IBP, Nicholas Kristof, Valentine's Day, and UT Planned Parenthood Rally

Sunday- Volunteering at Inside Books Project

I saw this van about a year ago at my friend Cullen's apartment. Something made me look this place up, and I had been eager to check it out in person.

Inside Books Project is an all volunteer, non-profit org that sends free books and educational materials to people in prison in the state of Texas. It is the only org in Texas offering this resource. 

Social Work Council needed a service project, and a few people were interested in going with me.

Volunteering at IBP consists of reading letters, finding books to meet prisoners' requests, writing letters back to prisoners, and packaging up books.

Social Work Council in front of the library.

The letters we were filling were all the way from September. This place needs more volunteers! Here is one of my letters.

IBP said they've never filled so many requests on a Sunday! They invited us to come back, and I'm sure we will be.

I want to mention how great this experience made me feel. Reading letters from prisoners... some are brief but some explain why they are in jail or how much of their sentence they've served and have left. Picking out books that will hopefully in someway rehabilitate this person... it just feels good. Let's go back together!

Monday- Nicholas Kristof Lecture

Nicholas Kristof spoke at the LBJ Library and Museum on Monday night. 

It was a little disappointing only because he spoke about stories from his book Half the Sky which I've already read. Additionally, the questions the audience asked were a let down (but who am I to complain since I didn't stand in line to ask one). 

At least I got good seats thanks to my lovely friends Lynde, Gwen, and Barbara!

Taking questions

Tuesday- Condom Distribution/ Meetings with Senate Candidates

Tuesday, Valentine's Day, was the first time I've gotten to do condom distribution with the Healthy Sexuality Peer Educators!

In the UHS Health Hut, with condoms and buttons lining the table.

I didn't stay in the hut the whole time, I also handed them out in the middle of West Mall. Some of the responses I got were interesting. I tried to ask everyone who walked by if they wanted free condoms. I saw a mom, a dad, and a toddler and I still asked them. The mom pointed to her toddler and said, "We don't need condoms." I kind of felt like an asshole, but I was trying not to judge who does and does not need condoms. Later though, she came by the Health Hut and picked up a few condoms. (I think taking condoms out of someone's hands is more intimidating than picking it up off the table). The other response I got was from my friend Ginger. When I asked her she said, "Nope, still a lesbian." (Also felt like an asshole. Can't we hand out dental dams?! [Haha]).

Liz and Megan tabling for VRJ! Check out that sweet new banner!

VRJ also tabled on the West Mall for Valentine's Day, passing out the Planned Parenthood bags we all made together. I didn't get to table with them since I was tabling with HSPEs, but they handed out all of their loot before I got off my HSPE shift anyway! (HSPE and VRJ are in NO WAY affiliated).

On Tuesday I also met with three of the candidates for Senate Exec Board: Kendra Loftice, Hannah Tucker, and Bala Varadhan. All were great conversations, but especially with Bala! Our conversation kind of drifted off topic... we started talking about private and public sector work, how we see our futures, and he also shared some of his stories of traveling to India with me. He ended up sending me 3 presentations from one of his classes about Health and Education. Unfortunately, due to studying, I haven't had a chance to review them, but still appreciated!  Thanks, Bala!

Friday- Austin Housing Authority/Planned Parenthood Rally

Before the rally, I had an interview with Louise Sawaki from the Austin Housing Authority. It started off a little rough when she was uncomfortable with a question I asked. The question was, "what do you think causes low-income single mothers?" Her response was along the lines of, "You want me to tell you why poverty exists in our county? Did you write that question? That question doesn't even make sense. Who is to say that without a mother and a father that the child lives in a broken home? What about anonymous sperm donors or surrogate mothers?" Well, we ended up discussing institutionalized and systemic poverty, but whoa! I think that question needs to be rephrased at least. (I guess I was expecting something like: lack of access to birth control and irresponsible fathers, but I suppose that's a little close minded as well). 

Then I was off to the Planned Parenthood rally!

Dru Tigner is the Planned Parenthood Community Outreach Specialist who miraculously put this thing together.

Megan and I helped with voter registration.

We also passed out these awesome chocolate birth controls. (You can't really see it, but they even have the days under each of the "pills").

This is on the back of the chocolates. 

Megan

Sawyer

Me

 

Dude with awesome sign/some of the crowd

Some pro lifers joined us as well. There were about a dozen of them.

Dyana Limon-Mercado is Planned Parenthood's Statewide Public Affairs Coordinator. She is who I am volunteering under!

Dru asked me to do two interviews for the rally. 

(Photo Courtesy of UT University Democrats)

The first one was awful. I was so nervous my legs were shaking under me and that's all I could think about. The second one was way better, but I can't find it! Here is my five seconds of fame. KVUE News Clip and Article About UT PP Rally

This is a more comprehensive review of the rally that I suggest over the KVUE clip: Texas Tribune Video about UT PP Rally. It includes some of the rally speeches, but also protester opinions. Can I make clear that birth control prevents the fertilized egg from implanting? They are not abortifacients (and neither is Plan B). Also, NO ONE WANTS TO HAVE AN ABORTION!!! People do not have sex to have an abortion. Birth control helps prevent that need. And you are able to become pregnant after you stop using contraceptives.

Oh yeah, one last thing.

#IUseBirthControl

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Valentine's Day with Planned Parenthood, VRJ Update, First Op-Ed Attempt, and Upcoming Events

Planned Parenthood Valentine's Day Prep Night


On Tuesday night, I went to the Planned Parenthood Office to help make FIFTEEN HUNDRED Valentine's Day bags.

We needed a lot of condoms.

We got into an assembly line and started packing! I helped with ribbon duty.

Here is part of the finished product. All of the bags have six condoms and some candy.

Liz and me after stuffing Vday bags for 4 hours.

I met the President of the Texas State Vox group, Feminists United, at this event, too! We really look forward to collaborating with her because.... UT'S VOICES FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE JUST GOT APPROVED AS A REGISTERED STUDENT ORGANIZATION!

Coming back to help finish the Valentine's Day Bags/ Opportunity to work with Dyana


While we finished stuffing all of the bags Tuesday, we did not finish tying all of them. I went back to volunteer on Thursday.

This + a gigantic trash bag needed to be completed.

But we finished in about 2.5 hours! 

The PP Volunteer Coordinator, Dru, introduced me to Dyana Limon-Mercado while I was there. Dyana is the Planned Parenthood Statewide Public Affairs Coordinator. Her job is to figure out what new Texas legislation means for the clinics, and also to research legislative districts. She asked me to send her my resume, and I am really looking forward to volunteering under her! As a Social Work major, it would be a great opportunity, and sounds really fun. 

Tabling at Planned Parenthood


I tabled for the first time at the North Austin clinic this week. It wasn't quite what I expected. I think a lot of the patients there thought we were patients. We didn't have Planned Parenthood shirts on, and the table wasn't placed where we could sit behind it (so we sat next to it). Next time, I'll try to get the morning shift so I can help organize how the table is set up, and I need to get my hands on a shirt.

Aren't these Proper Attire condom wrappers the bomb?

First Stab at an Op-Ed


I was required to write an Op-Ed for my Social Justice class. I've never written anything like this, but here is my first try. I wrote about the Texas' new sonogram law.

Texas Further Complicates Abortion With A New Sonogram Law

The new sonogram law that requires women to listen to the fetal heartbeat and a description of the fetus by their doctor is shaming, demeaning, and most importantly, medically unnecessary.

Texas House Bill Number 325 was written to interfere with a woman’s decision to terminate her pregnancy, while lengthening the process. (And it is a process due to the new 2-day waiting period that was enforced starting October 1, 2011.)

Doctors (not ultra sound technicians) must now verbally explain ultrasound images: the dimensions of the fetus, if it has arms, legs, or internal organs, and must describe heartbeats if audible. But don’t worry, the woman can “choose to look away from the images.” Directions were not explicit on if she could plug her ears, too.

An exclusion offered in the bill states that if the fetus has an irreversible medical condition, or in cases of rape or incest, that women can opt out of the fetal images and their descriptions.

When the Center for Reproductive Rights challenged the sonogram law on the basis that it infringed on doctors’ free speech rights, the 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the temporary order against enforcing the law. Chief Judge Edith Jones wrote in her statement, “The point of informed consent laws is to allow the patient to evaluate her condition and render he best decision under difficult circumstances. Denying her up-to-date medical information is more of an abuse to her ability to decide than providing the information.”

Then why the exclusion for certain cases? While I’m glad that victims may opt-out, the exclusion is a contradiction to the reasoning of upholding this law that assumes women don’t understand what being pregnant means, and that there is a good chance it will change her mind. (Although it may be too early to tell, Amy Hagstrom Miller, the owner of five Whole Woman’s Health clinics, has confirmed that the same percentage of women come back after their sonogram since the enforcement of this law.)

Advocates against abortion claim that women believe that their fetus is just a “blob of cells,” and that hearing and seeing the fetus will be so dramatic that she will actually reverse her decision to terminate her pregnancy. 65% of women who have abortions already have at least one child. They know a fetus is not a “blob of cells.”

That opinion is condescending of women’s mental capabilities. As Hagstrom Miller puts it, “We haven’t had a woman say, ‘Oh, my goodness, I didn’t expect to see a fetus,’ and then change her mind. She knows she’s pregnant.”

Imagine if restrictions of this sort were passed for different services. Let’s take getting your driver’s license for example.

Cars are death machines on wheels. In 1998, nearly 42,000 people were killed in traffic crashes, and another 3.2 million were injured, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Now imagine you have to make two trips to the DMV. (Waiting times at abortion clinics are much longer and obviously more traumatic than waiting at the DMV, but many Americans can relate to the dread they feel at even the mention of the DMV.) You wait and you wait and you wait, just to get to the front desk, and the friendly DMV associate tells you, “here’s some information about driving a motor vehicle, now wait 24 hours and come back.”

America would have a fit. But since this law only causes undue burden on pregnant women (not men, the second party involved in unwanted pregnancies), it’s okay.

Let me be clear. Women don’t waltz into abortion clinics. Women don’t come to an abortion clinic before they have heavily considered all of their options. Abortion isn’t fun. Women don’t become pregnant just so they can have an abortion. No one expects or wants to have an abortion.

Women will wait for 24 hours after their sonogram to have an abortion. They will sign extra forms, even listen to belittling details of the fetus they carry. This unnecessary medical information was passed to deter women from pregnancy, but it’s not the right tactic.

Passing legislation that addresses outcomes of an undesirable behavior is not the way to resolve the behavior. The right tactic is trying to reduce unintended pregnancies before they happen. But even if every sexually active woman has access to birth control, and used it consistently and correctly (assuming that’s the route you would take to prevent unintended pregnancies) the need for safe abortion will never be eliminated.

Adding petty restrictions such as medically unnecessary information and waiting periods is a disgrace to women’s intelligence, their will, and their ability to make choices for their family. 

Volunteer at Inside Books Project

Don't forget to come volunteer with Social Work Council tonight at Inside Books Project! Contact me at katywaters@utexas.edu for more info, or if you would like to carpool with us!

Nicholas Kristof Lecture

Nicholas Kristof, one of the authors of Half the Sky, will be speaking tomorrow evening at the LBJ Library.

Cecile Richards Speaking at Planned Parenthood Rally Friday


Just a heads up! Cecile Richards, the President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, will be speaking on the LBJ Lawn at 2pm on Friday. Here is a short blurb about the event:

Birth control opponents in Congress are trying to take health care benefits away from working women and students. Come stand up for women’s health-- show Congress that birth control matters to you!

Virtually all women use birth control.  It’s preventive health care, as well as an economic issue, helping women plan and space their families.

Join us on Friday, February 17th from 2 to 3 pm for a rally in support of making birth control affordable -- All women deserve access to contraception, without a co-pay, and no matter where they work. Birth control is the single most common prescription that young and middle-age women require. Birth control use is nearly universal in the United States with nearly Ninety-nine percent of women using birth control at some point in their lives.

Stand up for women’s health! Join St. Edward’s Student Activist Shelby Alexander and special guest, Planned Parenthood Federation of America CEO Cecile Richards at 2pm on the LBJ Lawn to let our elected officials know that birth control matters to us!

Here is a link to the event on Facebook. 


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