The energy at the roundtable was fantastic. We learned from campus activists about their experiences talking to students about how being pro-choice means supporting women in all the decisions they make, including accessing contraception and abortion as well as having a healthy pregnancy.
Much like the conversation in Helena, we heard a lot about the need to give people space to process their views on choice and speak to their hearts.
We know that Millennials have grown up during a time when abortion has been legal. That means that the pre-Roe v. Wade stories about the dangers of illegal abortion may not connect with younger people because it's not their experience. One activist told us about how he speaks to friends who are anti-choice about what it would be like for women if abortion weren't legal. He said they had to think about the risks illegal abortion would pose to women. Another participant advised us to look for ways to engage people outside the the context of threats to choice. She acknowledged that anti-choice legislators are attacking choice everywhere, but for some people, the legislative process is so far removed, and they're used to hearing about potential threats year after year. How can we better reach people who don't believe the legislative process affects their lives?
We had a great discussion, and there are many things we will continue to mull over. I left Missoula inspired by the thoughtful and creative advice we received from the 18 people who joined us yesterday.
Now, it is on to Livingston, where I will see my friend, Dr. Susan Wicklund, an especially amazing and heroic abortion provider.
As I type this for Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, she is on her way to Livingston, MT where she will visit pro-choice champion and friend, Susan Wicklund.
In the meantime, Nancy wanted me to share with you the slideshow of pictures from her trip to Montana for the first stop on NARAL Pro-Choice America's Vision to Win tour across the country:
Looking back on day one of Vision to Win, it's clear that the rest of the country can learn a lot from Montana on how to cultivate and engage young leaders. NARAL Pro-Choice Montana's staff is comprised of Millennials, as is nearly half of its boards.
We joined with young progressive leaders representing LGBT allies, civil liberties, and many more important causes. We shared the findings from our research project and then turned the floor over to the attendees. Here's what he heard:
Keep the personal focus on this issue.
Relate the issue to your community (such as a what is it like for women in your immediate area).
Talk about choice as a value; don't forget that to appeal to people's hearts, not just their heads.
Access to abortion is not separate; it is part of the decisions women make, like accessing birth control.
We can't wait to hear more from young leaders in Missoula. (BTW, going across the continental divide is like driving through the clouds.)
In the next 24 hours, I head to my home state of Montana. It will be great to breathe crystal-clear air and be wrapped in the arms of the Rocky Mountains.
I am looking forward to seeing friends who were colleagues and fellow political junkies. I will get to visit with some former classmates at our reunion. (Please, don't ask how what number this reunion is.) And I can't wait to float the North Fork of the Flathead River and watch a Big Sky Sunset.
But this isn't a regular homecoming. I am also there because Montana is the first stop in NARAL Pro-Choice America's multi-state Vision to Win tour, a partnership with state affiliates to further engage grassroots leaders and elected officials in the efforts to protect choice.
What will we be talking about, exactly? What is the Vision to Win? Why are we starting in Montana? All of these questions are good ones, so let's start from the top.
The election of a pro-choice president and gains in Congress, the defeat of seven anti-choice ballot measures since 2005, and the advancement of multiple pro-choice policies have spurred an intense reaction from our opponents. As we face a galvanized anti-choice opposition, we are committed to strengthening our ties to our pro-choice activist base and inviting even more Americans to join our cause.
In particular, our vision includes focusing on the emerging Millennial Generation (those under 30). This generation is the largest and most diverse in our nation's history. We recently completed ground-breaking research on the attitudes of Millennials who aren't activists regarding abortion rights. That is the first step in an ongoing initiative to ensure that choice-related issues are relevant in their lives and that they connect how the political process affects their ability to make private health decisions or access the services they need. We already know that there are many young women and men actively engaged in protecting choice. The entire staff of NARAL Pro-Choice Montana is comprised of Millennials. We are partnering with the affiliate in meeting with additional young leaders in Big Sky Country.
In the face of anti-choice opposition, the challenge is to keep Montana as an A- state or move it up to an A in the next five, 10, or 20 years. To do that, we have to listen to and learn from each other. Working together, we will build this roadmap to a pro-choice future and achieve our vision of winning for choice in Montana and across the country.
I know, surprise, surprise. Palin is living in her made-up reality. But, this is important. We can't let Palin manufacture distortions about Ayotte's record in the same way she comes up with words that don't appear in the dictionary.
What's the theme here? Well, it's two fold.
First, Granite State voters need to know that Ayotte is on Palin's list, which is way out of the mainstream in a state that gets an A- when it comes to protecting choice. New Hampshire voters like their freedom to make the personal, private decisions that are best for them and their families. Yes, these values include protecting women's access to safe, legal abortion care.
Second, voters have a chance to uphold the state's tradition of standing up for individual freedom and privacy by electing Rep. Paul Hodes as their next U.S. senator. Rep. Hodes has been a great champion of choice since he first won election to the House in 2006. He fought against the Bush administration's dangerous and ineffective "abstinence-only" policies. We know he'll make a great senator. In fact, our PAC endorsed him.
Ayotte lost once before the Supreme Court, and we look forward to making sure she loses once again at the ballot box in November. Go, Hodes!
Paid for by NARAL Pro-Choice America, www.ProChoiceAmerica.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
Bad news from the Obama administration: a Stupak-style ban applies to women in the new, temporary high-risk pools. Here's a statement from NARAL Pro-Choice America president, Nancy Keenan:
Abortion is the most common surgical procedure women receive. At a time when the country is on the cusp of implementing nationwide health-insurance coverage, it is unacceptable to treat abortion care differently in the new high-risk pools. This policy means that women who are part of these pools because they have significant health problems, such as diabetes or cancer, will not be able to access abortion care, even if their health is at further risk. This decision puts in place a three-year restriction that is similar to the proposal from Rep. Bart Stupak that was rejected during the legislative debate on health reform.
Read the full release and then take action: Tell President Obama that the abortion-coverage ban was not part of the agreement on health reform and that he should not exclude abortion coverage from newly created high-risk pools.
On August 2 at 9 p.m. EST, a ground-breaking and shocking documentary called 12th & Delaware will air on HBO--and you won't want to miss it. This documentary is the latest from the filmmakers behind the Academy Award-nominated film Jesus Camp. It takes place on a quiet, unassuming street in a Florida town, where a women's health clinic stands across from an anti-choice "crisis pregnancy center" (CPC).
12th & Delaware presents an up-close look at how these fake "clinics" have moved to the front lines of the war on women's constitutional right to privacy. Instead of taking a position on choice, the film attempts to transform the dialogue around a woman's right to choose.
Help us start the conversation by hosting a watch party with your friends and family! By hosting a watch party--even just a few friends--you will help change minds. Sign up by July 16th so that we can send you a kit to keep the discussion moving when the movie ends.
Ted Miller is the director of communications and online advocacy strategies at NARAL Pro-Choice America.
This Friday (July 9) at 8 p.m. EST/ 7 p.m. CST, NBC plans to air an episode of Friday Night Lights that will be sure to start some conversations.
Yep, the issue of abortion comes up in a big way.
***SPOILER ALERT: If you're a fan of this show (like I am), please know that this message includes details about upcoming episodes.***
Let's start from square one. Have you ever heard of this show? If not, that breaks my heart because it is so good. I have been known to ramble on to friends about how they should TiVo/DVR it.
If you are a fan, you get why every high school student should have a principal like Tami Taylor. You were disappointed to see Tim Riggins throw away his full ride to college. And you choked up during the episode in which Matt Saracen learned his father had been killed while at war.
While FNL gets rave reviews from critics, it has struggled in the ratings race. So, for the uninitiated, here is a quick primer to get you up to speed. The series is based on a movie that starred Billy Bob Thornton. The setting is fictional Dillon, Texas, home to a state-championship football program and a whole lot of drama. The coach, his wife (the school principal), students, and parents make up the ensemble.
Everything about FNL reminds me of my hometown in Kansas, except that our football team never won a state championship--we didn't come close.
The issues FNL tackles (yeah, it's an overt pun) are universal. You don't have to come from a football-obsessed small town to appreciate the way the show's writers address thorny topics in thoughtful, compelling ways.
That said, I had mixed feelings when I heard that the show would include a storyline about abortion. Even the best TV programs (i.e. Law & Order) sometimes miss when it comes to choice-related topics. Either they try to do too much or end up sensationalizing the topic.
So far, though, I am impressed with how FNL is handling the story about a 16-year-old character named Becky, who discovers she's pregnant and openly discusses her decision to choose abortion, a decision that's rarely portrayed on network television.
Becky's situation was first introduced in last week's episode, which you can catch up on via Hulu.
If you're a DirecTV subscriber, you know these episodes aired earlier this year and generated some buzzamong some in the bloggingworld.
DirecTV is a smaller audience, however. Once this show airs tonight on NBC, more people will see it, and I bet there's a reaction.
Tonight, expect to see Becky reach out to Tami Taylor for advice--and don't be surprised if Texas' parental-consent law comes up. Check out our fact sheet to find out what it would be like for a young woman in Becky's situation if she lived in your state.
While there may be some faults with certain aspects of this storyline, it presents an opportunity for us to have a conversation about the pressures young women facing an unintended pregnancy experience.
We urge you to watch the episode (or set your DVR to record this episode) and share your reactions with us via Facebook and Twitter.
Nearly two years ago, as part of NARAL Pro-Choice America's Diversity Initiative, we convened a task force and developed a plan to translate a portion of our website in order to reach a broader constituency. This was a way that we could reach an audience growing in size and influence.
I was particularly interested in this project because my mother is from Mexico and I still have family there. However, I'm not a native speaker and, although I majored in Spanish in college, I soon realized that my knowledge of choice-related terms in Spanish was pretty limited. Our task force also realized that this was going to be a more difficult endeavor than we initially anticipated. We tried to translate portions of our English website directly and literally, and it just did not translate well.
We realized that a lot of terms that we use in English in our everyday work did not translate easily into Spanish. For example, we originally translated "pro-choice" into "pro-elección," which literally means "pro-choice," but it didn't seem to accurately convey our intended meaning. It felt like we were implying that we only focus on elections, when the non-electoral NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation is a critical part of our educational work.
Some of our sister pro-choice organizations already do an amazing job keeping their websites updated in two languages, and so we looked around and asked for advice. We contacted Silvia Henriquez, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH). For those of you who don't know, NLIRH is a fantastic organization with which we work closely. Silvia recommended that we contact Ligia Rivera, who is a former staff member of NLIRH and who is now based out of the Dominican Republic. She is a translator who has worked extensively in the reproductive-justice arena. We had a great initial conversation with her to explain what we hoped to accomplish. We sent her content that we had already developed and translated. We use inclusive language when communicating in English. We wanted these pages to reflect that same commitment. As she says on her website:
My objective is to help individuals and organizations unite two cultures, two worlds and two languages: English and Spanish. Translating is part of the process but it is not enough. I propose to create, research, compare and experiment based on the ideas and concepts developed by the people with whom I work. My specialty is to adapt and transform materials originally written in English into culturally-appropriate materials in Spanish.
Ligia brought a unique perspective to our project that we did not have before. The new Web content is much stronger, thanks to her expertise. Per Ligia's suggestion, we decided to translate "pro-choice" to "defender la privacidad y la libertad del derecho y la capacidad de cada mujer a elegir qué hacer con respecto a su cuerpo y a su salud reproductiva," which means "to defend the privacy and the freedom of the right and ability of each woman to choose what she will do with her body and her reproductive health." This is obviously lengthier. Sometimes, we shorten the definition, but we agree that this is a more clear translation of the work that we do.
Reaching out to a broader constituency is one of the main goals of our Diversity Initiative, and this is just one small piece of our overall effort to do so.
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