Exposing Extremism with Video

A new breed of citizen journalists and prochoice activists is using videography to expose the harassment of women seeking healthcare by anti-abortion protesters. That Abortion Care Network opened a dedicated channel on YouTube, featuring videos from clinics and groups such as "Enough! Basta! Stop Sidewalk Bullying At Women's Clinics." Turning the camera on the protesters does a great job of showing the public the obnoxious level of harassment that women face.

Videos from three parts of the country are posted on the The YouTube channel -- from Texas, North Carolina and Ohio. The one from North Carolina shows Flip Benham of Operation Save America, climbing a ladder so that he can yell at women over a 15-20 foot wooden security fence that protects the clinic. (Benham used to head Operation Rescue before disputes arose over the use of the name.) Another clip (pictured) shows a man in Ohio carrying a flagrantly untruthful poster that says "Abortion Causes Cancer," spewing about "feminazis," and later making comments of an anti-Semitic nature.

The YouTube site also has an audio tape of a harassing caller to a clinic in Pennsylvania, and a clip of Dr. George Tiller -- murdered in 2009 -- speaking out about how abortion responds to women's needs. Hopefully, more clips will continue to be added.

Anti-abortion activists have long used videos in an attempt to humiliate women, filming them as they seek healthcare services and posting the videos on their own sites. Now, these and other pro-choice clips, along with documentary films, are displaying the types of crazy and outrageous behavior that a woman must encounter to see her doctor, or a doctor must encounter to practice medicine.

In a separate online feed, video reporter Hunter Stuart with the site RH Reality Check has posted on YouTube an excellent video report from Wisconsin, where protesters are harassing women seeking birth control: the facility has no abortion services, only family planning and pregnancy prevention supplies. Women, even those in cars, must dodge protesters who harangue them with "killer" language. On the other end of Stuart's camera, however, the protesters look only fringe-full and frightful. They make it clear that there is no end to their venom: if abortion were outlawed, birth control would be the next target. It's women having control over their lives that they really hate.

Posted by Cindy Cooper
pictured: screen shot shows protester in Ohio, holding deceitful sign

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Art Expresses Feminist Visions of Health

Vibrant art that helps to project the visionary thinking of the women's health movement is on display at a fascinating art exhibit in Chicago.

The show, EveryBody!: Visual resistance in feminist health movements, 1969-2009 runs to October 10, 2009 at the I Space Gallery.

The show combines historical elements of the Women's Health Movement with presentations and performances by artists today. Candice Weber at Art Talk Chicago calls it "an impressive exhibition of visual resistance in the women's health movement that encompasses activist posters, video, performance, and the work of feminist artists both emerging and established."


Literature for the show explains: "Every Body! explores how feelings, theories, and actions are shaped into the creation of a place where all bodies are celebrated and health care is a human right."

The women's health movement was revolutionary in demanding attention to women's needs, including abortion, contraception, childbirth, alternative treatments and women's reproductive cancers. The movement served as a model for HIV-AIDS activism and patient rights movements. It brought about a change in the way that health professionals engage with patients and in the development of new funding sources to research breast and ovarian cancer and other conditions that affect women.

The visual displays show the genius and relevance of art to this movement. Posters from the late 1960s-70s include several from the prolific Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective and others from the Federation of Women’s Health Centers. Peppery literature collected for the exhibit includes Riot Grrl zines, and materials from Docs Populi Poster Archive, Just Seeds and the Duke University Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture. Suzanne Lacy's pivotal "Rape Is..." is on display.

Other work exhibited is by Heather Ault, CureThis!,Christa Donner, Suzann Gage, Terri Kapsalis, Madsen Minax, the Pink Bloque, Favianna Rodriguez, Dewayne Slightweight, Meredith Stern, subRosa, Laura Szumowski, Video Data Bank, Sara Welch, Women on Waves, and Faith Wilding.

Again, Candice Weber:

Suzann Gage's iconic 1981 illustrations for A New View of a Woman's Body serve as a jumping-off point for many of the works on display. Some of the younger participating artists refer to and continue Gage's goal of illuminating the female body and encouraging self-help among women. Heather Ault's Wallpaper Project presents Gage's illustration of a "del em," or menstrual extraction device, as a delicate and unassuming wallpaper design, imagining a world where abortion and health self-management can be taken for granted.

I Space is a venue for the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which worked with the Department of Gender and Women's Studies at the college. Bonnie Fortune curated the show.

The I Space Gallery is located at 230 West Superior Street, Second Floor, Chicago; 312-587-9976. Hours: Tu-Sa, 11 am -5 pm, with special events on certain evenings. In addition to the website, information is on Facebook..

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Pic: Graphic from the Chicago Women's Graphics Collective

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"Team Tiller" T-Shirt: Be Creative, Be the Recipient

Have ideas about the creative use of a vintage "Team Tiller" T-shirt? Then we have an offer for you. We are searching for the perfect recipient for a pristine "Team Tiller" T-shirt.

Words of Choice is offering one "Team Tiller" T-shirt(pictured) to a pro-choice person who can describe a creative or activist or plain-good use. The T-shirt is being donated to us by a longtime collaborator, Suzanne Grossman, with the goal of using it to recognize Dr. Tiller.

As prior stories on this blog indicate (here, here, here), Dr. Tiller was a hero. He was a hero to Words of Choice, and to women across this country, and to the reproductive freedom movement.

The T-shirt is one that was developed by Dr. Tiller, who was murdered in late May 2009. The individual charged with committing the murder is an anti-abortion zealot with zero conscience. When arrested, the zealot also carried the phone number of an Operation Rescue leader on his dashboard, although none of that organization have been arrested yet. Operation Rescue hounded Dr. Tiller with unseemly and outrageous protests. And yet Dr. Tiller provided support and abortion healthcare services to women, and went to court repeatedly to protect his patients' rights.

The T-shirts came about in 2001, according to an article in the New York Times:

"In 2001, after heavy protests, (Dr. Tiller) held a party and gave each employee a dozen roses, a medal engraved with the torch of liberty, a T-shirt depicting Rosie the Riveter and the words, “We can do it Team Tiller,” and an American flag that had flown over the clinic."

Now, in an effort to spur creative remembrances of Dr. Tiller -- by an individual or a group -- this Team Tiller T-shirt is available to someone who is pro-choice. What ideas do you have to honor Dr. Tiller? A display? A work of art? A quilt? A frame in a clinic? Wearing the shirt to counter protests of Operation Rescue? Conducting an education session for college students? Using it during a concert performance? Making it into a pillow? Filming your staff as each touches it and recounts the work of amazing pro-choice doctors? Creating a display in your NAF conference booth? Putting up an office wall-hanging with notes of thanks? Getting a commitment from a museum?

To be the recipient, we ask that you send an email with: (1) Your real name, location and phone number; (2) Your pro-choice credentials; (3) How you would use this shirt to honor Dr. Tiller; and, (4) A statement that you will send us a picture of your usage.

Send your email with the subject line "Team Tiller T-Shirt" to: wordsofchoice@mindspring.com

Look forward to hearing your ideas.

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Pictured above: "Team Tiller" Tee-Shirt

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ProChoice Mobile Roaring in Nebraska

Just about anywhere can be a performance space, and creativity can burst out on any street, in any town, by any clinic.

But it was especially gratifying to see a picture of the ad hoc ProChoice Mobile (see pic) in Bellevue, Nebraska, on August 28-29, as supporters of choice delivered a roaring response to anti-abortion protesters at the clinic of Dr. LeRoy Carhart. Organizers from Kansas NOW, Nebraska NOW, The World Can't Wait, Physicians for Reproductive Choice, The Feminist Majority and others mounted an important campaign to respond to the nasty anti-abortion group Operation Rescue. Operation Rescue had called upon its "followers" to hound Dr. Carhart now that its favorite previous target, Dr. George Tiller, has been murdered. But in the end, the pro-choice presence outnumbered the antis by a count of two to one. And the pro-choice folks unfurled wonderful graphic displays.

Operation Rescue, on the other hand, is known for its hideous trucks with ultra-magnified photos of bloody images, which it claims (and others dispute) are fetal remains. As Rachel Maddow described, the goal of Operation Rescue is pretty singular and menacing -- to harass and intimidate medical providers who offer abortions, and the patients who see them.

That's why the picture of the Pro-Choice Mobile was a special delight. According to the notes of Lina Thorne of The World Can't Wait, the car was decorated spontaneously! Even the wheels were decked out! This is an image that should be emblazoned and imprinted on the minds of every pro-choice activist as a brilliant idea that merits repetition. Not only does the vehicle itself speak to the amassed support for Dr. Carhart -- the gesture is uplifting and joyful, and that also mocks the cynical and ugly propaganda of Operation Rescue.

Thorne's photo album gives other powerful evidence of the supportive pro-choice presence (and even shows one of its intimidation trucks, if you are inclined to want to see one.)

Thankfully, the rallying for Dr. Carhart rose to a new level of creative activism even in advance of the protest. The Physicians for Reproductive Choice posted a YouTube video with board chair Suzanne T. Poppema, MD, denouncing the anti-abortion protests. Individuals could sign on to a Facebook page, thanking Dr. Carhart. Debra Sweet of The World Can't Wait posted a video from Nebraska, reporting on pro-choice activities and sharing its enthusiasm.

Dr. Carhart deserves our thanks for all that he does -- not only performing abortions, but going to court again and again to support women's rights. And the people who signed up, sent money, showed up ... and made all of those brilliant signs -- also deserve thanks for stepping up and showing the vigor of pro-choice activism. So thanks!

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Pictured above: ProChoice Mobile, photo by Lina Thorne