “therapeutic abortions” but always attached to a large check, Dr. Edgar Bass Keemer, Jr. was the sole Detroit physician who provided abortions to poor black and white women who were welfare recipients or Medicaid card holders. The son of a doctor and…
Feb 08
“Intersectionality.” The term, coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, has become a hot topic and a rallying cry for those on the front lines of the fight for human rights. With an undergraduate from Cornell, a JD from Harvard Law School, and an LLM from University of Wisconsin, she began her career at the UCLA School of…
Jan 30
2017 was a busy year for the Reproductive Health Access Network, with 11 new Clusters meeting for the first time (in addition to our 7 previous Clusters!). In recognition of the efforts of the Cluster leaders and members, we will highlight different Clusters throughout 2018, starting with Idaho. RHAP’s Idaho Cluster, led by Sarah, a…