Summer is winding down :(

This is a post by one of our WONDERFUL summer interns, Dani. We were so lucky to have such talented and dedicated young folks working with us!


So. End of my first summer at Planned Parenthood and I’m still conflicted about the experience. It was nothing like I anticipated applying or even after completing training, yet it definitely still provided me with great skills and understanding.

Coming in, we were taught all sorts of different political involvement techniques—door-to-door canvassing, phone banking, crowd canvassing, writing letters to the paper—with the understanding that we’d be placed at the bottom tier in some struggling politician’s campaign to help make a difference and get them elected. But my internship didn’t turn out that way. Our luck with candidates was legendary—we had politicians who wouldn’t return our calls or who, when we finally got involved with them, did not live up to our expectations—and so my partner Bailey and I never really landed on a campaign. We were more freelance in our political action, doing what would could from the PPWP office and from our limited city bus pass access.

I was looking forward to getting involved in a real political campaign this summer, because it seemed glamorous and complicated and important (I think I’ve watched a bit too much West Wing). In this, I guess I guess I was a bit disappointed, because now my views of them must wait to be disillusioned or confirmed, or both. But my real love and passion is sexuality, not politics, so our focus on Planned Parenthood’s issue and goals and office space really suited me just fine.

This is not to say that I haven’t still learned a lot about politics through my work here. Beyond the truly invaluable political skills of pitching an issue on the phone in such a way that the caller won’t hang up, or getting people to see the value in registering to vote, or being able to speak eloquently about issues, candidates, and the importance of voting for choice, I as well learned many more challenging, intangible lessons. I learned that politicians can be imperfect, even flawed, and still be candidates that need to be supported and advocated for because they can do important work for women and choice in office. I learned that voters really just want to feel like they are being heard and that they are important. And I think I finally grasped the true importance of the democratic process, even—perhaps especially—on the local level. Because political work really is an equal, and an equally important partner, to direct services in cases of social work, be it medical services, choice, domestic violence, or whatever. Work in the interpersonal sphere can only exist as long as there are political policies in place to safeguard it. We can continue performing abortions, or handing out EC, or advocating sex ed because down the road, people have done the hard political action to ensure those freedoms.

But I also learned that politics will probably never be for me. So much compromise and value negotiation goes into becoming a viable candidate, a candidate who can win and then do good things, and I don’t want to settle. I think I’ve learned I’m far too liberal to be tamed like that. But I do know that one day I’ll still end up inside a campaign. Because I learned through this internship, and through my supervisors and mentors at PPWP, that being the lone, loud progressive voice in a candidate’s ear can help remind them what they’re fighting for.

Medical Care Behind Bars

In 1984, Wanda Boswell was arrested for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. During booking, the jailer learned that Boswell was 6 ½ months pregnant, and having a difficult pregnancy. Boswell began bleeding and notified jailers, who locked her in a cell without calling a doctor. The bleeding worsened and she requested a doctor. She was left locked in the jail cell overnight. In the morning, Boswell was cramped, bleeding, and in pain, and again requested a doctor. The jailer refused and told Boswell she would be released when she posted bail. Boswell was allowed to call her mother-in-law who told the jailer that even if she was able to raise the money to for bail, it would take quite some time to travel to the jail. The jailer continued to insist that she needed "$ 150 to let Boswell out." When a local police officer (and emergency medical technician) stopped by the jail before his shift, he heard Boswell’s cries. While looking in on Boswell, he noticed the bleeding and demanded an ambulance which transferred Boswell to a hospital. Her baby, Joseph Boswell, was born at the hospital, where he died thirty-four minutes later. (Boswell v. County of Sherburne, 849 F.2d 1117. (8^th Cir., 1988)).

The health concerns of incarcerated women do not differ markedly from those outside the prison walls. However, a woman in prison has no power to care for herself. Her incarceration completely restricts her liberty, including access to any and all medical care. Due to an inmate’s complete dependence on prison officials, deliberate indifference to an inmate’s serious medical needs is considered “cruel and unusual punishment” and a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Between 1977 and 2007, the female prison population has increased by 832% (according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics). Two-thirds of these women are incarcerated for non-violent – mostly drug and property-related – offenses. While the numbers are shocking enough on their own, the implications of the flood of women into the prison system are even more so.

Like many institutions, the criminal justice system is structured by and for men: from sentencing and punishment to prison programming and the provision of medical care. Women have specific medical needs that do not vanish once the prison gate locks: gynecological care and education, access to prenatal care or abortion services, and (more often than men) counseling for prior sexual abuse. If incarceration is at least in part about rehabilitation, an inmate’s health is vital to achieving this goal.

The physical and emotional pain Wanda Boswell experienced should be part of no one’s sentence. Reading case after case of such abysmal treatment, it’s difficult to see a light at the end of the tunnel. If prisons fail to adopt and implement procedures to meet the needs of their new inmates, the only means of redress seems to be the one Boswell had: in court, after enduring several hours of pain and the death of her son. Although that’s certainly better than nothing, the better alternative – for all involved – is to realize the reality that women’s health needs do not disappear upon incarceration and the value of investing in caring for these women.

Planned Parenthood and Me

I have been exceedingly lucky in my life to have been raised by strong women who believe in the power of being a strong woman. While they each had their own strengths, they truly believed in the autonomy of self and the freedom to make one's own choices. My home was always sex positive and open, and I am thankful for that.

However, no matter how sure I felt about my own body, sexuality, and self, there was something missing. The lack of proper health education, particularly sex education, in my upbringing, combined with the absense of self-esteem (all too normal, in this day and age, for adolescents) led me into an abusive relationship with an older man at the age of sixteen. After that relationship ended, swearing I wouldn't tell anyone, I carried that burden around with me for years, always questioning why I wasn't "good enough" or "smart enough" to have gotten out of that. In my senior year of high school, Planned Parenthood's "Peer Education" program began to disseminate the information invaluable to a growing teen, and helped me cope with my past.

Years later, I realized it wasn't a problem with me that led me into that relationship, but also a problem with the system. I did not have a network at school to whom I could tell my deepest secret. The health classes, which focused on abstaining from drugs, alcohol, and sex, did not help me develop confidence and self-esteem, and did not teach me how to say "no". In University I began a teacher training program, focusing on history and ethics/religion, but took more and more courses in the fields of sexuality, women's health, and sociology. It is my goal to pursue a Masters of Public Health in Adolescent Health/Sexuality, and to promote proper health and sex education within schools and other institutions.

It also shocks me how little even "educated" people know about contraceptive usage and anatomy. Since coming out as a future sex educator, I have had many friends come to me, in confidence, asking basic questions about sex, health, or anatomy, that I find disturbing for people in their mid-twenties. I do not blame them, however-- after all, they are seeking to correct misinformation from their schooling-- but rather the teachers, guardians, and institutions who continue to pass on such wrong data. That is something I seek to change, and am thankful that Planned Parenthood has been doing that for ages.

Working at Planned Parenthood is a way for me to give back, and a way for me to take part in a larger public health measure. I believe, above all, in the value of proper education, caring teachers and mentors, and trust. Thankfully, so does Planned Parenthood.

My Planned Parenthood Experience

I only understood the true significance of my body and my rights to it after I left a long-term abusive relationship. The healing process turned me toward literature and advocacy that respected each individual's rights to her/his own body. When it came time to apply for internships that actually considered my interests in respecting these issues, Planned Parenthood seemed the perfect choice.

I was completely off base when I imagined the type of work I would be doing as a campaign organizer. Yes, I phone bank, canvass, and fill out data forms, but I also get to table for events and listen to individuals' issues. I am actually working with like-minded people on advocacy issues that are meaningful to everyone involved. People do not work at Planned Parenthood merely to receive a paycheck. The positive energy in the office creates a safe space for conversation and motivates me to get up every morning for work.

Even though we are only about three weeks in, I have learned so much with my fellow campaign organizer, Dani. We muse at how uncomfortable some people are with the presence of condoms at tabling events and how others seem desperate not to make eye contact with us. One girl even asked us if it was awkward handing out condoms. After responding in the negative, we encouraged her to look into volunteering with Planned Parenthood, but she gingerly smiled and walked away. For a country filled with sexual images, people are way too uncomfortable with discussing sexual health and safety. Issues, such as sexual violence, seem to be even further from conversation.

While not everyone is willing to share their stories of abuse, sexually transmitted infections, or pregnancy, I think the more we talk the better off we are. Discussion is not meant to desensitize people on these issues, but to make them more aware of what is out there in the world for them to encounter.

What I'm Doing at Planned Parenthood

As a double major in Public Health and Gender Studies, it makes perfect sense that I would end up interning at Planned Parenthood this summer. I believe in feminism, in gender equality, in sex positivity, and in safety, responsible choice, and decision making, so this office just made sense for me. There are so few organizations out there that not only care about these rights and issues, but makes it their fight and their number one priority. Planned Parenthood is a wonderful place.

My involvement and love affair with Planned Parenthood, however--particularly with the affiliate I am now working with--began a long time ago. As a kid who had jumped from a conservative Jewish day school to a predominantly uninformative health class in high school, Planned Parenthood gave me my first real sex ed. They came into my gym classes and taught us about relationship communication, about protection, about contraception, and, yes, about different types of sex and their benefits and disadvantages. I was completely spoiled--I thought that everyone knew this information that I knew, that everyone was as informed as I was about sexuality and their own bodily autonomy.

Evidently not. Between the ages of 15 and 18, so many of my friends ended up having pregnancy or STI scares or were sexually abused or in unhealthy relationships. No one ever seemed to know what to do, so they would come to me and we'd talk about their options and their resources, and first on my list was always Planned Parenthood. We'd walk down the street during walk-in hours to get tested, emergency contraception (back before it was legal to purchase over-the-counter), or counseling. Planned Parenthood moved from being a place of education to a resource and a health service. And it changed me from being just a naive kid to someone with some real, valuable education who wanted to make sure everyone had the same. It turned me into an advocate.

So now I'm back here again, this time hopefully helping the community from the inside rather than the out. Although most of my background and my own experiences with Planned Parenthood have been educational or health related, now I'm sitting at the other end working with the political landscape of Pennsylvania to try to create pro-women, pro-choice change. I didn't think doing the stuff I do all day--phone banking or knocking on doors or stuffing bus pass holders with condoms and information--was ever something I'd willingly do. I don't think I ever really grasped how much I could learn from it. But beyond just the comparatively simple lessons like how to keep people from hanging up even when you call during dinner, or how much work goes into planning an outreach event like Pride, or how rewarding it is to see a fully-completed petition page, spending my time doing this work, and listening to the people who have actually made this their living, I've learned that this sort of grassroots advocacy work is exactly the right step for me right now. Planned Parenthood rests on pillars of education, health services, and political action, and all three are so important and so interrelated. It's not hard to be compassionate when calling voters for hours to support sex ed when you have witnessed how it can positively influence the health and well-being of kids growing up. And marching up and down streets all day asking people to support a pro-choice candidate becomes a lot easier when you know that their one voice can be the pressure that helps to improve reproductive health care and access in Pennsylvania.

So now, with the vote for the Healthy Youth Act coming so soon, we get to keep pushing to see if the work we've been doing so far will create good change. I hope it will.

Reproductive Rights and Environmental Justice

“Who would want to live in a world which is just not quite fatal?”
- ecologist Paul Shepard, quoted by Rachel Carson in “Silent Spring,” 1962

What does environmental justice have to do with reproductive freedom? Well, of course, as people, we must all care about the world in which we live. The impact that we have on the environment, and its impact on us, is all the more clear as we watch the weeks tick by as oil continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico and onto the shores of our southern coastline.

Aside from this basic connection that we all have with the planet, reproductive rights advocates and environmental activists share a common belief that when armed with knowledge we can make choices to keep ourselves healthy. Reproductive health stems in part from the health of the environment in which we live, what we ingest, and what we pass on to our children. Nutrients as well as toxic substances pass from pregnant mother to unborn child and through breast milk to infants. The health of the external environment directly impacts our internal health, of which reproductive health is an important piece. Many specific issues therefore make the two coalitions natural allies.

Take toxic substances for instance. Rachel Carson, a Pennsylvania native, warned of the dangers of pesticides as early as 1962. Her work spurred modern environmental activism and the creation of the EPA in 1970. In 1976, Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in an attempt to give the EPA the power to regulate chemicals used in consumer products and manufacturing facilities.

Since 1976, EPA has evaluated 200 of the now 82,000 registered chemicals and banned 5 since 1976 and none since 1990. The 2008-2009 President’s Cancer Panel Report focused solely on the environmental cancer risk. The Panel called TSCA the “most egregious example of ineffective regulation on environmental contaminants” and stated that rates of environmentally induced cancers are “grossly underestimated.” Since 1982, 40% more women have reported impaired fertility and 30% more babies have been born prematurely since 1994. While environmental contaminants are not the sole cause of these rising rates, there are strong links between human health and chemical exposure.

With a push from Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, a coalition of individuals, businesses, health professionals, reproductive health advocates, and environmentalists concerned with the safety of toxic chemicals in consumer products, our homes, and workplaces, Congress is now attempting to revamp TSCA with bills introduced in both the House and Senate. The “Safe Chemical Act of 2010” would require fast action on the worst chemicals, publication of basic information on all chemicals, and a focus on communities disproportionately affected by harmful chemicals (people living near manufacturing sites, workers, pregnant women).

Although the bill is a promising start, Lindsay Dahl (Deputy Director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families) points out that work must still be done to make the bills stronger – especially with regard to requirements for new chemicals. New chemicals will likely still be able to get to market unless flagged, perhaps due to their similarity to chemicals already deemed harmful. More strict criteria must be laid out so that the chemical industry is required to show chemicals are safe, rather than have the EPA chase down chemicals once their harmful effects manifest.

The chemical industry is likely to fight against tackling the “worst of the worst” chemicals first for such action would put a black mark on these chemicals. Yet, if they’re the “worst of the worst,” don’t they deserve a black mark?

A revamped TSCA asks the chemical industry to tell us the health risks of the chemicals used in our insecticides, shampoos, plastics, etc. so that we armed with the knowledge to make informed choices about what we purchase. "Choice" in matters of health encompasses the range of choices from what kinds of chemicals we allow to enter our body (or not) to whether and when to have a family (or not) and numerous other decisions in between. And as new science continues to show, environmental contaminants can directly impact reproductive health – from infertility and premature births to breast and testicular cancers (Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Health Report).

Rachel Carson asked in the first installment of her “Silent Spring” series in 1962: “Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though we had lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?” Advocates for both reproductive rights and environmental justice have always envisioned that better education and greater choices empower individuals to demand that which is good for themselves and their communities.

I've Come to the End

As of today the count is thirteen days until I’m done with high school. After four years it is finally coming to an end, and I have to say I couldn’t be happier. It’s certainly time for me to move on from the tedious (and occasionally exhilarating) world of high school. For my classmates and me, this last semester has been a difficult push to the end filled with missing assignments and skipped days. Compared to my peers, however, I’ve had the opportunity to do something new in the last four months of school. Instead of sitting around in school for another few hours after lunch, counting down until the end of the day, brining me that much closer to the end, I’ve come to Planned Parenthood every day and been engaged in something new and exciting, giving me a reason to come to school every day. In fact I even came to my internship on Senior Skip Day. Crazy right? Tells you there’s something special about this place though.

I think the biggest difference between school and working at Planned Parenthood is that I truly care about the work I do here. At school everyone has such resentment towards doing work and being productive; seniors just want it to be over already. When I come to Planned Parenthood, however, I get excited about what I get to accomplish that day. Everyday I get to do something that makes a difference, whether it’s preparing outreach materials for an event, writing a blog post or even doing data entry, and it is all working towards a cause that I care about. The notion that the work I do can make a little something about the world better is enough to give me drive and inspiration to get the work done without dread. Compare that to writing an English paper on Hamlet… I’ll trade any day.

Working here for four months has given me knowledgeable insight into office and nonprofit work. Paper pushing, phone banking, blogging, all of this was new to me, and although not always the best of times, personally rewarding in a manner that makes me proud of the work I do. Proud because I’m helping an incredible organization like Planned Parenthood accomplish goals I care about like promoting comprehensive sex ed, protecting reproductive rights and ensuring women’s health.

Sitting here on one of my last days at Planned Parenthood, I know I made a smart choice when choosing where I wanted to intern (thanks for the suggestion mom!). I’ve gotten to do some really fun projects, things that I care about and tasks things that are tedious, but extremely important. This internship was exactly what I needed at this point in my life, something to keep me motivated, hold my interest and give me the opportunity to make a difference. I can only hope that I’ve given as much to this organization as it’s given me.

Before I go, I need to give a big shout out and thanks to Tiffany Hickman, the Volunteer and Intern Coordinator at Planned Parenthood who has been my supervisor these past months. She’s been incredible to work with and has made this whole experience so much better by being extremely friendly and encouraging. I also need to thank Rebecca Cavanaugh and the rest of the Planned Parenthood administrative staff for welcoming me to their floor and opening lots of doors! (I mean that literally).

Elena Kagan: The Woman Everybody Wants To Know More About

A high school student in New York during the 70s dreamed of one day becoming a Supreme Court Justice. Now, for Elena Kagan, more than thirty years later, that aspiration may very well be coming true. President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, is poised to replace Justice John Paul Stevens if her nomination is approved by the Senate. If appointed she would be the third woman serving on the Supreme Court, the most women ever seated on the court at the same time, making the composition of the Justices a third female. With diversity on the horizon, it is easy to get excited about Elena Kagan’s nomination without even knowing anything about her.

For the past thirty years, Kagan has been working all over the academic and political circuits. Paticular highlights of her political career include clerking for Justice Thurgood Marshall, working on Vice President Joe Biden’s staff when he was a senator, working for Clinton’s administration and currently serving as the United States’ Solicitor General, representing the United States in front of the Supreme Court. Elena Kagan has a long history as a professor, earning tenure at University of Chicago before going to work for the Clinton administration than as Dean of Harvard Law School. Kagan is no stranger to breaking barriers for women, serving as the first female Dean of Harvard Law School and first female Solicitor General. Becoming the third woman on the Supreme Court seems like a practical next step.

Many nuances and details of Kagan’s political and ideological stances are not known, mostly because she’s served in academia instead of as a judge, but throughout her life she has taken some important actions that reveal a bit about her political character. While serving as the Dean of Harvard Law School, Kagan supported the Law School’s ban on military recruiters as a protest of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, which bars out LGBT men and women from serving in the military. Harvard has a strong commitment to support it’s LGBT students and perceives DADT as discrimination. By standing up against discrimination and in support of her students, Kagan exemplified her qualities of fairness and justice when it comes to discrimination. She’s also written about free speech throughout her career, a topic that sparks her interest and her intellect.

Kagan has avoided ideological stances in favor of approaching things that have an “intellectual puzzle,” making it difficult for her critics to pick apart her stances on important issues. Instead criticism of Kagan has focused on her lack of judicial experience, if nominated she would be the only Supreme Court Justice who had never previously served as a Judge. Although recently, most Justices have previously served as Judges, before the 1970s it was not uncommon for lawyers, professors and politicians to be nominated to the Supreme Court. Her supporters say that her lack of judicial experience is a good thing, bringing a fresh perspective to the court. Certainly, she’s not inexperienced with the Supreme Court, serving as Solicitor General for over a year and as a law professor at the most elite schools in the country. Her communication and people skills as a good listener and persuader make her a valuable candidate in a Court that’s sharply divided.

As her hearing draws nearer, don’t anticipate hearing any less about Elena Kagan. A private woman in terms of her political opinions and personal life, the media of course is trying to find out as much as they can about her. Among rumors about her sexuality, the important things sometimes get overshadowed. The debate will continue on both sides, until eventually the vote is tallied. Until then it’s a waiting game as we continue to learn more and more about the woman who may be breaking another huge barrier for women in the political arena.

Youth Invasion 2010!

Every year the Andy Warhol Museum is taking over by teens for a night for Youth Invasion. There’s dancing, music, art, a fashion show, free food, and of course tabling by local organizations reaching out to the hundreds of youth at the event. This year Carnegie Library, the Women and Girls Foundation, Rustbelt Radio, the Youth Empowerment Project/PERSAD, Bike Pgh, the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force, and the Animal Rescue League. Of course Planned Parenthood was also there running a table filled with pamphlets, condoms, PPWP chapsticks and our “Be Safe, Be Sexy” buss pass holders stuffed with cards and condoms. Yay Freebies!!!

As expected, youth loved the table and grabbed up the chapstick and other give aways saying how cute the buss pass holders were. What was a bit unexpected for me, however, was how a lot of the adults at Youth Invasion would come by the table and grab stuff for their kids, fill out the “I support Sex-Ed” cards and were genuinely excited that we were there for the youth. It was great to see adults who liked seeing teenagers stuffing condoms in their pockets instead of becoming protective and defensive.

Planned Parenthood wasn’t the only organization there promoting sex ed and handing out condoms, which is awesome for our cause. The Pittsburgh Aids Task Force and The Youth Empowerment Project/PERSAD were also tabling, encouraging youth to have safe sex and make healthy choices. By having three organizations all relaying the same message is a great way to really get a point across.

Leaving around nine with considerably less stuff than I came with was not just a relief to my back, but also showed how much stuff people had taken from the table. Outreach events like Youth Invasion are a great way to reach out to a lot of people by directly giving them some tools to practice safe sex, and also inform them about the other services Planned Parenthood offers. As a volunteer it’s extremely satisfying, but if the idea of empowering youth to be healthy and safe isn’t enough to get you to come out and volunteer, consider that I got free food including cupcakes for Dozen Bakery, and if that’s not enough to convince you that it was a great night, I don’t know what can.

Choice: As American As Apple Pie!

Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania PAC is thrilled to invite supporters to enjoy a heaping slice of apple pie with us to support our summer internship program!

Every summer, Planned Parentoods from around the state host interns who are instrumental in our advocacy and political work. Show your support for these amazing young people by coming out on June 5th from 6 pm to 9 pm for a family friendly BBQ at Healcrest Urban Farm!

Healcrest Urban Farm
Corner of Hillcrest and Pacific AVenue
Garfield Heights, Pittsburgh , PA

Last year PPWP saved $100,000 due to the efforts of our many volunteers and interns. Help us continue this amazing program!

Facebook Invite Coming soon!

Charged for Following the Law? What Now?

In Wisconsin school districts have the choice to teach sex education to their pupils, so many schools have good comprehensive sex education programs that in addition to teaching about abstinence, teach students about STIs, contraception, and state sex laws. In fact, starting in 2011 schools that have any type of sex ed program will be required to use a comprehensive curriculum.

That’s a step in the right direction for Wisconsin But of course, whenever progress is made, there are those people who fight back even harder. In this case, it’s a Wisconsin County Prosecutor threatening to bring criminal charges against teachers who follow the law and teach sexual ed.

The age of consent in Wisconsin is 18, so legally minors are not allowed to have sex. The prosecutor, Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth, claims that teaching about contraception and safe sex and not just absitinance encourages youth to have sex. He believes that comprehensive sex education is a “radical program that sexualizes our children as early as kindergarten. This, in turn, will lead to more child sexual assaults."

So when did prosecutors start charging people for following the law? Instead of performing his role as a defender of the law, this DA wants to use his power as a vehicle for his own personal agenda. Southworth puts the schools in a difficult position when they feel threatened following the law and doing what’s right for their students by providing them with important and accurate health information.

These kinds of things happen all the time, all over the place, but I believe it’s important to take time and recognize the battles people are having to fight to do the right thing. Whenever progress is made, there is going to be a backlash against it, and people must stand strong. Keep fighting Wisconsin and don't be bullied!

Maternal Health: Can We Fix This Mess?

Part V

The maternal health care system has a lot of problems. In fact, it is highly messed up. But like socks with their pair, actions and reactions, and everything going up coming down again, these problems have solutions. Now these aren’t sweet and simple solutions that will to make everything A-Okay overnight, but with time, dedication and resources, will make a huge difference in creating a maternal health care system that succeeds in protecting the health of mothers. Only fixing one part of the system will leave a maternal health care system still plagued by problems, so any plan must take a systematic approach and address all of the problems in the system in order to really make a difference.

One of the first things the government can do is to establish an Office of Maternal Health. This office would be important in addressing the issues of accountability and lack of information about the system failings. With a government office dedicated to improving maternal health, eliminating discrimination and creating standards of care. Giving a group of people the power and authority to do something about the maternal health care crisis is necessary in implementing real change. The health care system is highly tied into government operations and systems, so the government needs to be involved in the solutions process.

Other ways the government can address maternal mortality include establishing state level maternal mortality review boards and making Medicaid easily accessible by pregnant women. Maternal mortality review boards serve to investigate and keep records of maternal deaths, and can hold institutions accountable if a death was preventable. Pregnant women need regular prenatal care and access to services. Now, if a woman gets pregnant and then applies to Medicaid, it takes much to long for her to begin receiving health care benefits. By giving pregnant woman temporary access to Medicaid during their pregnancy will increase the number of women receiving maternal health care.

Making sure that the people who need maternal health care have access to it is one of the most important things that needs to be done to improve the system. Right now, the population that is lacking access are the underserved and impoverished communities in rural and urban areas. In order to establish better access to health care services in these areas, the government needs to increase funding for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC). These clinics are essential in providing general and maternal care to people who would not otherwise receive the necessary care, so expansion in the number of FQHCs would make it so much easier for many women to access maternal health care.

Outside of the government, health care providers must also do their part in improving maternal health care. Health care providers can make sure that they are communicating openly with their patients, offering them accurate information about their health care and allowing them to make choices about their own health. Although it seems like something obvious that health care providers would already do, it is often not the case. Being adequately informed about the risks of procedures and symptoms of dangerous conditions is necessary for a woman to have quality maternal care.

Quality health care can only be provided if there are enough health care providers to care for the patients. Because understaffing is a major issue in the maternal health care system and the cause of many preventable medical errors or overlooks, hospitals and clinics must ensure that there are enough health care providers to give every woman proper care. Hiring more nurses and OBGYNs is one of the simplest things we can do to improve the maternal health care system.

These are only a few solutions to some of the problems, but there are many more outlines and plans to fix the system. The Amnesty report has a list of ten recommendations for improving maternal health care in America, and as the system crisis gets more and more attention, I believe more solutions will be proposed.

Striving towards a world where we take care of our fellow man is not always easy. Differences in opinions and priorities often lead to a conflict between people about what battle we should be fighting to try and make our world a better place. There are those who are against gay marriage and those that support it, Some people are advocates of the free market and global capitalism, and others would like to see a society based on socialist principals. These divides make it very difficult to get anything accomplished. Often, before someone can begin working towards their solution, they need to overcome the opposing side. I hope that maternal health is not an issue that creates factions, but instead something that all people can rally around. With a united front for improving the maternal health care system, our country has the potential to fix the problems that are ailing the system now. The first step in creating that united front, however, is to inform people about the maternal health care crisis in this country, and now that you know about it, this becomes your responsibility. Don’t just sit on the fact that 13.3 women die for every 100,000 in the United States. Don’t think “wow, that’s terrible” and never do anything about it. Instead learn more by reading Amnesty’s reports, take action by sending a letter to the US Department of Human and Health services, or even tell a friend about the despicable treatment pregnant women in this country are facing. Now that you know about the maternal health care crisis what are you going to do about it?

Policy Update and Save the Dates!

Happy Spring from Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania's Advocacy Team!

Lots of exciting things are happening at PPWP throughout the summer. Stay tuned for updates! Here some things we have been working on and a few Save the Dates.

Sex Ed Legislation Update:

We are thrilled to announce the passage of the Healthy Youth Act out of the House Education Committee this past Wednesday! One of the many goals of the Healthy Youth Act is to create a minimum standard for sex education curriculum in Pennsylvania public schools. With this vote, we are one step closer to ensuring that PA students have the education and skills they need to make healthy decisions for themselves. This is only the second time a proactive reproductive rights bill passed out of committee in the history of the Commonwealth. A BIG round of applause goes out to our state office and our many volunteers for working their butts off to get this done. Planned Parenthood, along with dozens of organizations statewide, will be pushing hard for consideration by the full house in June but we have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us to get here. Please consider calling your House Representative and encourage them to support the Healthy Youth Act! Find your representative's contact information here.

Save the Dates!

May 7th: PPWP volunteers will be tabling at the Youth Invasion event at the Warhol Museum on Friday from 5 pm to 10 pm. If you know anyone who would like to volunteer for this or any other event, connect them with Tiffany at THickman@ppwp.org!

May 12th: Phone Bank and Volunteer Night next Wednesday from 5:45 pm to 8 pm in conference room. Stop by to make a few calls and find out what's new!

June 5th: Choice is as American as Apple Pie - Family Friendly BBQ at Healcrest Farms in Garfield from 6 - 9. For more detail email Rebecca at RCavanaugh@ppwp.org

June 13th: Cocktails for a Cause! Join us at Round Corner Cantina (3720 Butler Street, Lawrenceville) from 4 - 6 p.m. for great drinks at a great price all benefiting Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates!

Maternal Health: Despicable Discrimination

Part IV

In a country plagued by discrimination in almost every part of society, it is no surprise that our maternal health system is extremely discriminatory in practice. Women’s reproductive and sexual health has been a point of discrimination and contention in this country forever, and that battle still continues today. The maternal health system’s discrimination toward minorities and lower income women is inhumane yet sadly not shocking. It has become typical for American society to cast aside women, especially minority or low income women. The discrimination in the maternal health care system seems to be two fold. Minorities are often treated without respect at health care clinics and hospitals causing poor quality care. Additionally, overall access to health care is restricted for these women because of their dependence on public services. These are extensive problems within the system that contribute to the deaths of hundreds of women a year.

One of the major roots of discrimination in the system is the general treatment and attitude towards minorities. Not giving women proper and complete information about their health care and options has been a problem for everyone in the maternal health system, but it is greatly accentuated with women of color, women who are uninsured or receive Medicaid, and women who do not speak English. Without the necessary knowledge, women are much less likely to be involved with their own health care. These targeted groups are often purposely denied information. Many minority women have reported receiving poor care, being ignored and treated with disdain and indifference because it was assumed by staff they were uninsured or on Medicaid. These assumptions are demeaning and discriminatory towards these women and put their health at risk. Even women who are uninsured still deserve proper care and to be treated with respect and dignity. Women should be able to access care with equality and nondiscrimination. Not only is it against the law to base health care service on a women’s skin color or income, it should be against the moral code we have as humans.

As discussed in the second part of this series, limited access to quality care is a major problem in the health care system. This is especially true for racial and ethnic minorities who are disproportionately uninsured, rely on Medicaid or other public services, and have lower incomes than white women. The public health system in America has many restrictions and policies that create barriers to accessing health care. Because these barriers and limitations apply primarily to minorities, the inequalities in health care services are extreme.

Minorities reported much higher rates of unintended pregnancies, 69% for African-American women, 54% for Hispanic women, and 40% for white women. Because the risk of maternal mortality increases significantly for unintended pregnancies, minorities face much higher risks of morbidity and complications. Part of why the unintended pregnancy rate is so much higher for minorities is because of their limited access to family planning compared to white women.

Everything that is wrong with the maternal health care system is only intensified for minorities and low income women. The people who have been marginalized by society and the government throughout history, continue to be treated without respect to their rights or humanity. Quality maternal care should be accessible by all women without regard to their skin color or income. African-American women should not be four times more likely to die from pregnancy related complications than white women. Women who don’t speak English shouldn’t be denied proper care just because an interpreter isn’t currently available. Our government entrusted with the responsibility to serve the people based on equality and nondiscrimination should not allow such huge disparities in the health care system. The discrimination within the system is an atrocity that can only be reversed by working to improve maternal health care, one step at a time, always keeping the issue of discrimination fresh on our minds.

Maternal Health: Family Planning

Part III

Planned Parenthood is a big fan of family planning. Whoot Whoot! It’s also an organization that supports maternal health, so it only makes sense that when these two issues intersect I would try and make a big deal about it. Here’s the connection as explained by Carolina Reyes, Clinical Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at USC, “Effective family planning services are probably the single largest contributor to reduction in maternal mortality and morbidity in our lifetime.” Basically, limited access to family planning is a huge reason why the United States has such high maternal mortality rates and poor overall maternal health care.

Half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended- a huge number of accidents. Women who have unplanned pregnancies are much more likely to suffer complications and generally receive less prenatal care than women with intentional pregnancies because they start it much later into their pregnancy. A couple hundred of the women who die from maternal health complications every year are women who should not have gotten pregnant in the first place because of their existing medical conditions. From the very beginning, these women have a high risk pregnancy, putting themselves and their babies in danger.

Minorities and women with low incomes have a high risk of dying from maternal complications and not receiving proper maternal health care. These groups also have the highest rates of unplanned pregnancies. African Americans who are almost four times more likely to die from pregnancy related complications are also three times more likely to have unplanned pregnancies than white women. Women with low incomes are four times more likely to have unplanned pregnancies than women with high incomes. This is at least partially related to these groups’ ability to access family planning services.

Currently, 17.5 million women who need reproductive services because they are sexually active and able to conceive but do not want to become pregnant rely must rely on public health services. Too often, however, publicly funded services are unable to provide the needed care, services and supplies because of budgetary or legal restrictions. Programs like Medicaid are regulated by the government and restricted from covering abortions and have the ability to limit certain woman’s access to reproductive services and contraception. In other cases, clinics or programs just don’t have the funded to provide contraceptives or care to everyone who needs it. The barriers women face in receiving reproductive care and family planning services leaves up to 8 million women in our country without affordable family planning services.

The methods to achieve this are practices Planned Parenthood has been implementing for years including improving sexual education about reproductive health and contraceptives, increasing access to contraceptive and abortion services and increasing funding for title X clinics. All of these will contribute to promoting safe sex and pregnancy prevention, especially among the most at risk groups. Reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies is a key part in reducing the maternal mortality rates in the United States. Just another reason to support Planned Parenthood and the great things it’s trying to accomplish.

Maternal Health: Why Is the System Failing?

Part II

The crisis of the maternal care system is rooted in problems embedded within the core of society. Women are lacking good maternal care, not because we lack the medical technology or the ability to provide it, but because no one has drive to fix the problems with the system. Not enough people care. So why is it that so many women die every year in our country and around the globe from maternal health problems? How can a woman in a hospital struggling to breathe after giving birth be ignored for hours until the internal bleeding was too bad to stop? There are a number of reasons the system fails women, including lack of coverage, lack of prenatal and postpartum care, quality of care, limited staffing, restrictive patient involvement, family planning, discrimination and a lack of accountability. Together these problems create a maternal health care system that is in a state of crisis, unable to provide proper care to some of the people in society who need it the most.

Pregnancy is extremely expensive. Even leaving out all of the baby products, medical necessities like prenatal care and delivery can cost thousands and thousands of dollars. About half of all births in the United States are covered by private insurance. But what about the other half? What happens to pregnant women who do not have private insurance? In the past year, 13 million women of reproductive age (15-44) had no health insurance. That’s one in five. Some of those women could be eligible for public assistance like Medicaid, but many are excluded because they are immigrants or earn too much money to be eligible but not enough to afford their own private insurance. Although the system has set up financial assistance programs to try and help the uninsured, the bureaucracy of the system and limited information given to women keeps these programs a dirty little secret that women in need do not know about. So what is a pregnant woman with no insurance supposed to do? She can’t get private insurance because insurance companies classify pregnancy as a “preexisting condition.” As one insurance company representative said, “We don’t insure a house on fire.” One of the only options is to go to low cost clinics like Federally Qualified Health Centers, but these facilities have their own problems. Because they are often underfunded, crowded, slow it is difficult to recieve necessary care. Although they are better than receiving no prenatal or maternal care at all, these facilities cannot provide the proper care to everyone. In fact, low cost clinics are not accessible in most communities that actually need their services, so many women go without any maternal care every year. Lack of coverage is a major factor in the failings of the maternal health care systems. The recent health care reform does address a part of this issue by banning insurance companies from denying women coverage based on preexisting conditions like pregnancies and past c-sections and making young adults insured on their parents’ health care plan until the age of twenty-six. Hopefully both of these measures will help more women be covered by insurance during their pregnancy giving them access to better care and services.

Prenatal care is an essential part of maternal health. Not only is it important for the baby, but proper care during pregnancy is crucial for the mother’s health as well. When women do not receive adequate prenatal care, they are 3-4 times more likely to die of a pregnancy related complication than those who do receive proper prenatal care. Yet only 75% of women receive the recommended amount of care, 13 prenatal visits from the first trimester on. 1 in 4 of all pregnant women are not receiving the prenatal care they need to have a safer and healthier pregnancy. This trend needs to change drastically to try and reduce maternal mortality and other pregnancy complications. A big part of the reason women do not receive prenatal care, however, is because they do not have health insurance that covers these medical visits. Beginning to see the links?

Maternal health is not restricted to care during pregnancy and labor. One of the most important pieces of maternal health care is postpartum care. More than half of all maternal deaths occur during the postpartum period in the 48 days after birth. The standard for postpartum care in the United States is a single visit to a doctor about six weeks after birth, an inadequate amount of care that allows for many complications from pregnancies to be missed. Women are often sent home without proper education about the signs of hemorrhaging and pulmonary embolisms, the main causes of maternal mortality. These are complications that can develop weeks after giving birth and are life threatening if not caught and treated. The lack of adequate postpartum care in the United States is a major contributor to the high maternal mortality rate, but it is in no way impossible to fix. It just requires the will power to want to improve the system and establish new standards to provide better postpartum care

Even if women are able to access maternal care, there are often many factors that lead to poor quality care. In many hospitals and clinics, especially public institutions serving low-income areas, there is a problem with understaffing. There are not enough nurses, physicians or OBGYNs to provide quality care to every patient or to see patients when they display complications. Numerous studies, personal accounts from health care professionals and the United States government all report that inadequate staffing, especially among the nurses, directly correlates with poor quality care, maternal morality, and medical errors. Without the proper staff, it is impossible for health care providers to give the proper care and medical attention to their patients because they are stretched much too thin. For publicly funded institutions this is usually a matter of lacking the money to pay for more staff, but understaffing is also a problem at private institutions that cut back on staffing to save money for profit. Dealing with economic restrictions makes the issue of understaffing extremely complicated, but it is a necessary and crucial issue to try and fix while addressing maternal health.

And the problems go on and on… A system with so many flaws has to be in a crisis! The maternal health system has for years limited the ability of women to make their own informed choices about their maternal health, especially in terms of giving vaginal birth or cesarean birth (c-sections). One third of all births in the United States are done via c-section, even though this is a risky procedure that the World Health Organization recommends only be used in 1 in 6 births. Instead of being a standard, c-sections are supposed to be used when a vaginal birth is dangerous for the mother. Overall, the risk of dying after a c-section is more than three times higher than a vaginal birth. Even though a c-section is a potentially dangerous procedure, care givers often recommend it, or in some cases don’t give the women a choice. In today’s maternal health care system there is a lack of patient education about their options, the risks and signs of complications. Women need to be able to make decisions for themselves about their own health care. The term pro-choice applies perfectly to this problem. The central idea to the pro-choice movement is that a women should have control over her own body, which can be applied outside the context of abortion to include maternal health rights. Only by fully informing women about their choices and allowing them to make their own decisions, does the maternal health system really give women a choice about their own bodies.

Maternal health care is going to be a difficult problem to tackle because of a lack of evidence and a failure to report maternal mortality. Many maternal deaths are not reported as pregnancy related, and most States lack proper systems or procedures for reporting maternal death. Without standard procedure there is difficulty in collecting data about maternal mortality. The CDC has even reported that the number of maternal deaths may actually be double the current estimates. Without a unified system to collect and analysis data about maternal health for governments, it is difficult to address and face the issue. Solidarity among the states is necessary to make progress in improving maternal health because without standard procedure, a system cannot be effective.

The problems with the maternal health system are extensive, complicated, and intertwining, and these are not the only ones. Family planning gaps and discrimination are two other major barriers preventing adequate care and will be addressed in the next posts. Although the problems with the system may seem impossible o solve, there is a manner in which we can succeed in working towards solutions. One of the first steps in that, however, is making sure we know what to fix.

Maternal Health: Just the Stats

First in a series

Our country has just passed health reform (woohoo!). It was a long struggle that had to overcome a vicious partisan divide and public discontent. Now three weeks later, after people have taken the time to pat themselves on the back, it’s time to start thinking about what else we need to accomplish. All the problems with our health care system have not been solved by this reform. Some of the most serious ailments of the system continue to be under reported and rarely discussed within the political spectrum. Maternal mortality is at a stage of crisis in the United States. It’s an issue that has not been given much attention in the past and lacks extensive data and research. In early March, however, new attention was brought to the issue when Amnesty International USA published a report on maternal health, DEADLY DELIVERY: THE MATERNAL HEALTH CARE CRISIS IN THE USA as part of its ‘Maternal Health is a Human Right’ campaign. This in-depth report examines the state of maternal health in the United States and offers ways to improve the system. This is the first in a series on maternal health based off information from this report and other sources.

The title of the report labels the maternal health in the United States as a crisis. You might think that the language is a bit of a hyperbole, that we aren’t really in a crisis. Well, I urge you to take a look at the data and then reconsider. Before I begin to type out a series of horrific and startling numbers, I should probably clarify what maternal health and maternal morality are. Maternal health is comprehensive care including family planning, preconception, prenatal, and postnatal care. Maternal mortality occurs when a woman dies during or shortly after her pregnancy.

In the United States, two women die everyday from maternal mortality, the 41^st worst ranking in the world. Our maternal mortality rate is higher than any highly developed nation, but we spend the most on health care. Like people have been saying about the health care system for years… something doesn’t seem to fit. The disparity between the U.S.’s maternal mortality rate and the countries ahead of us is no small amount. Ireland has the smallest rate in the world at 1 in 47,600. America’s is 1 in 4,800. That’s almost 10X the difference. How can it be that a comparably developed country takes so much better care of its pregnant women?

The maternal health care crisis goes beyond maternal mortality and encompasses the numerous other health problems associated with pregnancy. Every year 34,000 women experience “near misses,” instances where a woman almost dies from a maternal health issue. Even though these women do survive, it is unacceptable that every single day 94 women face a serious risk of death, when we have the technology and resources to prevent many of these complications and problems. I wish I could say that that’s the extent of the problem, but the numbers continue to roll. 1.7 million women in this country, almost a third of the pregnant women in a given year, suffer from complications and adverse health effects from their pregnancy. In the past twenty years, these rates have not improved, clearly revealing the political and social apathy toward maternal health. Because the system is not working to protect them, Women in this country are becoming ill, dealing with life threatening health problems, and even dying.

Maternal mortality can effect any woman, but hidden in the general data are the racial and class disparities that make maternal health an issue of discrimination. The rates of maternal mortality are extremely disproportionate among minorities. Black women are four times more likely to die from pregnancy related illnesses than white women, and the lack of prenatal care that many women of color receive puts them at a much higher risk of developing a maternal health problem. Native American and Alaska Native women are 3.6 times more likely than white women to receive late or no prenatal care, and Latina women are 2.5 times more likely. Not receiving proper care throughout the pregnancy is dangerous to both mother and child and is often associated with maternal morality..)

Although they can be shocking, right now, these statistics are numbers that stand without a firm context. To have a comprehensive understanding of the issue, it is necessary to know what causes maternal mortality and why women are not receiving the proper care they need. These topics will be explored in the second part of the series to be posted later. Check back soon!

The Big Fuss About Sexting

§N Modern technology is changing the way people, especially teens interact socially. Youth, many of them perpetually clinging to their cell phones, checking facebook, instant messaging and occasionally still using email, are in constant communication with their peers. I hardly go anywhere with out my cell phone. What if someone calls or texts me? Although it may bother parents at the dinner table, cause a disruption during school, and be another step towards the ultimate destruction of face to face personal communication, only recently has texting posed an imminent threat for these teenagers. More specifically sexting. I’m sure by now everyone has heard of sexting, sending sexually explicit messages and photos via cell phone; it’s been splayed across the newspapers and internet enough.

The national media attention that sexting has received the past two years has sparked campaigns to try and prevent teen sexting, but like campaigns aimed to stop underage drinking or drug use, it will never eliminate the practice. Now, not everybody does it, current surveys report that 20% of U.S. teenagers have sent nude or semi-nude photos of themselves electronically, but, sexting has become a natural part of youth communication. For teens sexting can be flirting, fun, a from of seduction, general communication with someone you like or are attracted to, or even a joke. The physical distance created by mobile communication makes it easier for teens to be outgoing and provocative than in person.

Teens are not unaware of the potential harmful consequence of sexting. 75% of teens have said that sexually suggestive content “can have serious negative consequences.” Beyond the legal issues that have been excruciatingly highlighted the past year, there are social consequences including bullying and sexual harassment that can occur when explicit photos are shared. Yet even though they are aware of the consequences, teens continue to sext. It has become a part of their sexual expression and as a part of the culture, it is not going away anytime soon.

Explicit or suggestive photos of minors used for sexting do not always remain private, and when they have been made public there have been serious legal consequences. Teenagers across the country have faced charges of possessing, disturbing and producing child pornography, among others, including three teenage girls in Greensburg in January 2009. Prosecuted for taking photos of themselves or possessing photos their peers have sent them, teenagers face felony chargers and life time sex offender status in sexting cases.

Child pornography laws are designed to protect minors, the victims of exploitation. Teenage boys and girls taking and possessing pictures of themselves and then willing sending them to their peers are not exploiting or taking advantage or children or minors. Using laws that are designed to protect youth to prosecute them seems out of touch with the goals of child pornography laws. The media attention on the issue has caused a backlash against district attorneys who prosecute teenagers for sexting cases. Currently, U.S. legislators are working on legislation to make sexting a second degree misdemeanor for minors instead of a felony.

As our society continues to address this issue and adapt to the new ways teens are using technology to express themselves, it is important to remember that in most of these instances no one is being malicious. Teenagers make mistakes, but if no one is harmed why destroy their future? As a teenager, I also think it’s extremely important to keep youth engaged in the discussion about sexting. Without their perspective and side of the story, people are making decisions about an issue and topic they do not really understand. This is dangerous ground and poses a threat to cooperative efforts to try and reduce teen sexting.

Roller Derby: Strong Women, Strong Roles

Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania has recently become a proud sponsor of Pittsburgh’s only all-female flat-track roller derby league, the Steel City Derby Demons. The focus on strong, independent women makes an affiliation between these two great organizations a perfect fit.



If you aren’t familiar with the Steel City Derby Demons, let us tell you what all the fuss is about. They are currently ranked by WFTDA (The Women’s Flat-Track Derby Association) as sixteenth out of over 100 leagues nationwide. The SCDD consists of three teams. The Steel Hurtin’ is the A-team or varsity-level team. They play other top teams from around the nation such as Detroit, Philadelphia, Maine, and Houston. The other two teams, the B-Unit and the Blitzburgh Bombers, are the B-level teams. They play similarly matched junior-varsity leveled teams; most recently Toledo, West Palm Beach, and Rideau Valley from Ottowa, Canada.

The Steel City Derby Demons is a skater-owned and operated organization that was founded in 2006 by a group of hard-working women who wanted to get fit, make friends, and have fun. In addition to training to be top athletes in their sport, they also run every aspect behind the scenes. From building the website, to P.R. and marketing right down to renting the bouting venue and paying the bills, the roller girls do it all.

Today’s roller derby has eschewed the professional wrestling style of showmanship of the past to be reborn into a full-fledged highly competitive fast-paced sport. Nothing is faked here; although some of the flair from your mother’s roller derby has remained, such as the derby nicknames (‘Snot Rocket Science and Busty Brawler, to name a few) and the occasional pair of fishnet tights. Training for derby can be extremely grueling, and derby girls do it strictly for the love of the sport and that fleeting bit of glory to be snatched at the end of a victorious game. Roller derby is not a professional sport and no one gets paid.

Roller derby is played on a circuit track between two teams of roughly 12-14 players each. Four “blockers” from each team form the “pack.” It is their job to assist their “jammer” (or, point scorer) to pass as many of the opposing team’s blockers as they can in order to score points. At the same time, the blockers must also try and hinder the opposing team’s jammer from scoring points by blocking and checking her off of the track. Roller derby is unique in this way that offense and defense are played concurrently. This makes the game incredibly fast, with outcomes that can change on a dime.

Roller derby girls have often been portrayed as “counter culture” or “punk rock” in the media, but to try and categorize these women into such narrow stereotypes would be misleading. Members of the Steel City Derby Demons cover the whole spectrum when it comes to daytime jobs; examples of which are optometrist, lawyer, junior high school math teacher, nurse, graphic designer, and mother. However, the women of the SCDD and roller derby in general do share many qualities. They are strong, athletic, outgoing, energetic, and lots of fun, but they are definitely not all cookie-cutter copies. The SCDD celebrates diversity and the opportunity for women to lead extraordinary lives and hopes others can embrace those concepts too.


For more information about the Steel City Derby Demons, or to buy tickets, visit www.SteelCityDerbyDemons.com. Bouts are held every third Saturday of the month at Romp n’ Roll skating rink in Shaler off of route 8. Catch the next home bout on Saturday, April 17th, when the Steel Hurtin’ will play The Dutchland Rollers (Lancaster, PA) and Blitzburgh Bombers face off against the Dutch Blitz. Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania will have a table at this event.

Post by Planned Parenthood Volunteer and Steel City Derby Demon Heather Wood

Women's History Profile: Hatshepsut

Our own country has yet to elect a female president, but over three thousand years ago the Egyptian empire, one of the most powerful forces at the time, was ruled by a woman. Over the centuries, there were a number of female pharaohs, but Hatshepsut had the most successful rule of them all. Daughter of Thutmose I and married to Thutmose II, Hatshepsut became regent after her husband died. Thutmose’s son of another wife, Thutmose III, was supposed to take over as pharaoh when he grew older, but Hatshepsut declared herself pharaoh in 1473 BC. With the support of the important religious and political leaders and the people, she acted as pharaoh until 1458 BC.

Determined, brave and smart, Hatshepsut was a remarkable woman of the time. In order to maintain her standing the respect she received, Hatshepsut dressed as a male pharaoh, was called his majesty and wanted to be treated like a male. More than rejecting her sex and feminism, Hatshepsut was striving for equality and dignity which she achieved by being an extremely prosperous leader.

During her reign Hatshepsut maintained an era of peace and prosperity. By opening new trade routes, she increased the wealth in the region tremendously and caused innovations in architecture. The few military engagements that did occur during her rule were successful and lauded by the Egyptian people.

Under a cloud of mystery, the thrown eventually did pass to Thutmose III. The nature of the transfer is unknown as Hatshepsut disappeared from records in 1458. It may have been a hostile take over, or Hatshepsut may have died. After Thutmose III became ruler he literally wiped away Hatshepsut from the records, having her name, image and accomplishments chiseled off of walls, tablets and other records. Hatshepsut was literally written out of history but luckily enough information about her was preserved that people today know who she is.

This female pharaoh proved herself as a courageous, strong and good leader who was loved by her people. She survived being wiped out from history and deserves recognition today. Knowing this history may hopefully also influence the future. In the past our world has been lead by a number of powerful and great leaders including Hatshepsut who have proven their ability. If these women could have led empires thousands of years ago, the idea of a women leading our country as President should not be a radical idea.

Women's History Profile: Barbara Smith

In the world of discrimination, Barbara Smith has it all going against her. As a black lesbian she has been a victim of sexism, racism and homophobia, yet she doesn’t wither under this discrimination. Instead, she thrives as an activist and writer, especially in the context of black feminism.

Born in 1946, Smith grew up in segregated Cleveland and quickly realized how unfair the world really was. The Feminist movement in the 1960s drew her in, giving her a feeling of empowerment and a voice, but even in the women’s movement, Smith encountered racism that made her and other women of color feel unwelcomed. In response, Smith and others began to work with black feminism, a branch movement that recognized the connection between sexism, racism, classism and homophobia and was committed to work against all of them. Black feminism called for the liberation of black women and recognized their inherent value.

Smith had two very distinct projects that mark her activism in the black feminist movement. In 1977, she established the Combahee River Collective in Boston which became on of the most active and progressive organizations for black feminism. The Combahee River Collective Statement written by the group is an extremely important document for black feminism and defined identity politics. The statement proposed solutions to the many forms of discrimination people were encountering.

She also founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press as a publishing company for women of color who were usually ignored by mainstream publishers. Kitchen Table published political and literary works and was the first publishing company to ever be run by black women.

As a natural activist, Smith has not stopped working hard to end oppression and discrimination. She is currently continuing her activism in politics, working as a member of Albany’s City Council. Instead of choosing to accept her place in society, Smith fought for what she knew was right and fair.

BONUS: Barbara Smith attended the University of Pittsburgh for Graduate School started in 1971!!!

Women's History Profile: Betty Friedan

The modern feminist movement in the past fifty years has had its own goals. After achieving suffrage in 1920, women had succeeded in a major way for the cause, but forty years later society still maintained prominent gender roles and treated men and women differently in the work field. Betty Friedan (February 4, 1921 - February 4, 2006) was an American writer and activist whose work inspired the goals and ideals of modern feminism.

The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan’s most famous and recognized book, was published in 1963 and explained Friedan’s findings that women, especially middle-class suburban house wives, were undergoing an identity crisis, losing themselves in the gender roles society expected them to fulfill and the overwhelming poweress of their family. By conforming to the female ideal and limiting the development of their intelligence and employment, women were stifled and imprisoned. The message of the book, and Friedan’s claim that women were just as capable as men in any career spoke to women and got them yearning for change. The strong response The Feminine Mystique received helped create a transformation in the attitude women had toward their rights.

After her book became a bestseller and women around the country pined for change, Betty Friedan co-founded the National Organization for Women, NOW, in 1966 and served as the first president of the organization. Under her leadership NOW fought against sexual discrimination in the work force and openly supported the legalization of abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment. She stepped down in 1969 and began working on the Women’s Strike for Equality. This march, based out of New York City attracted tens of thousands of women. Pittsburgh became a part of the strike when four women participated threw eggs at a Pittsburgh radio station building. A DJ at the radio stationed had publicly dared women protestors to flaunt their liberation.

Once the strike ended, Friedan needed another project to work on and in the next five years founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, and the First Women’s Bank and Trust Company. After achieving success on the abortion front with Roe v. Wade, Friedan focused the rest of her life on creating economic equality, giving women opportunities to succeed in the work force and receive the same compensation of men.

Betty Friedan was largely inspired by her mother, a strong women in her own standing, who worked as a writer in addition to acting as mother to support her family. The satisfaction her mother received from having a life and job outside of her own family, Betty’s mother was an example of why an independent identity is crucial to the well being of women. Betty used this idea in her writing and advocacy, and consequently inspired a whole new generation of feminists to fight for their rights. By writing about what she saw, Friedan gave a voice to a group of women that had been quieted by severe inequalities in society. When others began to use their voices, it became a loud scream demanding women’s rights and equality.

Women's History Profile: Margaret Cho

Just as a Disclaimer: this post was written by our crazy awesome blogging intern, Jodi and not by me!

“We have the power as woman to call ourselves beautiful.”

Margaret Cho, comedian, activist, fashion designer, writer and actress is on a mission. She wants to cure everybody of self-deprecation, make them realize just how beautiful they are. After her own self body image problems lead to eating disorders that almost killed her, Margaret Cho began to accept and love herself and her body and wants to spread that feeling to everyone. Recently, the concept of beauty, which she defines as “a feeling of goodness and happiness and that you don't have to change anything,” has become a central theme in her work. This past summer, she starred in the Lifetime sitcom, Drop Dead Diva, that centers on the idea of beauty and its context in society. Her passion in promoting self appreciation stems not only from her own personal experience, but her observations that society does not how to deal with women’s bodies, creating a constant sense of self criticism instead of appreciation and love.

Yet that mission is only the tip of the iceberg for Cho, who at forty-one years old has had a number of tours, records, DVDs, film credits and awards. One of the most successful comedians of the past two decades, Cho’s popularity exploded in the early 90s after becoming a hit on the college comedy circuit although she had been performing since she was 16. She quickly became the most booked comedian, doing over 300 shows in two years. Margaret Cho is a political comedian, recognizing activism as the very nature of herself. Her focus issues have been feminism, race, and GLBTQ rights.

For Margaret Cho, feminism is more than just a movement for equality, it is who she is, and she defines it on her own terms. “Feminism to me is like the oxygen that we breathe, it's so vitally important to life, because women ultimately make life happen, and so feminism is really a respect for living. It's a matter of respect for life and where life comes from and what life is and to respect women's rights and to respect women's wishes and what women want. And to respect the Earth and to really respect the planet and just respect life itself.” She’s an avid pro-choice activist and a huge supporter of Planned Parenthood.

As an Asian-American Cho is a strong advocate for racial equality and acceptance. In her comedy and blog she often comments on current race relations and hot topics of the day. Either with humor or wisdom, Cho can make larger issues and distant problems personal and understandable. She’s also been deputized as a marriage commissioner, and has performed a number of same sex marriages

Through her comedy and writing, Cho takes a stand on what she believes, not worrying about being controversial, raunchy or off color. Instead she’s just trying to be funny, make a solid joke, tell you what she thinks and then move on. By speaking her mind, standing up for women, their beauty and strength, Margaret Cho is a great example of a modern feminist. She makes you laugh, makes you think, and makes you feel beautiful.