reproductive justice Archives - Page 4 of 7

7 Jan, 2016

When Women & Girls of Color Share Our IUD Stories

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:49:05-04:00January 7th, 2016|Categories: Equity & Justice|Tags: reproductive justice|0 Comments

So, I got an intrauterine device, or IUD, and I had it inserted at Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC).

Given everything that happened in 2015 regarding the continuous attacks on women’s reproductive health and rights, (also also being a member of PPNYC’s Activist Council), it meant a lot to me to have my IUD inserted at Planned Parenthood. Several hours after I left the health center, I briefly announced it on Twitter, Instagram, and my personal Facebook profile what I had done.

What happened next included reading and interacting with friends and family members on their own experience with getting the IUD, some common myths and misconceptions (that even I held for a long time) about the device, ways to deal with the anxiety and the cramps (the heating pad is your new best friend), and resource sharing.

Contrary to popular belief, many women and girls don’t often make reproductive healthcare decision in a vacuum. We consider our options and how they can potentially fit into our lives. We consult with our friends, families, classmates, colleagues, doctors, and even our spouses and partners. In the end, we try to equip ourselves with the knowledge and resources necessary to make an informed decision.

Sharing your story is powerful, and nothing’s more powerful than sharing a personal story about birth control. Here is what led me to choose the IUD.

(…and if you’re into long stories, you’re in for a treat!)

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1 Jul, 2015

Try This: How Does Health Care Look Through the Reproductive Health, Rights, & Justice Frameworks?

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:47:08-04:00July 1st, 2015|Categories: Equity & Justice|Tags: reproductive justice, Try This|0 Comments

In March, I began consulting with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health around engaging community stakeholders on health equity and reproductive justice. I was initially intrigued because this was the first time I’ve heard of a city health department being interested in incorporating the reproductive justice framework into their work. Last week, the DOHMH held a community gathering of 65 local organizations on how to engage the community in this work, and I assisted in introducing the reproductive justice framework to those in the room who were not familiar with it. It was a great opportunity to assist the DOHMH in utilizing the reproductive justice framework in their work as they connect with local providers, community groups and activists, and I look forward to working with the DOHMH as they become more engaged with the New York City community.

During my presentation, I broke down the differences between the reproductive health, rights, and justice frameworks into two using Forward Together’s groundbreaking report A New Vision for Advancing Our Movement for Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, and Reproductive Justice (2005):

Reproductive Health: A service delivery model that focuses on addressing the reproductive health needs of women. The people affected are patients in need of services and/or education, and the key players are people who work as, or are allied with, medical professionals, community and public health educators, health researchers, and health service providers.

Reproductive Rights: A legal/advocacy based model that focuses on the protection of an individual’s right to access to reproductive health services. The people affected are individuals who are encouraged to actively participate in the political process, and the key players are people who work as, or are allied with, advocates, legal experts, policymakers, and elected officials.

Reproductive Justice: A community organizing model that focuses on intersectionality as a way to organize communities to change structural inequalities. The people affected are community members who are organized to lead against reproductive oppression and other injustices, and the key players are people who work as, or are allied with reproductive rights, reproductive health, and social justice and other justice organizations.

To go further, I used a health topic to demonstrate how it could look under each of these frameworks. Let’s take a look at an example on minors consenting to HIV treatment in New York State:

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4 Mar, 2015

Why Social Workers Make the Best Reproductive Justice Activists

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:42:44-04:00March 4th, 2015|Categories: Public Health & Social Work|Tags: reproductive justice, Social Work|0 Comments

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March is one of my favorite months of the year. There’s a lot happening during March for us to raise our voices about, including Women’s History Month, National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers (3/10th), National Women and Girls HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (3/10th), and National Native HIV Awareness Day (3/21st) (among others).

My favorite thing about March is that it’s all about the social worker. March is National Social Work Month, and this year’s theme is “Social Work Paves the Way for Change”. From individual counseling to managing an evaluation project or grant process, social workers make a difference in the lives of individuals, families, schools, organizations and communities.

What’s so great about this year’s Social Work Month is that I’ve been invited to be a co-presenter for a 3-part webinar series focusing on two of favorite topics: social work and reproductive justice. This series, sponsored by Social Workers for Reproductive Justice with support of The Abortion Conversation Project , will focus on not only how social workers are change agents in the lives of many, but how social workers are often in the forefront of many social justice movements. While this series is meant to be educational and empowering for any professional social worker or student social worker (as well as anyone interested in going into the field), this series will also touch on how the personal views of social workers can often get in the way of our clients’ right to self determination, and what we can do to make sure we remain unbiased in our interaction with our clients and the resources we provide.

Social work was a natural progression for me before I could see how it would relate to my ongoing work as a college student activist, and I am grateful that I’ve been able to combine reproductive justice with social work, in addition to the program evaluation work that I do.

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25 Aug, 2014

Sound Off: One in Three U.S. Teens Are Unaware That HIV is a Sexually Transmitted Infection, Survey Reports

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:37:49-04:00August 25th, 2014|Categories: Equity & Justice|Tags: reproductive justice, Youth|0 Comments

(Image courtesy)

A recent report released by the MAC AIDS Fund, reports that U.S. teens can benefit from more education on HIV. The survey, conducted by Kelton Research between May 22-June 5, 2014, surveyed 1,039 American teens ages 12-17 on their views on HIV stigma, transmission, and prevention.

Some of the highlights from the report include:

* 9 out of 10 (88%) believe they are not at risk for contracting HIV. Also, one-third (33%) were not aware that HIV is a sexually transmitted infection.

* 50% of respondents are afraid of contracting HIV and would be nervous if they were to get an HIV positive diagnosis (93%), around the same percentage as if they were to get a positive pregnancy test (94%) or have to engage in first-time sexual activity (91%)

*While the belief that their risk of contracting HIV is low, the respondents were far more likely to believe they are at greater risk for developing cancer (38%), diabetes (33%), heart disease (28%) or obesity (22%) during their lifetime.

*While most believed that using a condom (71%), abstaining from sex (58%), or getting testing for HIV regularly can prevent the spread of HIV (55%), most did not know that HIV prevention also includes reducing the amount of sexual partners (47%), not using alcohol or drugs (33%) or talking with others about prevent HIV prevention (29%).

*While teens feel they can benefit from more education on HIV and AIDS and are open to having more discussions on prevention and transmission (59%), 45% admit that having these conversations makes them uncomfortable.

*Teens would feel ashamed (53%), scared (69%), and feel that others would be afraid of them (50%) if they were to be diagnosed with HIV. Also, if they were to meet someone with HIV, 24% wouldn’t want to share food or drink with that person, touch them (31%), or treat them as a normal person (51%).

Nicole’s take: Other than age, we don’t know much else about the survey respondents. Where’s the rest of the information? Can we at least get a breakdown of the data based on age range? I understand that not all quantitative data collection is solid, but I feel that we’re missing some valuable information by not including other factors. It would have also been great to see how the beliefs of the respondents break down based on geographic region, gender, race and ethnicity, urban versus suburban or rural location, grade level, or age of onset of sexual activity. That would have also been interesting to know if the students who reported receiving sex education from schools (56%) or from family members (38%) were receiving abstinence-only education or comprehensive sex education. (more…)

11 Aug, 2014

Sound Off: Researchers Recommend Sex Ed Classes Starts as Early as Age 10

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T18:35:51-04:00August 11th, 2014|Categories: Equity & Justice|Tags: reproductive justice, Youth|0 Comments

(Image Credit: Shuttershock)

Each week, I bring you a current news article, along with my commentary, to raise your voice about. Share your thoughts on topic in the comments section below. Agreeing to disagree is always great, but please be sure to keep it respectful. Nicole Clark Consulting reserves the right to remove disrespectful, off-topic, and threatening comments.

A new study reported by Georgetown University Institute for Reproductive Health recommends that children should start receiving comprehensive sex education as early as age 10.

The study, called “Investing in Very Young Adolescents’ Sexual and Reproductive Health”, gives this recommendation from a global health perspective, highlighting the need for a more global view of harm reduction and prevention that not only benefits health professionals and researchers conducting research that will lead to better health guidelines, but can encourage more effective policies and more community involvement.

Think Progress reports that one of the fears in mandating a national standard for sex education as been in large part due to the support around “abstinence-only until marriage” programs. Coupled with the belief that teaching young people about sex and sexuality outside of the confides of marriage is wrong, there is the fear that teaching children about sex will encourage them to become sexually active sooner.

In discussion about this latest research and the fears mentioned above, Victoria Jennings, director of Georgetown’s Institute for Reproductive Health told the Chicago Tribune: “[Teaching children about sex] has to be done in the context of helping them develop healthy self-esteem and the ability to negotiate their way in the world and develop expectations for themselves and their lives that will cause them to make decisions that will lead to positive outcomes.”

Nicole’s take: Have you heard of the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act? This bill, co-authored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and the late Senator Frank Launtenberg (D-NJ), was re-introduced in the 2013 congressional legislature. This bill, if passed, will set the vision for comprehensive sex education in the United States. Originally named the “Responsible Education About Life Act”, this bill has been introduced to Congress since 2001. While it receives support from other Congress leaders, families, and organizations that support comprehensive sex education, it never gets enough votes to pass both the House of Representatives or the Senate.

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