Words of Choice: Up the Creativity

Film Lifts Up Meg Crane, Hidden Inventor of Home Pregnancy Testing

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 18:24:27 +0000

Meg Crane is having a moment. Finally.

Meg Crane invented the first home pregnancy test.

She also advocated, 60 years ago, among male pharmaceutical colleagues in order to put the test in the hands of consumers, including the pregnant and possibly pregnant, as opposed to being confined to the locked cabinets of medical providers.

But her accomplishments and determination have long gone unrecognized.

Now, a short (20-minute) documentary film, A Tiny Revolution, directed and produced by Asha Dahya, profiles the hidden history of how one woman, beginning in 1967 and then in her mid-twenties, changed the lives of millions of people with boldness and conviction.

Her name is Meg Crane.

Dahya is launching her film A Tiny Revolution at a public screening on October 22 in Manhattan (6 pm, Lower East Side), the first of impact screenings at venues across the country. At the event in New York, Meg Crane, a life-long New Yorker, will join Dahya in a talkback and share her story in person.

Asha Dahya

"This film is both a look back at history, and an empowering wake-up call that we still have a long way to go with regard to bodily autonomy," says Dahya, an Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose work focuses on reproductive freedom, gender equality and women’s healthcare.

The home pregnancy test was truly revolutionary. Author Karen Weingarten described the importance of the test in a previous blog, "The pregnancy test became one of the most life-changing objects in the twentieth century. ... (T)he pregnancy test transformed our reproductive lives and changed our sexual practices."

The film A Tiny Revolution (see trailer below) tells Crane's central role.

"In 1967, 25-year-old Meg Crane quietly sparked a revolution by inventing the first home pregnancy test -- an idea so radical, it would take a decade of resistance, backlash, and cultural upheaval before it ever reached the shelves," says filmmaker Asha Dahya. The first test, designed by Crane, was called The Predictor, later evolving into the tests sold today.

Set against the backdrop of the women's liberation movement, the sexual revolution, and Roe v. Wade, decriminalizing most abortions in 1973, A Tiny Revolution traces Meg’s unlikely journey from graphic designer to cultural lightning rod, explains Dahya.

"She faced political push back, religious outrage, and a medical establishment unwilling to give up control over women's bodies," says Dahya.

Meg's invention finally reached the consumer market in 1977 with the help of a surprising alliance, including the progressive Reverend Howard Moody at Judson Memorial Church in New York's Greenwich Village.

In the late 1960s, Moody founded the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, which guided women who wanted abortions to safe providers at a time when abortion care was criminalized. After the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973 changed that (now overturned by the Dobbs decision in 2022), Moody co-founded the Religious Community for Reproductive Choice, which is still active today advocating for reproductive freedom and health.

"Meg shares her story of receiving immense pushback to her idea initially from the scientists who thought the concept of women doing their own pregnancy test was 'evil,' to the corporate executives who didn’t want to take away business from the medical establishment, and to Meg’s boss at the pharmaceutical company where she worked who said her invention would upset religious leaders," says filmmaker Dahya.

Meg Crane, today, A Tiny Revolution

"Not taking 'no' for an answer, Meg took her boss to meet Rev. Moody, who shared that he was excited about the home pregnancy test and would recommend it to women in his congregation," says Dahya.

At the October launch in New York, progressive faith leaders who champion reproductive freedom, gender equality and social justice will join the talkback, including the current minister at Judson Memorial Church, Rev. Micah Bucey, and Rev. Amanda Hambrick from Middle Collegiate Church in New York City.

"The religious right has spent decades weaponizing abortion as a wedge issue and dominating the conversation, imposing the idea that to be religious or a person of faith means to be against any form of birth control or abortion. But that is certainly not true, and A Tiny Revolution gives us a glimpse into this," says Dahya.

For most of history, people had to guess on the likelihood of pregnancy. Advancements from 1920 to the 1960s meant that a woman could make an appointment with a doctor, who would take a urine sample and send it to a lab for injection into a rabbit or mouse (which died as a result of the test, leading to the colloquialism 'the rabbit died').

The home pregnancy test changed all that. Despite her work on the home pregnancy test, and the revolution it caused in women's healthcare, Crane never earned a dollar for her work. The rights were signed over to corporate employers with no profit, payment or credit to the inventor, Meg Crane.

"People will be inspired by this little-known story that is finally getting its due," says Dahya.

In addition to director and producer Asha Dahya, others who worked on A Tiny Revolution include Qinza Malik Khan, Director of Photography; Rebecca Sherwood, Editor; Jules Setta, Archival Producer; Bobby Lam, Colorist; Emily Furst, Associate Editor; Andrea Raby, Graphic Design; Ben Brodin, Composer and Sound Design.

Details:
A Tiny Revolution
Directed by Asha Dahya
Website: https://www.atinyrevolution.com/
Insta: @atinyrevolutionfilm
Screening NYC: October 22, Doors open 6 pm, Screening 6:30 pm
Location: Trinity Lutheran, 602 E. 8th Street, Lower East Side, NYC
Tix ($10, open to the public): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-tiny-revolution-screening-panel-discussion-tickets-2003012158285

Trailer:

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: A Tiny Revolution, screenshots, PR

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Unique: ReproEco: Tomorrow is Now

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 200 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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Dances Connect Plays With Natural Elements and Bodily Autonomy

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 15:36:17 +0000

"ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now" is a theatrical production with six short, original, plays about reproductive freedom and eco-challenges, but with so much more, including four interweaving choreographed dances that address and respond to the themes.

The dances are "elegantly graceful," wrote critic Eve Heinemann. "They were spritely as water. Ethereal as air, solid as earth and passionate in fire."

But how did four dances become an integral part of this production? And how do they fit into the concept of the plays?

Directed by Lorca Peress, ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now is playing in Manhattan in a World Premiere production at the Theatre of the 14St Y (344 E. 14th St.) through October 4.

Peress, who is the Artistic Director of the 29-year-old MultiStages Theatre (co-producer of 'ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now'), has a deep connection to multidisciplinary approaches to theater, and once was a dancer herself.

The plays, developed by ReproFreedomArts.org through a commissioning project of six women writers, connect reproductive freedom and environmental justice with humor, mythology, Afro-futurism and drama, to look at toxins, plastics, PFAS, environmental challenges, and the effects on our bodies, our communities and our future. At their core, they are about the right to bodily autonomy and bodily integrity.

"I was interested in exploring the relationship between body and environment within and outside the plays," says Peress. After a developmental reading, Peress sat down with dramaturg Lisa Lindstrom, and, in a brainstorming session, the idea of adding dance blossomed.

Lorca Peress, Jennifer Chin

As it happens, Jennifer Chin has collaborated frequently with Peress and had choreographed dances during Covid for a virtual SpeakOut festival produced by MultiStages. Chin responded positively to the idea of reshaping her SpeakOut choreography to the themes of ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now.

A dancer and choreographer who has performed and taught throughout the US and abroad, Chin's choreography has been presented in New York City, Mexico, Croatia, Scotland, Italy, Nicaragua and Guatemala. She has been on faculty at The José Limón Institute, The Martha Graham School, Montclair State University, Peridance, Brooklyn College, and Université du Québec á Montréal. Her dance company, JENNIFERCHINdance, has an ongoing collaboration with WADE, operating at the intersection of performing arts, activism and social change.

After conversations with Peress, review of the scripts and revisiting her "SpeakOut" dances, Chin began to work out some thoughts. "I start moving in the studio with the ideas in mind. And then I just keep working it and reworking it," says Chin. To remember what's she's created in the studio, Chin films her studio work and then studies the video. "Video is a creational tool for me to play back what I've done," she says. For ReproEco: Tomorrow is Now, Chin also attended or watched rehearsals, sometimes in person, sometimes by Zoom.

Sun Hee Kil

"I shaped the dances to the elements of nature, which is what we thought suited the structure of these plays," says Chin. New dances emerged -- Water, Air, Earth and Fire. All are set to pulsating original music by Sun Hee Kil, a composer and award-winning theatrical sound designer.

Performed by one, two or three dancers, the movement weaves four dances between the plays in the production, each calibrated to work symbiotically with the text of the plays, film projections on a 20 foot-high screen behind them, and the music that envelopes them.

Movement With Intention

Chin uses a style of dance that is built on intention, fluidity and humanistic values.

"When the dancers are moving, the intention with which they move makes a difference in how the movement is projected to the audience," says Chin.

Jan Hartley

The whole production begins with a projected visual backdrop of water flowing. The projections, by Obie-winning projection designer Jan Hartley, span an entire wall of the theatre. "For Water, we have ocean sounds that transform into music; the projections surround the dancers in an enormous ocean," says Peress.

Two dancers in flowing off-white outfits then take the stage.

"In Water, I have the dancers thinking of the sensation and feeling of water and how it moves. We're moving with the understanding that the intention with which you move makes a difference in how the movement is projected to the audience. Sometimes if you have no intention, the movement is just movement, and it doesn't have the impact to the audience. Personally, I find that not as effective, especially if you want to portray something very particular. So for Water, the dancers are also thinking, they're letting their faces be relaxed, almost like there's rainfall coming down on their faces so then their movement has the sense of ease and flow of water."

Chin says the dances are a bit different in every performance because she employs "fluid choreography," as opposed to dancers that move by the count of a beat.

"They're different because your rhythm is different each time you do it. That's the style for this piece. We have certain rhythmic sounds. But I often want the rhythm to be individual and different each time. So I like the sense of fluidity in terms of the choreography's structure. We create these canons, for example, where we go in line, one person at a time, then the next person, and then the next person. One person starts, and then other other person joins in."

She adds, "I want people to be very humanistic in their dancing and not to add an air of affectation to their gestures. That doesn't work well for what I'm trying to do," says Chin. "I want people to be themselves in the movement."

Communicating with each other as dancers and communicating with the audience is key. "There is a moment when each dancer looks at the other dancers, which I think is very interesting. Because, obviously, you're communicating with each other, but you're communicating in real time."

Ties to the text are also important. The second dance, Breath, follows the short play, Through Water Into Blood, which tells the story of a woman's anguish after a stillbirth. "In the play, they're talking about how she used her breath to go through the childbirth, and they use the idea of breath to mediate afterwards to go through their healing. So the dance evokes the feeling of how we use our breath and how we connect to the air that is surrounding us to express and to heal. We're taking that into our dancing." The visual backdrop supports the dance with images of the sky and clouds.

The dance Earth, which comes in the second act, follows the playful "Figments," in which a contemporary woman with a newly-discovered pregnancy is visited by comic characters during a nap. The music leading into Earth is light and bouncy, and the visuals projected on the screen for Earth show circles of sand and wind.

Chin uses this moment to connect the sense of 'Mother Earth' to female empowerment. "We feel really connected to the earth and we connect with each other as well. We're creating the earth together. We're like mother nature," explains Chin.

Emotions Break Through

The final dance, a solo by Chin herself, is called Fire, but has an alternate title of Rage. The dance comes after the futuristic play We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living about five generations of African-American women who can only enjoy the environmentally-degraded outdoors through a computer simulation. And the dance precedes the dystopian play, Priorities, about three medical professionals who are trying to help people escape toxic environments so that they might have a chance to deliver healthy babies.

The fierce dance in this section "is the rage, the fire, the despair, the anger that we feel over what's happening and putting that into a movement dance," says Chin. "I am over-the-top dramatic but I think that's what it calls for. I am trying to evoke the fire that we need to create the fight," says Chin. "It finishes with a gesture to the audience, a plea to the audience of 'you are our hope,'" says Chin.

The visual backdrop travels across the sky and erupts with fires, explains director Peress. "The is a solo dance filled with aggression. The music is loud with a rock beat. It's rage against the ignorance, the laws and lack of interest in human welfare. From the environment to the laws that restrict bodily autonomy and reproductive health," says Peress.

Two dancers join Jennifer Chin in performances of ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now.

Adele Carlson is a New York City based dancer from Houston, Texas who has performed with the Jose Limón Dance Company, Limón2, LLMoves, Salvatore Larussa, and most recently performed in works by Peter Chu and Majella Bess Loughran at Springboard Danse.

Fiona Oba is a NYC-based freelance dancer, originally from Tokyo, Japan. She has danced with Alison Cook Beatty Dance, Oceanallover, Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish, and lisa nevada, among others and is on the faculty at The Taylor School.

A fourth dancer, Maya Lam, who participated in the development of the work, serves as substitute. She was a Resident Artist with Moulin/Belle in France, has danced with Nimbus Dance Works and Periapsis Music and Dance, and tours with Ballet Nepantla, J CHEN Project, Synchronous, and Aslin Projects.

Chin also helped to choreograph the very ending of the performance. As the film backdrop visually brightens with a sun rising, each cast member and dancer comes out and observes the scene on the screen and turns to embrace other cast members.

The subtle message is that hope lies in the power of community, acting together for change.

"We are reminded of our bodies. we are reminded of the relationship with the world we live in through the dance," says Peress.

DETAILS:

'ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now.' Multidisciplinary, Multicultural Theatre & Dance on Reproductive Freedom & Environmental Justice! Through humor, mythology, Afro-futurism, dance and drama, we look at toxins, microplastics, and the effects on our bodies, our communities and our futures.

Works by writers Diane Breeser, Cindy Cooper, Alinca Hamilton, Mildred Inez Lewis, Cassandra Medley and Laura Shamas; Lorca Peress directs. Choreography by Jennifer Chin. Co-produced by MultiStages Theatre and ReproFreedomArts.

Dates Through Oct 4, 2026: Theatre of the 14th St Y, 344 E. 14th St., NYC 10003.
TIX: https://ci.ovationtix.com/36649/production/1286595
reproFreedomarts.org/ReproEco
MultiStages.org

Dancers with full cast, ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Individual artists; Show photos by Peggy Ryan @PeggyRyanDesign; ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now (design and full cast)

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Upcoming Sept 9 -Oct 4 2026: ReproEco: Tomorrow is Now

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 200 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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Celebrating UN Healing Arts Week With Theatrical Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 23:57:02 +0000

The Healing Arts Week in New York is a large-scale project that takes place while the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meets in its 81st session.

With performances, talks and demonstrations, the Healing Arts Week New York (September 19 -26, 2026) draws attention to the role of theatre, dance, music and visual art as major contributors to health and well-being worldwide. Events bring together artists, healthcare leaders and policymakers, and communities to explore art, health and innovation.

The live performances of ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now (September 9 - October 4, Theatre of the 14St Y, 344 E. 14 St.) are included on a curated citywide calendar of events during the Healing Arts Week. The week is organized by the Jameel Arts and Health Lab at New York University, which conducts a global outreach campaign in support of arts solutions for health and well=being in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).

"UNGA Healing Arts Week is a dynamic program of events celebrating innovative approaches to global health and well-being through the arts," the Healing Art Week organizers write. "Incorporating a dedicated community of practice, online resources, and an annual city-wide activation during the United Nations General Assembly, the ongoing initiative is designed to embed the arts as a vital resource for public health and well-being across all five boroughs of New York."

Healing Arts, Reproductive Freedom, the Environment

ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now offers a theatrical experience of powerful stories about reproductive health and environmental justice. Works by six playwrights -- Diane Breeser, Alinca Hamilton, Cindy Cooper, Mildred Inez Lewis, Cassandra Medley, Laura Shamas -- look at the subject from their own unique vantage points, as they describe in this blog.

Under the direction of Lorca Peress, Artistic Director of MultiStages Theatre, the plays are performed by eight actors in 19 roles which are also interwoven with dance, film projection and soundscape. Combined, the elements create a rich opportunity for audiences to reflect on how toxins, microplastics, and eco-challenges to air, water, and earth affect the human body, and most particularly the vulnerable reproductive system.

"It reached right into my heart – everything that we’re dealing with," said one audience member.

This falls exactly within the goals of the Healing Arts Week, which lifts up the ways in which the arts offer pathways for people to channel their experiences and concerns.

"For too long, our systems have defined health almost exclusively in biomedical terms. What we're arguing here is a reconceptualization of the arts as a fundamental human behavior. scientists declaring that there is a connection between the creative forms of healing and medicine that is so massive," explains a speaker in a video recap of last year's Healing Arts Week in New York.

ReproEco, while still a project being tested in a development process, also participated with the Healing Arts Week 2025, especially connected to its specific arts-and-environment component, as described in an earlier post.

From Diplomacy Watch Magazine

ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now engages audiences through provocative and thoughtful stories that can stir understanding and action.

"By transforming an abstract crisis into a visceral human experience, art, music and theater can achieve what formal speeches, diplomatic negotiations and policy documents often cannot," writes Dr. Judy Kuriansky about ReproEco:Tomorrow Is Now in "Theater Confronts Environmental Threats to Women’s Health and Echoes the UN Global Agenda" in Diplomacy Watch Magazine.

The storytelling in ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now -- whether about a mother and daughter struggling in a waterless town in Texas (Almost Never Really Here by Alinca Hamilton), or a futuristic huddling of medical professionals who are trying to find secret ways to help pregnant women escape to environmental safe havens (Priorities by Laura Shamas) -- directly connect to UN goals for sustainability, writes Dr. Kuriansky.

The innovative production "explore(s) the dangerous effects of environmental toxins on women’s reproductive health. The works entertain, disturb, and inspire -- but also echo the urgent calls to action embodied in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals," she writes.

The Female Body and Health

The effects of pollution and climate change on human health and the body come through the text in ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now, but also are vividly expressed in four dances choreographed by Jennifer Chin.

Director Lorca Peress first reached out to the choreographer with a concept to create a visual symbiosis between the female body and the environment. Through dance and corresponding film projections by Jan Hartley, "We are reminded of our bodies. We are reminded of our relationship with the world we live in. We are reminded of the dangers of this world and how angry it can be against us," Peress said in Theatre Beyond Broadway.

(Photo by Peggy Ryan)

Four dances with film projections behind them are each ascribed to a particular natural element. Water, Breath, Earth and Fire, which also is meant to form a sense of rage.

"Rage against the machines, the ignorance, the laws and lack of interest in human welfare. From the environment to the laws that restrict bodily autonomy and reproductive health," said Peress.

The six plays offer the textual springboard for a deep connection to our bodies and our health.

The plays are:

Always Never Really Here by Alinca Hamilton: A mother and daughter struggle in a town with no water.

Through Water Into Blood by Mildred Inez Lewis: A midwife helps a distraught woman suffering after pregnancy mishap.

Until the Change Comes by Cindy Cooper: A young branding team is visited by the spectre of the woman scientist who uncovered toxic harms.

Figments by Diane Breeser: A woman faces pregnancy fears.

(Photo by Peggy Ryan)

We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living by Cassandra Medley: Four generations of women living in a future with no out-of-doors.

Priorities by Laura Shamas: Professionals in a dystopian future help pregnant patients escape to a safer location.

Expanding Conversations Through Art

In order to open up more conversations about reproductive health and environmental justice, talkback speakers, along with a literature display at ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now performances bring attention to the subjects.

Those joining the talkback include:

Sat. Sept 19, 2 pm – Cassandra Medley, award-winning playwright, and writer of the Afro-futurism piece, ‘We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living,’ will share her inspiration for the writing.

Wed. Sept 23, 7 pm -- Tina Rosenberg, the co-founder of Solutions Journalism, which supports the global coverage of environmental challenges through solutions-based reporting; former NY Times writer, winner of Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award

Fri. Sept 25, 7 pm -- Lynn M. Paltrow, a lawyer and founder of Pregnancy Justice (formerly called National Advocates for Pregnant Women), now an activist with the Beacon for Democracy

Dr. Jacqui Patterson (fr Atlantic Council)

Sat. Sept 26, 7 pm – Dr. Jacqui Patterson, founder of The Chisholm Legacy Project, which works on the frontlines of climate justice; former director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice program; Time Magazine Woman of the Year in 2024.

Thurs. Oct 1, 7 pm – Margie Kelly, Strategic Communications Manager with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Chicago, formerly a media manager with Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families; the Center for Reproductive Rights, and an activist with Greenpeace; she is a consultant to ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now

Sat. Oct 3, 7 pm – Leonne Tanis, CNM, WHNP-BC: a midwife and reproductive health nurse practitioner in New York City who identifies as a Black, Haitian-American lesbian; formerly on the board of National Association to Advance Black Birth (NAABB)

The Healing Arts Week encompasses a series of tantalizing programming in New York. See the calendar and schedule here.

ReproEco:Tomorrow Is Now is also participating in ClimateWeekNY (September 20 - 27), which is also raising important issues during the UNGA Session. Read more about some of those activities here.

ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now, in its subtitle, follows in the steps of Eleanor Roosevelt, who wrote a book "Tomorrow Is Now," extolling the urgency and necessity of human rights after she guided the UN adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a vital and important development.

The plays, writes Dr. Kuriansky, are a form of "cultural diplomacy" -- "using the arts to encourage understanding and peace."

The timing, she notes, "places these theatrical stories within an international conversation about health, climate change, the role of culture in advancing social progress, and the achievement of sustainable development."

She continues, "As someone who has spent 23 years involved with the United Nations and advocating for women and girls, environmental protection and the Sustainable Development Goals, I find this production deeply meaningful."

DETAILS

Healing Arts Week NYC
UNGA, Jameel Arts and Health Lab, WHO
Sept 19-26
https://www.healingartsnewyork.org/

'ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now.' Multidisciplinary, Multicultural Theatre & Dance on Reproductive Freedom & Environmental Justiceco-produced by MultiStages Theatre and ReproFreedomArts.
Sept 9 to Oct 4, 2026: Theatre of the 14St Y, 344 E. 14th St., New York, NY 10003.

INFO: ReproEco
TIX: https://ci.ovationtix.com/36649/production/1286595

Healing Arts Week NYC -- ReproEco:Tomorrow Is Now

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Healing Arts Week, Jameel Arts and Health Lab; Diplomacy Watch Magazine; ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now (photos by Peggy Ryan @PeggyRyanDesign; Atlantic Council

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Upcoming Sept 9 -Oct 4 2026: ReproEco: Tomorrow is Now

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 200 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

Return to Home Page

The Writers' Ideas Take Shape In 'ReproEco Tomorrow Is Now' NYC 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 03:47:23 +0000

ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now began with six playwrights, all women, shaping an idea nearly three years ago, and now it is taking shape on stage in a full production with the World Premiere production, Sept 9 to Oct 4, 14St Y, 344 E. 14th St. NYC for 12 performances.

Now there is a creative team of 30, including actors, designers, dancers, all under the direction of Lorca Peress. The path to this point is described in a previous blog.

ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now addresses the connections between reproductive freedom and environmental harm, between bodily autonomy and climate injustice.

At this juncture, the six playwrights involved took pause to reflect on their writing and their own journey to developing scripts over the past thirty months of research, writing and readings.

It's worth noting that theater -- at its best -- can envelope audiences in stories that give them a new insight, open a door to a different world, provide a moment of transformation or grace.

But what is also true is that in the process of playwriting, the writer probes her own feelings and experiences, and then places them in characters and imagined situations. In that sense, playwriting is a reflection of the writer’s memories, puzzlements, quandaries and curiosity.

As one audience member of a developmental reading wrote, “Each writer took a different angle, which allowed me to really think about the whole subject from so many perspectives,” and adding, “Really profound and thought-provoking.”

Playwright Perspectives -- Two and Half Years Down the Road

As ReproEco takes the stage, fully mounted, the six writers who began this journey in 2024 shared thoughts on their work and process:

Laura Shamas

Priorities by Laura Shamas is set in a dystopian future. Two gynecologists and a midwife meet in secret to prioritize the needs of their pregnant patients so they can escape to a better environment. Earlier, she described in a blog her experiences with wildfires in L.A. – something that came after she wrote Prioirites, but which are, in fact, an element in the play. ReproEco: Writing About Toxins, Then Real Life

Laura, born in Oklahoma, is a 2023 Los Angeles New Play Project Playwriting Award winner ($20,000) for Four Women in Red, which was produced at the Victory Theatre in Burbank in early 2025. This play was published in June 2025 by Broadway Play Publishing. It was performed in the 2022 Festival of New Plays at Native Voices at the Autry. Shamas’ plays include: Circular, Picnic at Hanging Rock (adaptation), Portrait of a Nude, Lady-Like, Chasing Honey, Talking Leaves (Winner – Garrard Best Play Award – Five Civilized Tribes Museum), and Amelia Lives. Her short play Seeds won the Von Marie Atchley Award for Excellence in Playwriting from Native Voices in 2017. Her work on ReproEco was mentioned in a feature about her in the Chickasaw Nation Times She is a Chickasaw Nation citizen.

Laura writes: “My play Priorities is set in a futuristic world in which climate justice and reproductive freedom efforts have collapsed due to apocalyptic environmental and social conditions. The play depicts what can happen if we fail to address global injustice for climate. My play is a warning; make these issues a priority now or soon it will be too late. Three heroic women take action in my play, and we see them search for solutions, even during a deadly mix of environmental failures, including wildfires with toxicity exposures of all kinds.”

Mildred Inez Lewis

Mildred Inez Lewis wrote a short drama for ReproEco, titled Through Water Into Blood. In it, a West Virginia woman who has experienced a devastating miscarriage confronts her birth doula and they both realize the role toxic chemicals may have played.

Mildred writes and directs for theater, film and the digital space. A 2026 resident playwright with PlayGround-Los Angeles, she also writes with Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA and Towne Street Theatre. This year, she was a finalist for the Inkslinger Playwriting Contest and semi-finalist for the Leah Ryan Fund’s Boost commission. After a residency at the Mercury Store (NYC) this summer, her comedy Museum Annex will appear in Mosaic Theatricals Staged Reading Festival (Escondido, CA) this fall. Her television pilot Louisiana Shoal, based on her award winning short play (Samuel French OOB Festival, Best of PlayGround-LA, Smith & Kraus’ Best 10-Minute Plays), is being read in several Los Angeles venues this fall. She previously wrote a bit about the theatrical investigations of the ReproEco writers in Theatrical Readings Uplift Artistic Investigations on ReproEco.

Mildred writes: "The chance to explore the rich traditions of Black midwives with ReproEco is a gift. I'm honored to set the play in West Virginia, my mom's birthplace. Our people are fighting climate change everywhere in ways big and small."

Diane Breeser

Diane Breeser walked a different personal path in her play Figments (previously titled ‘Maybe Our Baby’). In her play, a woman, discovering she is pregnant, has a comical nightmare about microplastics and small steps she can take to protect against environmental harm.

Diane has spent most of her life involved in theatre. Years of research culminated in her one-act, Goddess on the Mountaintop about primatologist Dian Fossey. In 2017 Diane co-founded an award-winning theatre group, The “Alternative Truth” Project, which performed free monthly play readings about cultural issues such as reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, guns, and book-banning. A former teacher and librarian, Diane lives near the Mississippi River in her hometown of La Crosse, Wisconsin, where she presented all of the ReproEco plays with talkbacks with local experts in spring, 2025.

Diane writes, “As a playwright, going through an extensive research library of articles about environmental impacts on our reproductive health was taxing. Then, how to bring climate change, microplastics, and everyday toxins into an engaging short play? Well, both of my children were expecting babies as I began writing for this new ReproEco project. I toyed with the idea of expectant parents -- a young, loving couple with a new set of concerns -- existential ones. A heavy burden, for sure! I came to the conclusion that humor was the answer: blending serious issues with farcical circumstances could be entertaining, right? Witnessed by actor readings and rehearsals, I happily discovered the answer is yes.”

Cassandra Medley’s play, We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living is written in an Afro-futurism style. In the play, intergenerational women experience an altered world in which nature is so degraded that the out-of-doors must be delivered and enjoyed virtually.

Cassandra Medley

Cassandra is a playwright and teacher whose works have been produced across the U.S., including Fannie Lou Hamer Opera (libretto), A Walk in YaYa’s Garden, Motherless Child, March 13, 2020, Martha’s Vineyard Theater, Celebrating Our Community, Gatekeepers Collective, 2020, Mrs. Palmer’s Honey, Bread and Roses Theater. Cell, Playing On Air 2018, Take My Advice, 2017, Survive, 2017, Cell, the full-length, Molelo Theater-2015, American Slavery Project, 2012-13, NYC, Cell, the one act, Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon 2011, Daughter, Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon 2009, Noon Day Sun, August, 2008, Diverse City Theatre Company, Relativity, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Ensemble Studio Theatre, 2004. She has won many awards, including the Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, the August Wilson Prize, the Ensemble Studio Theatre Life Achievement Award, Theatrefest Regional Playwriting Award for Best Play, National Endowment for the Arts Playwright Award, and a New York Foundation for Arts Fellowship.

Cassandra writes: “'Ancestors'” is a fantasy-nightmare of what I fervently hope will not be the ecological future of our planet. As an Afro American writer who loves to travel the world, 'Ancestors' is my opportunity to place my personal fears within an Afro futurism context."

Alinca Hamilton’s play, Always Never Really Here is about a mother and daughter who face the harsh realities of living without clean running water in the verifiably real town of Sandbranch, Texas.

Alinca Hamilton

Alinca is a holistic creator working across stage and screen. Her acting credits include January (MultiStages), Clyde’s (Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Rep); Mud Row (Premiere Stages); Gong Lum’s Legacy (New Federal); Julius Cesar (Classic Stage), Growing Up (Disney+). Her writing has been recognized as a semi-finalist for the NYSCA/NYSFA Artist Fellowship and the Fresh Voices Competition. She is a founding member of Squeaky Wheelz Productions, whose work has appeared at The Tank, Ars Nova, Edinburgh Fringe, Twin Cities Film Festival, International Black Theater Festival, and Berlin Indie Film Festival (Award – Best Artist Short). A New Yorker to her core (please don’t ask her to drive). M.F.A. – Acting, Columbia University. In 2025, Alinca did a special reading and discussion about her play at the gallery of the Puffin Foundation in Brooklyn.

Alinca writes: "You can’t tell the story of America without the perseverance of Black folks -- how, even through that struggle, we continuously find moments of joy and the courage to dream of a better future. 'Always Never Really Here' is rooted in the story of Sandbranch, Texas, a predominantly Black community founded by formerly enslaved people whose descendants have had to fight for something as fundamental as clean, running water. The piece echoes the fighting spirit we’ve had to carry through generations simply to claim the basic rights we deserve."

Cindy Cooper

Cindy Cooper (also the writer of this blog) wrote the short play Until the Change Comes. In it, a branding team begins to question their work after a visit from Theo Colborn, a woman scientist from years gone by who first identified toxic harms to health, showing them to be endocrine disrupters.

Cindy is a playwright, journalist and author. Her plays have been produced in the US, Canada and Europe. In New York, her work has been at Primary Stages, WP Theatre (How She Played the Game), Wings (Strange Light), Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (Stones of Tiananmen), Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio, MultiStages, Town Hall (The World at Your Fingertips), Anne Frank Center USA (Silence Not, A Love Story), Center for Jewish History, WOW Café, Chain Theatre, others, and in Chicago, Minneapolis, DC, Philadelphia, Boston, LA, Maryland, Texas, Florida, Montreal, Budapest, Helsinki, elsewhere. A two-time Jerome Fellow, her plays are in 17 volumes. She’s also the founder of ReproFreedomArts.org which is the co-producer of ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now.

Cindy writes: "Years ago, I read about Theo Colborn and the way that she scientifically identified the harms to human health from environmental toxins, and sounded the alarm until her death in 2014. Now, she's almost entirely forgotten, a hidden figure. I wanted to bring back her research and her moral clarity. And the people who should hear, it seemed to me, are those who are trying make their way in society while wanting to reform it, too – which might very well describe me. I ended up bringing the spirit of Theo into the lives of a branding team. Because, as Theo notes, the work is not done.”

The Director's Eye

The ReproEco writers joined hands with director Lorca Peress, the founder and Artistic Director of MultiStages, a multicultural, multidisciplinary theatre company in New York that works on new works with a social justice theme. Currently the director and co-producer of ‘ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now,’ Lorca also directed developmental readings in 2024 and 2025, helping writers to refine the work, while expanding the vision of the plays with multidisciplinary artistry.

Lorca Peress

Lorca is a freelance theatre, opera and musical theatre director. She is an advocate for women in theatre and an equity diversity activist. Peress is a Union member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA, and SDC; a member of the National Theatre Conference, Women in Arts and Media Coalition, NYWA (New York Women Agenda), and the League of Professional Theatre Women (past co-president 2011-14). She identifies as a multicultural woman with a Puerto Rican, Sephardic Iraqi and Polish background. Peress has directed new works at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre, The Acorn at Theatre Row, HERE, International NY Fringe Festival at the Soho Playhouse, The Tank, Hudson Guild Theatre, Theatre for the New City, NJ Repertory, La MaMa, Repertorio Español, Urban Stages, and others. She directed a special music event for the Lincoln Bicentennial at Riverside Church with Ruby Dee and Sam Waterston, and a concert of the Aids Quilt Song Book at Cooper Union. She has directed university theatre for NYU Tisch, Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, and operas at Queens College for the Aaron Copland School of Music and Drama/Dance Depts. She has also directed three 24-hour plays for her alma mater, Bennington College for the Spencer Cox Memorial Fund and Nicolas Martin Scholarship Fund at the Signature Theatre, Lucille Lortel, and the Public Theatre.

Lorca writes,"'ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now' is an extraordinary experience with dance, film and text that highlights the relationships between our bodies, our world and our future. We use a multi-textured unique mix of drama, humor, music, mythology, mystery and Afrofuturism to engage audiences in how artists can bring imagination, emotional force, and storytelling to urgent questions of human rights."

DETAILS:

ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now
Sept 9 to Oct 4, 2026; 12 performances
Theatre of the 14th St Y, 344 E. 14th St., NYC
World Premiere produced by ReproFreedomArts.org and MultiStages
Tix: https://ci.ovationtix.com/36649/production/1286595

Evenings at 7 pm: 9/9; 9/10; 9/17; 9/23; 9/25; 9/26; 10/1; 10/3
Matinees at 2 pm: 9/16; 9/19; 9/27; 10/4

Website: ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Upcoming Sept 9 -Oct 4 2026: ReproEco: Tomorrow is Now

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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'ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now' to Open in Manhattan in September

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 15:28:23 +0000

The ReproEco project began nearly three years ago as a concept to develop theatrical storytelling that could probe the connections between environmental justice and reproductive freedom. Six playwrights were commissioned to write short plays.

In September this year, these works will come to life in an exceptional World Premiere production called 'ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now,' twelve performances from Sept 9 to Oct 4 at the Theatre of the 14th St Y in Manhattan (344 E.14th St).

A bold and exciting production, 'ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now' is directed by Lorca Peress, Artistic Director of MultiStages Theatre. MultiStages, a multicultural and multidisciplinary theater in New York, is collaborating with Repro Freedom Arts, which, as a theater group dedicated advancing reproductive freedom, rights, health and justice, originally commissioned the plays.

Since the project first launched, a remarkable journey has unfolded.

The six short plays began with the writers joining conversations with invited guests -- people who have expertise on the topics of environmental justice and reproductive freedom, as described in this blog by Mildred Lewis.

The speakers included Margie Kelly, Media Manager at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and formerly Communications Director at the Center for Reproductive Rights as a volunteer on her own time; Dr. Jacqui Patterson, founder of the Chisholm Legacy Project and former director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program; Charlotte Brody of the Blue-Green Alliance and co-founder of Health Care Without Harm; Eve Gartner, head of the Toxins program at Earthjustice and formerly a lawyer at Planned Parenthood Federation. The writers also met with Tracia Banuelos, a reproductive justice advocate, and Jill Sigman, the founder of thinkdance which probes environmental themes.

After these creative investigations, each writer shaped a short play, imagining new worlds where they had not existed before. The writers continued to work on their plays with readings, comments, revisions, presentations as readings to live and virtual audiences, and, of course, more revisions.

With rich and exciting insights from the writers and a provocative edge, the words are fully taking shape on stage combined with equally riveting dance, music and film.

But what has also happened in the time frame of this development process is -- the news!

The news keeps showing us mounting evidence and research, studies, fact-finding and analyses about science, the environment, climate change and the interconnectedness (and fragility) of human bodies. A collective library opened for the writers in 2024 keeps multiplying to the bursting point with information about plastics and microplastics, the poisoning of water, earth and air, the proliferation of synthetic forever chemicals that enter our bodies and can travel through the placenta, wreaking havoc and harm to human health.

But despite all of the articles, except with the rare exception, the stories of what this means to individuals and families and communities, and how environmental concerns change their lives and their futures is sidelined and left unsaid.

This is where the writers of ReproEco -- Diane Breeser, Cindy Cooper, Alinca Hamilton, Mildred Inez Lewis, Cassandra Medley, Laura Shamas (pictured) -- created characters and scenes and imaginative stories that add immensely to the public understanding. Audiences in the developmental reading process saw the connections to bodily autonomy and bodily integrity and to issues in their own lives. Human rights became real.

Building Blocks of Human Rights -- Bodily Autonomy and Integrity

Bodily autonomy, the hallmark of reproductive freedom, is centered on the ability to decide whether or not to bear a child, and to be able to raise a child, and live, in a safe and healthy environment. It's that simple -- but the fact is that people are often unaware of the second half of that common definition, the one about 'the safe and healthy environment.'

Bodily integrity is a foundational element of environmental justice, that is, the right of all people to environmental protection and to live free from pollution, threats to the ecosystem, and harm to our bodies.

The two topics are often discussed separately in public policy and advocacy -- two silos with lots of gravel separating them. The ReproEco writers show in storytelling terms how reproductive freedom and environmental justice are deeply intertwined.

A Thoughtful Creative Process

The road the World Premiere production of ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now this fall has been fascinating from start to finish, and perhaps can open new thinking for those working on social justice and the arts.

The work of the writers was advanced by several directors (Lorca Peress, Allison Astor-Vargas, Joyce Griffen), a literary dramaturg (Lisa Lindstrom), and two series of developmental readings with full casts by MultiStages and ReproFreedomArts.org, one in partnership with Goddard Riverside Arts and the Bernie Wohl Center in Manhattan, and another in partnership with CultureLab LIC in Queens (Tess Howsam, Artistic Director). The latter two-day performance was supported, in turn, by funding from the Puffin Foundation. (See images from this performance in this short video.) Each of the readings was accompanied by literature tables that provided activist and educational information to audiences and talkbacks shared further details when possible.

In addition, Diane Breeser produced a series of six readings in LaCrosse, Wisconsin at an arts center, a nature center, a college student union and faith-based institutions, each followed with a discussion with local experts. In the process, we learned how widespread are worries about toxins and our bodies. A virtual production of the plays by the esteemed Transformation Theatre in the Washington, DC-Maryland area brought in new artists and additional insights.

Even a public reading of a single play offered valuable responses. A large crowd filled the new Puffin/Brooklyn space to hear Alinca Hamilton's short play, followed by an incisive discussion about social justice and the arts. The results showed how eager audiences are for engaging material relevant to their lives.

We also found allies in the inaugural UNGA Healing Arts Week, sponsored by Jameel Arts and Health Lab of NYU Steinhart with the World Health Organization (WHO) which included ReproEco on its related events guide for 2025. (The September production for Healing Arts Week 2026 is included in year two of this ambirious project, as well).

Through the process of refining the works in real-time, ReproEco made another discovery that might not have emerged on a more constrained calendar -- and that is dance. In performances at CultureLab LIC, we experimented with adding evocative dances. The storytelling of the writers was enhanced and enlarged with new dimensions of artistry.

With the creative direction of Lorca Peress, choreographer Jennifer Chin envisioned danceworks for three dancers to the pulsating original music of Sun Hee Kil, an award-winning sound designer and composer. Threaded between the short plays, the dances --about water, rage, breath and fire -- bring viewers back to the body, its strengths, its fragility, its dependency on safe air and earth and water, offering an intimate and three-dimensional here-and-now experience.

Top: Sun Hee Kil, Jan Hartley, Lorca Peress, Jen Varbalow;

Bottom: Allison Astor-Vargas, Jennifer Chin, Lisa Renee Jordan, Kia Rogers

With the combination of the scripts and the dances, we continued to work on boldly staging the works.

A World Premiere Amid News

Moving forward with the World Premiere co-production by MultiStages and ReproFreedomArts.org for this fall brought additional elements that reach out to other senses.

Peress as the production's Artistic Director conceptualized a rich visual landscape for the now-blended plays and dances, working with the acclaimed film designer Jan Hartley and a top-level team of female-identifying and female-guided designers.

These designers elevate the work with their own creativity -- set designer Jen Varbalow, lighting designer Kia Rogers, Costume Designer Lisa Renee Jordan, Production and Stage Managers Mel Ashby-Hunt, Hadley Todoran, Matthew White (assistant), and production assistants, Gloria Jimenez, Reina Macias and Maria Sirigos. Others joined, as well: AJ Muhammad provided history-based dramaturgy, especially to inform the interpretation of several plays rooted in the African-American experience, and Sun Hee Kil shaped a soundscape as well as composing the music for dancers.

All of these contributions occurred as the studies and news about microplastics and the effects of pesticides, toxins from wildfires, military burn pits, industrial wastes, scarcity of water, damage to earth and air, continued to grow.

One article challenges the use of microplastics in baby food. A new study finds that forever chemicals (PFAS) can result in a rare ovarian illness and another explores research showing that microplastics may be responsible for lowered sperm counts.

Every now and then, a positive story emerges such as one about seaweed kelp as a possible natural replacement for chemically-derived plastics that cause harm to human health. NRDC unleashed an informational campaign about microplastics as micromonsters.

The plays, instead of fading as sometimes happens with hot-button topics, became even more relevant and more central to audiences' lives than when we started. The plays felt timely and urgent. In response, we added the subtitle Tomorrow is Now (resonant from a phrase used by Eleanor Roosevelt in her work on universal human rights) to reflect the pressing nature of these concerns.

Following this journey, 'ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now' is heading into the World Premiere production at the handsome Theatre of the 14th St Y, 344 14th St, in Manhattan for twelve performances from September 9 through October 4. The production by MultiStages Theatre and ReproFreedomArts.org is part of a larger platform of women-identifying presentations, Femme Collective.

Eight powerful actors joined the production -- as seen in photo, top: Becca Worthington, Brielle Webb, James Alton, Darlenis Duran; bottom -- Jean Brookner, Joyce Griffen, Gena Bardwell and Pernell Walker.

Presented now in conversation with four dances by Jennifer Chin, here is what the writers of 'ReproEco: Tomorrow is Now' imagined:

Always Never Really Here by Alinca Hamilton
A mother and daughter face the harsh realities of living without clean running water in today's times in the verifiably real town of Sand Branch, Texas.

Through Water Into Blood by Mildred Inez Lewis
After a devastating miscarriage, a West Virginia woman confronts her birth doula and they both realize the role toxic chemicals may have played.

Until the Change Comes by Cindy Cooper
A branding team begins to question their work after a visit from Theo Colborn, a woman scientist from years gone by who first identified toxic harms from chemicals as a danger to human health.

Figments by Diane Breeser
A woman, discovering she is pregnant, has a comical nightmare about microplastics and small steps she can take to protect against environmental harm.

We Are Our Ancestors’ Reasons for Living by Cassandra Medley
In an Afro-futurism style, intergenerational women experience an altered world in which nature is so degraded that the out-of-doors must be delivered and enjoyed virtually.

Priorities by Laura Shamas
In a dystopian future, two gynecologists and a midwife meet in secret to prioritize the needs of their pregnant patients, so they can escape to a better environment.

Culture as a building block to change

The performances of ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now -- theatrical stories, dance, original music, costumes, set and filmic backdrops -- show how topics of reproductive rights can reach audiences in new and exciting ways and spur action and energy.

Audiences who have participated in our developmental readings have responded positively: "Really profound." "Thought-provoking." "Each writer took a different angle, which allowed me to really think about the whole subject from so many perspectives." "A big thank you for elevating the conversation on the gendered and reproductive health impacts of climate change." "Grateful to be in spaces where climate, health, and justice are seen as inseparable." "My friend and I talked about it nonstop on the way home. Such a beautiful use of theater." "A galvanizing experience! It was inspirational!"

Now that news outlets are also drawing attention to the health impacts of environmental harm, the arts have an even more important role in making connections to and with audiences: this World Premiere production is leading the way.

Details:
ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now
Sept 9 - Oct 4 (see date selections)
Theatre of the 14St Y
344 E.14th St (near First Ave, btw First Ave and Second Ave)
Buy Tix: https://ci.ovationtix.com/36649/production/1286595

Evenings at 7 pm: 9/9; 9/10; 9/17; 9/23; 9/25; 9/26; 10/1; 10/3
Matinees at 2 pm: 9/16; 9/19; 9/27; 10/4

Insta: @reproecoplay @multistages @reproeco @femmecollectivetheatre
Info: ReproFreedomArts.org/reproeco

ReproFreedomArts.org

MultiStages Theatre

Dates (note -- 7 pm or 2 pm):
Wed Sept 9 at 7 pm (preview); Wed Sept 10 at 7 pm (second preview); Wed Sept 16 at 2 pm; Thurs Sept 17 at 7 pm; Sat Sept 19 at 2 pm; Wed Sept 23 at 7 pm; Fri Sept 25 at 7 pm; Sat Sept 26 at 7 pm; Sun Sept 27 at 2 pm; Thurs Oct 1 at 7 pm; Sat Oct 3 at 7 pm; and Sun Oct 4 at 2 pm

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Upcoming Sept 9 -Oct 4 2026: ReproEco: Tomorrow is Now

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

Return to Home Page

Resources: Listen to 40 Years of WINGS Feminist Radio

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:57:13 +0000

Reproductive freedom and rights are among a huge variety of feminist news on four decades of weekly radio programs by WINGS -- the Women's International News Gathering Service -- now accessible on the Internet.

The WINGS mission is about "Raising women's voices through radio worldwide."

Whether for listening or research or pitching, the WINGS programs offer a vast repository of material and ideas, including the on-the-scene voices of activist participants in the US and around the world.

This site, co-founded in 1986 by Frieda Werden at Western Public Radio in San Francisco. is still operating and Frieda Werden is still at the helm. By now the program has more than 1600 programs on feminist activism -- including one celebrating its 40th birthday.

WINGS began after the third UN World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985, well before the concept of a podcast existed. It was also a time when women were still finding a place as commentators or hosts in radio.

The programs today are available online -- current programs are on a website, and more than 1650 prior programs are loaded and organized on The Internet Archive (a few are on both).

Each show is about 28.30 in length, and each episode is numbered numerically its placement in that year. Some address multiple topics in the news, like this program from July 21, 1989 (#29-89) covering six topics that include the U.S. Supreme Court allowing the state of Missouri to withdraw public funds for abortion services; the woman prime minister of Norway discussing how workers should be better paid, and a program from Springfield, Illinois about the national conference of women in mining.

Other radio-casts focus on a single subject, such as this one (#32-90) from 1990 on the environmental activist Judi Bari and Earth First.

In describing its work, WINGS write: "We cover everything from the hyper local to major international news, but all within the context of international interest. This means that programs are framed in terms that listeners in other countries can relate to and understand."

With its focus on "women's voices, expertise, analyses, aims and achievements," the producers say, "We endeavor to leave the listener with at least some element of hope!"

Hundreds of topics are set out in 56 searchable pages as an index to 40 years of recordings on the Internet Archive. (Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free texts, movies, music and websites.)

The most popular tags in the WINGS archive -- divided by "filter" categories -- are topics of general interest. Topics claiming more than 100 programs: Women, Feminism, Society and Culture, Activism, Politics and Environment.

Frequent subjects, according to the editors: grassroots organizing, human rights, environment, law, politics, labor, economics, international relations, sexuality and reproductive rights, cultural survival, and technology. Among those tagged more than a dozen times in the archives: Civil Liberties, First Nations, Lesbian/Gay/Bi/Trans, Pollution, Women and Peace, Technology, Labor, Domestic Violence.

Searches are also available on the WINGS blog page using the list of categories, a date, or a general query.

Abortion and Reproductive Rights Topics Abound

Listed on the 'abortion' search, a dozen programs pop up. They include a 1992 discussion about the abortion ban in Ireland (#45-92); a 2021 retrospective analysis of Roe v. Wade (#39-21), and a discussion about regressive policies banning abortion in Poland (#04-23). A program from 2023 called 'Audio Art on Abortion,' (#04-23) reviews abortion news and history through collected audio, articulating people's experiences before Roe as patients or medical providers.

A recent two-part program on abortion interweaves current events with audio adapted from Dorothy Fadiman's groundbreaking film, From Danger to Dignity, describing the long fight to legalize abortion before Roe v. Wade with original commentary from Florynce Kennedy, Max Ticktin, Curtis Boyd, Peg Beissert, Huw Anwyl, Howard Moody, Lana Phelan, and more. Part One (#12-26) is here; and Part Two (#13-26) is here.

A recent 2026 show describes the status of the Global Gag Rule (#15-26) that denies U.S. aid to foreign groups that mention abortion (or do it). US human rights and reproductive rights expert Loretta Ross describes the history of the Gag rule, reinstated by the current US government, and provides first-hand reports from Kenya on how the curtailment has affected medical care there.

Other topics of deep interest to reproductive rights might fall under different category topics.

A 2026 WINGS program, Mobilizing Resentment - Analyzing the US right-wing (#16-26), reviews the world of the feminist activist and political science scholar Dr. Jean Hardisty (d. 2025), founder of Political Research Associates, about what fuels the men and women in right-wing movements.

A 2023 WINGS program focuses on birthing practices and the rights and dignity of mothers and babies in birth. Activist Elena Skoko discusses her own birth at a birthing center in Bali with midwife Ibu Robin Lim. The episode is called 'Memoirs of a Singing Birth' (#36-23)

WINGS also maintains a regular newsletter to alert listeners to new programs. People may subscribe by writing to wings@wings.org.

Pitching Work

Producers are welcome to pitch topics to WINGS.

WINGS does not require the shows to be exclusive, so WINGS is open to pitches on previously aired material that can be adapted to the WINGS format, but it doesn't consider essays, editorials, publicity pieces or self-help features.

"The heart of a good WINGS story," the editors write, "is women from the countries covered speaking for themselves. We want well-recorded, clear, intelligent, passionate statements, whether in the form of speeches or interviews or vox pops."

WINGS has specific suggestions for pitches, including tips ambient sound, translation style (chunks of the original voice to reveal emotions, then translated); the necessity for music rights; recording technique; narrator commentary (brief and factual without acronyms and jargon); as well as guidelines on introducing speakers, avoidance of narrator editorializing, a steady pace (not too fast), fact-checking, length, and editing options.

On tone, the editors write: "We like: interested, clear, and slightly warm."

And on structure, they advise: "Remember that it is important to have something both relevant and interesting at the start of a program, so people don't turn off the radio," and to build the story "from one piece of information to another, and from one emotion to another, so listeners will stay tuned in and learn something."

Freelance women producers can be paid a fee of $200 to $300 for a 28-minute program. WINGS retains the right to edit, if needed. The group also accepts donated audio from like-minded radio programs and podcasts.

Queries can be sent to wingsradionews@gmail.com or to wings@wings.org

In addition to Frieda Werden, Mindy Ran is the associate producer and Michèle Schuler manages the website and social media.

DETAILS FOR WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service
New Releases: https://wingsradio.org/wordpress/
Archive: Link
Search:https://wingsradio.org/wordpress/?page_id=7
Website:https://wings.org/
Facebook:facebook.com/wingsradio
BlueSky:https://bsky.app/profile/wingsradio.bsky.social
Email: wings@wings.org OR wingsradionews@gmail.com OR frieda.werden@gmail.com

Also see prior posts:

Resources: Digital Archives Preserve 75 Feminist Mags of Sixties, Seventies

Resources: Pacifica Digitizes and Opens Women's Radio, 1963-1982

Resources: Village Voice Online Creates Feminist Archive

Resources: Stories Highlight Jewish Women's Abortion Activism

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: WINGS: Women's Int

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Upcoming Sept 9 -Oct 4 2026: ReproEco: Tomorrow is Now

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

Return to Home Page

Opportunities: Funds for Creative Projects on Abortion

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 18:57:15 +0000

If you have an unconventional idea that has the potential to reshape abortion care or the understanding of it, the Abortion Conversation Projects wants you to apply for funding.

The Peg Johnston Innovation Fund is giving awards of $5,000 for the 'Emerging Visionary Award' and $10,000 for the 'Peg Johnston Innovation Award.' The deadline for applications is September 15, 2026.

The Fund is seeking bold ideas about abortion care, storytelling, support and ways of making meaning of abortion experiences. Those invited to apply may be innovators, researchers, artists, doulas, organizations and community leaders. "The next frontier in abortion care is human experience. We're funding the people and ideas shaping it," writes the organization.

The grant program, described as "feminist funding," is named for Peg Johnston, an abortion counselor, an artist, activist, curator, executive director of an abortion clinic and a co-founder of the Abortion Conversation Projects. Johnston, who died of cancer in 2023, co-authored the popular 'Pregnancy Options Workbook,' still online, which uses neutral exercises to help people decide if a pregnancy is right for them, and, as an artist, created and jump-started visual representations and gallery shows.

"Every effort was an opportunity to learn," wrote poet Abby Minor in a tribute to Peg in a previous blog, "Abortion and Art: A Remembrance of Peg Johnston." "Peg was truly invested in the pleasures of the long haul."

Now, the Innovation Fund is looking for projects that address meaning, identity, spirituality, grief, relief, transformation, relationships, and the stories (people) tell themselves about their experiences. "We are looking for ideas that challenge assumptions, create new possibilities, and help people navigate abortion with greater understanding, agency, connection, and meaning," the Fund writes.

The Fund writes:

"We are particularly interested in projects that explore questions such as:
- What aspects of abortion remain overlooked or underserved?
- How can we better support people before, during, and after abortion?
- What new forms of care, reflection, storytelling, or accompaniment are possible?
- How might abortion be understood as more than a medical event?
- What innovations could transform the lived experience of abortion?"

The Innovation Fund will consider a wide variety of approaches: Counseling and emotional support; Abortion doula models; Storytelling and narrative work; Spiritual and meaning-making resources; Community-based support initiatives; Research and evaluation; Educational tools and curricula; Digital products and technology; Art, film, writing, and creative practice; New approaches to accompaniment and care. "We believe the future of abortion care will be shaped not only by access, but by imagination.
And we are investing in the people building that future," the Fund says.

The "Emerging Visionary Award" will provide $5,000 for new ideas, early-stage projects to artists, grassroots innovators and other with a bold vision for the future of abortion support and care.

The "Peg Johnston Innovation Award" will grant $10,000 to established organizations, projects, and initiatives developing transformative approaches to the abortion experience, storytelling, education, and more.

Applications, due on Sept. 15, 2026, are filled out online. In addition to standard questions of name and address, applicants are asked to answer four central questions in essays limited to 200 to 500 words:

1. Describe your project. What are you creating, who is it for, and how will it change the way people experience, understand, or make meaning from abortion? (word limit: 500)

2. What is an aspect of abortion that nobody is exploring, but should be? (word limit: 200)

3. What new understanding of abortion becomes possible because of your work? (word limit: 200)

4. Imagine your project succeeds beyond your wildest expectations. Five years from now, what will people understand about abortion that they do not understand today? (words limit: 250)

Applicants must also supply a budget for how the money will be spent over a 12-month period, and are invited to share "any other interesting elements" of the project, and "anything else you wish us to know about you, your passion for abortion, or your org?"

Applicants may be in the U.S., or can be in other parts of the globe, as well. ("Ideas don't belong to one country. Neither does leadership. Neither does innovation.")

On Instagram (@abortionconversationprojects) and Facebook, the Fund reinforces its message of innovation."We're not funding more of the same." "Dream bigger. The field needs it." "The ... Fund exists for the work that doesn't quite fit the boxes." "Some of the most transformative ideas in abortion care have emerged from ... communities overlooked by traditional funding." "(W)e invest in bold ideas, wherever they begin."

The Abortion Conversation Projects (ACP) traces its beginnings to 2000 as a group aiming to create strategies to challenge abortion stigma. Later forming into an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, ACP has provided seed funding and launches to multitudes of projects ranging from visual art to publications, live performance (including ReproFreedomArts.org projects), action campaigns, education and more.

Details:
The Peg Johnston Innovation Fund, Deadline Sept 15, 2026
General Website: https://www.abortionconversationprojects.org/
Innovation Fund: https://www.abortionconversationprojects.org/innovation-fund
Application Form: https://form.jotform.com/261693640206052
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abortionconversation/
Instagram: @abortionconversationprojects https://www.instagram.com/abortionconversationprojects/
Contact: https://www.abortionconversationprojects.org/contact

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Abortion Conversation Projects

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Upcoming Sept 9 -Oct 4 2026: ReproEco: Tomorrow is Now

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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Denied Access: NY Events Support Reproductive Healthcare

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:52:53 +0000

by Velina Velikova, guest blogger

Cuts to U.S. funding for global health programs means that millions of people have lost access to reproductive care and maternal health services overseas at the same time that reproductive healthcare access in the U.S. is strained because of funding losses and harsh policies.

'Denied Access' is a multi-pronged summer campaign in Brooklyn launched by ACTUM Giving, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, to spread awareness, advocate for and fund reproductive healthcare access at a moment when it's under serious threat.

We're connecting around a single shared belief: reproductive healthcare is a basic human right.

By hosting a series of Denied Access events, we're bringing our community together through art, yoga and a social evening out to protect human rights for women and children -- in other countries and in the U.S.

Our events will support organizations that are working on the ground to improve healthcare -- Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation Tanzania (CCBRT), The Kupona Foundation in Tanzania, Global Impact Project in Texas, and Planned Parenthood of New York City. All funds raised in the events will support their work.

Too often, these topics get flattened into political debate or drowned in misinformation. We're creating welcoming spaces where people can learn what's happening and direct their energy to making real change for greater accessibility.

ACTUM Events in Brooklyn To Support Reproductive Healthcare

Denied Access: Stories in Art Sunday, July 12 | 12 PM - 4 PM | Bushwick, NYC

We're opening at River in Brooklyn's Bushwick community with a daytime art exhibit featuring local artists, live painting, and a short film created by ACTUM. The documentary follows the real-world impact of recent funding cuts, tracing how they've affected populations around the globe and right here at home in New York. Food and drinks will be offered.

Learn more and RSVP here: partiful.com/e/4zeOTAxFx3TTcdgx8wVw

Denied Access: Flow For Access Sunday, July 26 | 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM | Bushwick, NYC

At Baby Cobra Yoga in Bushwick, we're hosting a 60-minute vinyasa flow and meditation, followed by an optional open discussion about reproductive rights and what's at stake. Stick around after class for a special treat from a beloved community partner. Proceeds from every ticket go directly to the campaign. This event has limited spaces available, please secure your ticket.

Learn more and RSVP here: tickettailor.com/events/babycobrayoga/2252754

Denied Access: Sip & Shop Saturday, August 2 | 4 PM - 8 PM | Bedstuy, NYC

An evening sponsored by Bedstuy Cocktail, with a pop-up from VooVintage, a beloved Brooklyn vintage shop. Come for the cocktails, the shopping, and the company. A portion of every drink sold goes to the cause. Casual, community-driven, and a good time.

Learn more and RSVP here: partiful.com/e/Zjh9cZtYGKgxKYwiOfhf

Food and drinks at our events are sponsored by local community partners. Across all three events you'll find raffles, information on initiatives you can get involved with, incredible local artists, and a safe space where you can be passionate and curious surrounding sensitive topics revolving around human rights.

Aiding Work in the Ground

We are partnering with CCBRT (Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation Tanzania), The Kupona Foundation and Global Impact Project this summer across our full event series. We also stand in solidarity with Planned Parenthood of New York City, whose essential services, from preventive care to abortion, remain a lifeline for millions of people across the country. All funds from our events will support these organizations and their work.

CCBRT and The Kupona Foundation are on the ground in Tanzania supporting women living with obstetric fistulas, a devastating and largely preventable condition that affects some of the most vulnerable women in the world. Their work covers surgery, recovery and long-term community support, giving women their lives back. Sub-Saharan Africa receives roughly 40% of USAID's global budget, and the 2025 funding cuts have been catastrophic, according to an article in Lancet.

Global Impact Project is running a pop-up clinic at a girls' shelter in Houston, Texas focused on education and access: basic reproductive healthcare, preventive care, trauma-informed support, and on-site screenings and lab testing. Recent Medicaid cuts have made that gap even wider. The Congressional Budget Office projects that nearly 12 million people will lose Medicaid coverage under recent federal legislation, with young people and low-income communities bearing the heaviest burden.

We are also donating funds to Planned Parenthood of New York City, an organization that has been at the forefront of fighting for reproductive access across the country. Since January 2025, nearly 70 Planned Parenthood clinics have closed nationwide following federal Medicaid and Title X funding cuts, leaving millions without a provider. Their work has never been more important.

If you're in New York this summer and reproductive access matters to you, we'd love to see you. Come meet others who care deeply about humanitarian rights and reproductive access, get informed about what's actually happening, and be part of a community that turns that knowledge into action.

(And if you're not in New York, you're also invited to support the work of our partner organizations in Denied Access with a donation through our online portal.)

DETAILS: Denied Access Campaign
Full Event Schedule: actumgiving.org/events
Website: https://actumgiving.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actum.giving
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@actum.giving
Donate Directly: https://actumgiving.org/give
Email: actumgiving@gmail.com

Velina Velikova is the CEO and Founder of ACTUM Giving, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing human rights for women and children. After years of leading creative fundraising initiatives for organizations across multiple countries, she channeled her passion for community building and storytelling into a movement of her own. What began as a social media-driven fundraising effort has since grown into a global network centered on community events and on-the-ground impact.

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Actum Giving

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Upcoming Sept 9 -Oct 4 2026: ReproEco: Tomorrow is Now

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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Judith Arcana: Abortion Rights Poet and Change Agent

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 22:02:56 +0000

Judith Arcana was an outstanding activist, chronicler, teacher and poet in the abortion rights movement.

With a deep understanding of reproductive freedom, she addressed the subject often -- with creative writing.

Arcana died six months ago on December 20, 2025 at age 83 in Portland, OR, where she was then living. But her words, carefully shaped with tender language and expansive knowledge, wrapped reproductive rights into real world stories that carry on.

In 2000, when ReproFreedomArts.org (then called Words of Choice) first created a performance piece from writings about reproductive freedom, Judith Arcana was the first author we approached. We were creating a collage performance of works by several writers, but hers was definitely on the top of the list. Her poems translated wonderfully into performance.

From then on, through hundreds of performances, travel to more than 20 states, live streaming across the world, engagement with dozens upon dozens of organizations, colleges, theaters, community centers, we always included a piece by Judith Arcana.

The first piece, and the one we performed most frequently, was 'She Said: Before 1973.' It draws upon her work with Jane, the colloquial name of the underground Abortion Counseling Service of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union which provided thousands of abortions to people who sought them before abortion was legal.

When seven Jane volunteers were arrested in 1972, Judith was among them (the charges, which could have amounted to scores of years in prison, were dropped when Roe v. Wade came into force in 1973). Judith proudly used her mugshot as the cover in a later publication, although the ordeal that she describes upon arrest is no less harrowing.

Other people have written about Jane, and people like founder Heather Booth had more encompassing roles. But, in reflection as the years passed, Judith spoke with the eloquence of a poet to bring personality and humanity to Jane. She expressed the depth and the soul of people who sought abortion care, and those who stepped forward to provide it. Judith would never say she was part of the Jane Collective, as it is often called, or that she was a Jane volunteer. She would insist on describing herself in first-person, present, ongoing language: 'I Am A Jane,' she would say.

In She Said: Before 1973, Judith paints carefully framed, imagistic portraits of the women who came to Jane for abortion care. You can listen to the performance of actors Julissa Roman, Claudia Schneider and Crista Marie Jackson (under the direction of Francesca Mantani Arkus) on Soundcloud. (Note 'She Said' begins after a short introduction.)

This is text from 'She Said: Before 1973':

On the phone she said, I have a friend who's got a problem, but she couldn't get to a phone so I'm calling for her. Do you know what I mean? Is this the right place?

When we were putting in the speculum, she said, Oh, I had breakfast before I came. I know I wasn't supposed to but I was so hungry I just ate everything in sight, is that ok?

Later she said, I think I have to throw up.

She stood on the back steps outside the counselor's apartment and said, This is mi prima, my cousin, from Mexico. Can you talk Spanish to her? Habla un poco? Un poquito? Si, gringa! We will do this.

No, I'll keep it on, I'm not hot, it's ok, I'm fine. She was wearing her boyfriend's baseball jacket in the kitchen. She said, Just tell me what I have to know.

When we told her she should pay whatever she could afford, she was quiet a minute and then said, I think I can get nine dollars.

He doesn't like me to talk to my mother. Him and his mother, they don't let me go home to visit. She put the tiny baby in her mother's arms and said, We sneaked to come for this appointment. He doesn't know I'm pregnant again. My baby is so new, I can't have another one right away. He wouldn't even want it really, he thinks this one makes too much noise. He doesn't like me to do anything without his permission.

Why do you do this? She looked around the small bedroom and said, You're not rich. With what you charge, you can't be doing this for the money. What's it all about? Are you a bunch of women's libbers? Is that it?

She gulped some water in the kitchen and said, Oh thank you, you'll never know what this means to me, thank you so much. I can't thank you enough, I'm sure. I know some people say it's wrong, abortion, that you shouldn't take a life. And maybe you did take a life. But it’s all give and take, isn’t it? My mother always said that everything always comes down to give and take. So the baby, today, that was the taking – and me, me, my own life, I think that was the giving.

You can read the performing script of 'She Said: Before 1973' in Frontlines: Political Plays by American Women (ed. Shirley Lauro, Alexis Greene). It's also published in our anthology, Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom (p. 63), along with another poem about Jane, Women's Liberation (for Esther).

You can watch a performance of the poem by Arizona Matters with Deaf Sign Language performer Nehemiah Danjuma on the YouTube presentation of Reproductive Freedom is What We Want by ReproFreedomArts.org (third selection in the program, at 2:05 min).

Judith talks about Jane and the state of reproductive rights in this five-minute clip on YouTube, and a long-form audio interview is on Melissa Madera's podcast, The Abortion Diary.

Film

Judith also engaged with reproductive freedom topics in film explorations.

She was an engine behind the production of The Janes, a documentary film about Jane, co-produced by her son, Daniel Arcana, and directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pilades, who also served co-producer. Judith is an important voice in the film, and her sense of integrity and truth is infused throughout it.

The Janes was an Official Selection of the Sundance Festival, a prestigious honor. Watch a trailer (320,000 views since 2022). Or watch the whole film on HBO or Prime Video. You can also request to host a screening from The Janes website.

Judith was also consulted in a smaller role on the 2018 Indie drama Ask for Jane. Produced by Cait Cortelyou (also in the film), Josh Folan and Caroline Hirsch, the captivating drama written and directed by Rachel Carey, shows the Janes in action. You can watch the trailer here (Judith had a cameo role).

Judith also appeared in other films highlighting women's liberation, including She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry directed by. Mary Dore (2014) and Our Bodies Our Doctors directed by Jan Haaken (2019).

Writing about writing

Judith's contributions to reproductive freedom extended to broader level as she took on a role advocating for more writing on abortion, and encouraging others to take a creative plunge.

She wrote many blogs for ReproFreedomArts, often describing her process and thinking. One of those pieces, See Jane Write, remains one of the most frequently read posts of 580 on our site. Written in 2008, a time period when people didn't want to talk about abortion publicly and were lulled into turning away from its central importance to people's lives, she reflected on why she chose it as a topic.

In writing poems ... I learned that people who read and/or hear this work performed want to think about these things in authentic ways; they want to go beyond the polarizing politics and fatuous, canned media “coverage” of hard, frightening truths, vicious arguments and conflicted decisions. Art illuminates the painful and tender experiences inside the national shouting match, encouraging us to think carefully, to actually feel what polemics only obscure or ignore.

I’m writing fiction that draws from – and draws attention to – that same deep well of human experience, that broad sector inside the great range of motherhood issues, issues of women’s sexuality, and the relationship between the politics we live inside of and our own intimate lives.

Judith wrote and appeared in many other blogs:

See Jane Write (February 2008)
Described above, about deciding in 1998 to write about abortion and related topics.

Movies to Watch (March 2008)
A review of Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days, about an illegal abortion overseas

Poetry: A look at Judith Arcana's writings by guest blogger Merle Hoffman
A review of Judith's work, 'What if your mother'? that underscores the insightfulness of writing: 'a kaleidoscope of reflections, responses and challenges to this most philosophical of questions.'

Remembering Slain Doctors with Poetry: Judith Arcana (June 2009)
A poem by Judith Arcana writtn for Dr. Barnett Slepian and dedicated to Dr. George Tiller

Activist Writer: Remembering Grace Paley by Judith Arcana (December 2010)
An essay by Judith describing the influence of Grace Paley and Judith's book about her

Power in Poetry of Choice: In Honor of Adrienne Rich (March 2012)
Describes several poems, including Women's Liberation, 1971 by Judith Arcana

JANEBILL: Futuristic Intergenerational JANE (June 2013)
Describes the publication of a new story by Judith that imagines a harrowing future when reproductive rights are tossed back, but activists plot to overcome them -- pretty much predicting today

Find Your History, Honor It: Portland Celebrates Pre-Roe Abortion Provider Ruth Barnett (Nov 2015)
A story about an event organized by Judith Arcana to honor an early provider

Street Theater in Oregon Marks the Arrest of Birth Control Activists (June 2016)
A street recreation of arrests of birth control advocates of the early 1900s

Documentary Podcast Tells the Story of JANE (May 2018)
Judith Arcana and two others are interviewed

Fiction Shares the Stories of JANE by Judith Arcana (April 2020)
Describes her new publication of fictional stories recalling Jane and other adventures

Resources: Stories Highlight Jewish Women's Abortion Activism (May 2025)
Includes reference and link to a bio of Judith Arcana

Regeneration -- Judith in Action

In 2020, we launched a project called Regeneration by which we paired together six mature freedom fighters with six activist-minded young people, ages 16 to 23. The goal was to challenge what the media described as a generational divide by bringing generations together in conversation, and then expressing their experiences in writing.

We invited Judith Arcana to participate, and of course, she agreed. She was paired Manju Bangalore and they bonded in meetings on Zoom and even in a Covid-era walk in the park in Portland.

After that, Judith responded with a beautiful new poem, 'We Have Always Done This.'

The text says:

We Have Always Done This by Judith Arcana

We have always done this.

The moon rises, glowing silver-white.
The old woman watches it rise.
Standing in the grass of the meadow, looking up over the trees, she watches the moon rise.

On this night, for this moon, she is standing there.
She has been called to welcome the moon.
She has been called to talk with the young ones.

She will tell them: We have always known this; we have always done this.

Some have the skill in their hands.
Some grow the herbs. Some carry the tools.
Some chant, beat the drums, rock their bodies under the moon.

We do this now, she will tell them. We have always done this.
This is in our blood.
Our blood is in you, she tells the young ones.

We must know when to do this. We must know when not to do this.
Dream and dance and think, together.
Dream and dance and think, alone.

Ask the moon in her narrow crescent, and as she grows, rounding.
Answers will be luminous in the silver-white light of the moon.
Answers will be shadows in the moon’s dark time.

We can make life, and break it.
We tend life, and can end it.
Always, we ask: Is now the time for this life?

You will decide, she tells the young ones: Always, you will decide.

(copyr. 2020)

Watch a recording of the poem performed by Jaye Austin Williams, directed by Stacey Linnartz (embed below).

Lasting Words: Ever Supportive

There is more to say about Judith Arcana, of course, and some of it is on her website, still in force, or on the site of KBOO-fm radio in Portland, where she hosted a poetry hour. She wrote many other poems and stories -- about education and parenting and hypocrisy and, possibly her favorite topic, her tattoo experiences.

But perhaps the final thing to say is this: Judith was ever supportive of people using creative means to advance human rights. She was fond of sending little notes -- in the mail -- with mementos and encouragement. Not infrequently, they came at a hard moment and had the intended effect -- focusing and keeping on. A 'Change Agent' badge she sent still hangs as a decoration nearby, ready to bolster every faltering.

West coast journalist Megan Burbank in a remembrance about Judith published in the Portland Mercury describes similarly how she became friends with Judith Arcana and how Judith was always there with an empathetic ear or encouraging thought, sharing "a world shaped by her own bravery and moral clarity, showing all of us what is possible."

In 'We Have Always Done This,' (above) I see the lasting words that Judith was generous enough to pass on: Dream and dance and think, together. Dream and dance and think, alone.

Below: Jaye Austin Williams performing Judith Arcana's 'We Have Always Done This' on Zoom

Posted by Cindy Cooper; Poetry copyr Judith Arcana
Images: Repro Freedom Arts.org; Regeneration graphic, Emory Kemph; Judith Arcana

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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Opportunities: Soliciting Art, Posters for Repro Justice Display

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Fri, 29 May 2026 05:27:42 +0000

Add your signs and designs in support of reproductive justice to a newly-launched online campaign.

Athena Project, a Colorado-based arts group with the motto "Amplify Women Amplify Arts," is conducting a one-month campaign through most of June 2026 of publicly-submitted art related to reproductive justice.

The goal: to inspire audiences to take action in support of reproductive justice.

People are invited to send in their art or protest photos.

Selected images will be displayed throughout the month, and possibly thereafter, on the Athena social media (such as Insta @athenaprojectarts), along with suggested calls to action using the hashtag #ReproductiveJustice.

Athena invites submissions of:

1) Repro Justice art pieces. Samples of past pieces Athena has projected are on this gallery. There you'll see graphic designs, paintings, photography and textile art: submissions in any art form are welcome.

2) Protest sign images. People are invited to share a photo of a protest sign that you made or took on a Reproductive-Justice related topic. "Make sure that NO face is visible in the photographs unless it is your own."

Focusing on Reproductive Justice

To help people find the right pieces to submit, the group offers a definition and history of Reproductive Justice, drawing upon the 1994 description of the Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice. Athena believes "that every person deserves access to the rights and resources necessary to make decisions about their own bodies. We unequivocally support Reproductive Justice.

"Reproductive Justice means we ensure that ALL humans have the resources and freedom to make informed decisions about their reproductive lives and receive adequate care, regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, economic status, and disability.

"Reproductive rights are human rights. Athena Project understands the concept of #ReproductiveJustice as rooted in the demand for universal reproductive rights for ALL human beings: The right to have a child; the right NOT to have a child; the right to raise children in safe and healthy environments; the right to self-determine any reproductive procedures and one’s gender identity."

Athena Project also recognizes that Reproductive Justice touches upon many intersectional concerns, including disproportionate impacts on communities of color, people with disabilities, economically-stressed, LGBTQ+, access, health insurance. Special action targets of month-long campaign include encouraging people to check their voter registration, engage in political activism, participate in protests and volunteer.

Submitting Your Repro Justice Art

Athena writes that "artists are a powerful force in the fight for social justice." And the coordinator of this project, Iris Stanfill, writes, "The power of art to promote equity, demand justice, and spark transformative change is a force to be reckoned with."

To submit your art, whether posters or protest photos, go to the Google form at this link. In addition to standard identifying information and assurances that the work is yours, you are asked to share, optionally, why you took the photo or created the artwork, and what resonated about it or inspired you. Submissions may also be sent by email to istanfill@athenaprojectarts.org or by Instagram DM @athenaprojectarts.

There is no submission fee. People who submit their art become eligible for a chance to win Athena merch or Reproductive Justice art print.

DETAILS: Athena Project Repro Justice Protest Photos and Art
Website: athenaprojectarts.org
ReproJustice Art Invite: https://athenaprojectarts.org/taking-action-for-reproductive-justice
Submission Form: bit.ly/4t7106K
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AthenaProjectArts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/athenaprojectarts @athenaprojectarts
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/athena-project
Email: istanfill@athenaprojectarts.org or info@athenaprojectarts.org.
Hashtag: #ReproductiveJustice

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Athena Project: Top-Art created by Julie Kitzies for Athena ReproJustice Campaign/Lower- Photo by Aimee Starr

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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'Barefoot and Pregnant' Country Song Rocks Post-Roe Era

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Tue, 19 May 2026 04:36:01 +0000

It's entirely appropriate that the post-Dobbs anthem for reproductive freedom has a distinctly country sound.

Barefoot & Pregnant by Gwen Levey and The Breakdown has amassed 25 million views on its platforms, according to Levey, who is the lead singer and co-writer.

The song, with catchy lyrics and an equally catchy tune, was launched on TikTok by the country-rock singer after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade and ended federal protection for abortion rights. The song quickly went viral.

The YouTube video with tongue--in-cheek video images -- think Handmaid's Tale with irony and humor woven into it -- has gathered three-quarters of a million views and hundreds of comments.

Written by Levey in collaboration with Will Rambeaux and Sherrie Austin, the first verse and the chorus of the song reflect the punchy commentary on what it means to have your rights tossed out:

What do we do with the girl next door?
She's got no choice like she did before
What do we do with the farmer's daughter?
The court took away what her mama fought for
Ask the good old boys drinkin' whiskey and rye
What do we do with Miss American Pie,let's keep her

[Chorus]
Barefoot and pregnant and down on the farm
Cookin' in the kitchen and cleanin' out the barn
Prayin' in church, a credit to her gender
Poppin' out babies like a Pez dispenser
Nine outta 10 evangelicals would agree, let's keep her
Barefoot and pregnant
Like the good lord meant her to be

Levey has not been shy about her motivation for releasing the song as a critique of conservative 'family values.' She is outspoken about being a survivor of child and adult sexual abuse. Now, she also criticizes country music stations that refuse to play the song, even though it has a huge following and the video won the Award of Excellence for Best Music Video at the Best Shorts Competition.

Levey also sings at protest events, both in Tennessee, where she now lives, and at the 2024 Day for Democracy, the 2025 People’s March, and Network Nova’s 2025 Women’s Power Summit in Washington, D.C., according to her website bio.

Barefoot & Pregnant encouraged Levey "to make it her mission to use her art to fuel her activism and got on her soapbox about the importance of women’s rights."

She does just that. A sample post on Instagram: “Keep fighting, keep using your voice, do not give up, we are not going back!!”

She was named last summer by Bust Magazine as 'one of five female artists you should be following right now." Writer Colleen Luckette, "The Abortion Influencer," did a long-form commentary well before that, describing Levey's ability to blend "powerful lyrics with a passion for justice" in a Medium article, "Barefoot & Defiant: Nashville Country Rock Singer Strikes a Chord for Women’s Rights."

Parallels Going Back a Half-Century

Levey's viral song is reminiscent of another country song, more than fifty years earlier, that celebrated reproductive freedom -- 'The Pill' -- by the popular country singer Loretta Lynn.

The Pill came out as the reproductive freedom movement was in ascendance, and the U.S. Supreme Court had recently declared -- finally -- that birth control is a matter of personal privacy and that contraceptives could be legally dispensed. Lynn's song celebrated that newfound freedom in her snappy 1972 song, as described in this post.

Loretta Lynn

All of the lyrics are printed in the post, but some key lines are:

All these years I've stayed at home
While you had all your fun
And every year that's gone by
Another baby's come

There's a gonna be some changes made
Right here on nursery hill
You've set this chicken your last time
'Cause now I've got the pill

With a similarly joyous country sound, Loretta Lynn's song was widely banned from country radio. But like Gwen Levey's Barefoot and Pregnant, that didn't stop people from listening to it and it hit five on the country charts.

In one interview, Lynn said that doctors told her the song woke up rural women to contraceptive options in a way that the literature and lectures had not.

And both Loretta Lynn's classic and Gwen Levey's new anthem are the best reminders that the need for reproductive freedom is not limited to one party, one state, one geographic center, one type of life trajectory or one genre of music.

DETAILS: 'Barefoot and Pregnant,' by Gwen Levey and The Breakdown
Website: gwenleveyandthebreakdown.com
YouTube: https://youtu.be/5Sa30gLVDxA?si=bdZQPGgVWJDJAHiz
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/gwenleveymusic/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GwenLeveyandTheBreakdown
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gwenleveymusic
Lyrics: https://orcd.co/notthegirlnextdoor
Linked Tree: https://linktr.ee/gwenleveyandthebreakdown

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Gwen Levey Video and TikTok; Loretta Lynn on Tour, 1975, Gene Pugh (cropped)

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Upcoming Fall 2026: ReproEco: Plays with Dance

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

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Researching Back-Alley Deaths and Writing 'Given No Choice'

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:21:28 +0000

by Cody McDevitt, guest blogger

The origin of Given No Choice: A History of Abortion Rights was not a book proposal. It was, at first, a failed article.

I had set out to write for a local alternative weekly about a coroner who had performed autopsies on women who died during back-alley abortions. The subject had a grim clarity -- the kind of story that resists abstraction because the consequences are so plainly written on the body.

But the article never materialized due to a lack of interest among editors during the Roe v. Wade era, when many thought abortion was a settled issue. What did emerge from that effort was something more consequential: a conversation with the coroner himself, Cyril Wecht.

When I suggested the topic might sustain a longer treatment, he mentioned that he had spent decades collecting newspaper clippings and documents related to abortion -- an archive assembled over 60 years. That detail altered the scale of the project. It suggested not just a story, but a record; not just an episode, but a history waiting to be reconstructed.

Doing the Research

The book, Given No Choice, that followed was built through methods that were, by necessity, expansive. The Vanderbilt Television News Archive became a central resource. I worked through it systematically, watching how abortion was framed and debated for a national audience over time. It provided a record not just of events, but of how those events were understood as they unfolded.

I also relied on Newspapers.com, reconstructing cases by cross-referencing scattered accounts and rebuilding timelines from contemporaneous reporting. This method -- only recently feasible at scale --will become even more accessible as microfilm archives are integrated with AI systems that can sort and synthesize historical records.

That work was supplemented by more traditional means. I read widely across legal, historical, and sociological literature, and conducted hundreds of interviews through my newsletter, Repro Rights Now.

History, when it is still being lived, requires listening as much as it requires reading.
What surprised me most was not resistance, but openness. The women I spoke with were willing to engage, to explain, to include.

My presence as a man was noted, but rarely emphasized. What mattered more was the seriousness of the work. That openness underscored something I came to appreciate more fully: the quality of leadership within the movement. Figures like Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem reveal, upon closer study, a kind of strategic intelligence and persuasion that transcends identity.

There is something instructive in that for anyone interested in leadership. To learn from those who have operated effectively in difficult circumstances is to expand one’s own capacity for judgment—and to better understand how to lead across difference.

If the book has a central purpose, it is to provide historical grounding for a debate often conducted without one. Without understanding how the issue evolved, it becomes difficult to engage with it in depth. My aim was not to settle the argument, but to inform it -- to offer readers a foundation from which they can explore further, including the work of historians such as Leslie Reagan and Ricki Solinger.

Following the Story

The project extended beyond the book.

I developed a play centered on the trial of Aleck Bourne, though the more compelling figure proved to be Joan Malleson, who helped arrange the abortion and was deeply involved in reform efforts. Her story raises difficult questions about strategy and the ethical complexity of using individual cases to drive systemic change.

I am also looking to extend this work into the theater in collaboration with established professionals who can bring historical material to life on stage.

The play is meant to be a living project, shaped by directors and actors who understand how to translate complex history into something immediate and human. There is a rare opportunity here: Malleson’s son is still alive, giving an actress the chance to speak with him directly and shape the role with a level of authenticity few productions can claim. Anyone interested in developing, directing, or performing in the project is welcome to reach out at codymcdevitt@gmail.com.

In the end, Given No Choice is an attempt to connect the archival with the contemporary, the legal with the lived, the past with the present. If it succeeds, it will not be because it resolves the tensions within the subject, but because it illuminates them.

The book is available through major retailers, including Amazon, in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats. More of my ongoing work can be found at reprorights.substack.com.

Cody McDevitt is an investigative reporter based in western Pennsylvania. He has won a Golden Quill and awards from the Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association and the Pennsylvania Associated Press Media Editors Organization. He can be reached at codymcdevitt@gmail.com.

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Book cover

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Upcoming Fall 2026: ReproEco: Plays with Dance

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

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Abortion Stories Earn Webby Nomination for Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:06:00 +0000

A podcast nomination for a prestigious Webby Award 2026 (news and politics category) shines a light on two people providing the essential needs for abortion care post-Dobbs, one through pill delivery by mail and the other with clinical care for in-person services (and some pill delivery, too).

These, of course, are two essentials to abortion access in the U.S., and the podcast manages to provide a big-picture view, too.

The podcast, The State of Abortion, 3 years since Dobb, is from The Story Exchange, a nonprofit media organization ("For Women, By Women") that aims to provide "inspiration and information to entrepreneurial women."

The episode nominated for an award was produced by Coleen DeBaise, executive editor of The Story Exchange, and Sue Williams, site co-founder (with Victoria Wang). The nominated program aired in 2025, but it's still on-target as we now approach Dobbs four years out. In 33 minutes, the podcast gives a genial, crisp and information-packed view of the bold and righteous activities supporting abortion care today. (Go here and scroll down to listen for free; look for an image of a pregnancy test -- see picture below.)

The State of Abortion podcast features interviews with women who are at the forefront of delivering abortion care -- Angel Foster and Julie Burkhart (pictured above). The program, tightly edited, is interwoven with key news clips on major abortion-rights developments pre- and post-Dobbs.

The hosts note that, according to trusted reporting, the number of abortions in the U.S. has risen since the Dobbs decision ended a federal constitutional right to abortion, an outcome that is a surprise to many observers. The podcast answers why that is the case.

Pill Access

One answer is in the 2023 formation of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, called The MAP, and other similar online services. Co-founder of The Map, Angel Foster, is a professor and physician and she describes how their service facilitates patient access to abortion pills across the country by online, phone and text (think telehealth without the video), delivering abortion medication to people in any state, including those that have banned abortion.

Foster's group can do this because Massachusetts is a state where abortion is legal and is also one of several states (eight to date) that has a law protecting the doctors who send out pills, known as a shield law. The doctors are 'shielded' from nasty lawsuits or criminal charges when anti-abortion prosecutors in ban states try to stop their residents from getting the pills by mail. The Massachusetts shield law holds that if the services are rendered by a licensed doctor in the state, then, for the purposes of care, the patient is also in that state.

Many patients of The MAP are in rural communities; a large number are in Texas. Pills generally cost $75; some patients have subsidies that lower those costs. The MAP program reached nearly 11,000 patients in 2024.

Angel Foster; at top: Julie Burkhart

Abortion pills now account for 60 percent of abortions in the U.S. The MAP service operates with five clinicians, an office staff and volunteers who hold packing parties and raise funds.

In the podcast, Foster talks about why she started the program, and acknowledges that there are risks (a doctor in New York has been sued and one state has attempted to charge her criminally, for example). “They’ll come after us. I’m sure,” says Foster. But, she adds, "We feel really confident in what we are doing."

Clinic Access

The second interview, of Julie Burkhart, describes how the challenges and satisfaction in opening a new clinic in Wyoming. Burkhart, a veteran healthcare provider, had worked for the much-admired Dr. George Tiller, the Kansas doctor who was assassinated in 2009 -- on the podcast, she describes it as leaving "a hole in your heart." Since then, she continued to develop new facilities to provide abortion services, both before and after Dobbs in Kansas, Oklahoma, and now Wyoming.

Burkhart's Wyoming facility, Wellspring Health Access in Casper, WY, offers surgical abortion care in-person, as well as abortion pills by telemedicine. Burkhart has had her share of challenges, including an arson that forced rebuilding, and efforts to make abortion illegal in Wyoming, which she discusses on The Story Exchange podcast.

The clinic has also been able to serve women in Wyoming and those from 18 other states who travel there, including from South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Utah and Idaho, which have restricted abortion care. It shows, the program says, that even with abortion pills, here is still a need for 'bricks and mortar' facility.

Burkhart describes how she keeps going because she is passionate about what she does. As for fear -- "If we can walk through it, even though it's so frightening ... it's okay on the other side of that," she says. "And also not to be reckless, to be smart about what we are doing."

As with Foster, The Story Exchange also publishes a separate print interview with Burkhart, The Resilient Provider Who’s Survived Arson, Death Threats and Supreme Court Rulings

The Story Exchange (free site) also invites readers to share their own stories, and covers topics ranging from climate action to culinary pioneers, to myriad stories on healthy baby products, menopause care, and leading women.

Details: "The State of Abortion: 3 Years Since Dobbs" from The Story Exchange
Website: https://thestoryexchange.org
Podcast access (scroll down): https://thestoryexchange.org/podcast
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/thestoryexchange.bsky.social
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheStoryExchange
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/thestoryexchange
Email: info@thestoryexchange.org

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: screenshots, The Story Exchange; pictured at top: Julie Burkhart

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Upcoming Fall 2026: ReproEco: Plays with Dance

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

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Abortion Zine: Free for Group Activity, Individual Need

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 22:37:00 +0000

A new zine emerging from the Midwest provides people with handy instructions on how to self-manage their abortions and find resources.

“Your Liberation, Your Rules: A Support Guide” is prepared by a health professional and activist who uses the name Jayne.

In the zine, Jayne gives concise and trustworthy information about how to self-manage an abortion, where to find resources for health and emotional aid, and affirmations to support people navigating abortion decisions.

Fresh off the press, the zine is distributed virtually for free as a template, along with instructions about how to print, cut and fold – making it a perfect project for a group activity or an individual action.

"Your Liberation, Your Rules" can be printed on two sheets of paper, front and back. It is then cut and folded into 16 pages that are approximately 4 inches by 5 inches and can collated and then neatly tucked away into a drawer or bag for distribution or use.

The compact zine has pages in black and white, easy for copying. With graphic designs that keep the text attractive and ultra readable, and illustrations that offer outlines of shapes like butterflies or hearts, the zine can be used as-is. Or people sit down with crayons and colored pencils and color the illustrations.

In an email exchange, Jayne described how and why the zine came about.

Jayne, it turns out, is a healthcare worker, who has been working in the field for ten years, focusing on reproductive healthcare for the last five years:

Jayne writes:

“Abortion care is where I found my home in healthcare and truly changed my life. My work in abortion care changed the way I showed up as a health care worker.

I have cared for hundreds of patients accessing abortion care. In addition, I love working with trans and nonbinary folks accessing hormone therapy.

My work in abortion care began right as the Dobbs decision (2022) shifted the abortion landscape as we knew it, for many decades.

My idea for the zine came from working with community organizing pals here in the Midwest and that helped my vision come to life. In my city, artists host and table at Zine Fest, where a pal was tabling and encouraged me to put this zine together to distribute. They provided me the template and helped me assemble the pages in the zine format.

Zines are a quick way to distribute education and can be stored discreetly in a safe place if you ever need it.

I decided that I wanted folks to be able to color their zine how they desire, or leave it black and white if they’d rather. I mainly wanted an easy guide to navigating all of the great organizations that help provide abortion navigation and support to those seeking care.

It can feel very isolating and daunting to navigate obtaining abortion care. I hope this resource can help individuals find support from organizations that will support their choice and freedom however they need it.

This zine has been provided to my local abortion fund as well as others in the Midwest and east coast, and to organizers in New York and Tennessee.

I plan to continue to reach out to abortion funds to share the design if they wanted to distribute it as a resource. I encourage folks to take copies for friends and distribute how they see fit.

Out in the world is where this little guide belongs!"

People can request templates by emailing and describing where they intend to distribute so that Jayne can keep track of the places that it reaches. The zine design and template are shared by email or social media messaging. There is no charge.

Send requests for the zine design/template for "Your Liberation, Your Rules: A Support Guide" to: ABzinerequests@proton.me

See more about other abortion zines in this 2022 blog: Resources: Creative Zines Combine Art and Stories for Repro Insights 2022

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: 'Your Liberation, Your Rules' Abortion Zine

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Upcoming Fall 2026: ReproEco: Plays with Dance

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

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'PLAN C' Play Explores Covert Networks Across Time

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 15:53:00 +0000

by guest writer Carrie Heitman

The new play PLAN C opening in New York follows a present-day group in a small American town that quietly organizes to help people access reproductive healthcare, alongside the historic story of a covert group of women operating a secret communication network in 1628 Europe.

The play by Hook & Eye Theatre is about networks -- how they form, how they survive and how ordinary people sustain one another when official systems fail them.

Created in a devised, ensemble process, the characters are set across two timelines centuries apart. Both confront strikingly similar questions: What do you do when the law is unjust? How do people share information safely? And what courage is required to act when the stakes are personal and immediate?

A comedy -- sometimes biting, sometimes absurd -- PLAN C is about intelligence operations, friendship and the ingenuity required to keep a network alive.

At its core, the play celebrates the often invisible labor of women supporting one another: passing information, creating pathways and sustaining community in moments when institutions fail to protect them.

Investigating Hidden Systems

We began exploring this project several years ago, during a period of enormous upheaval around reproductive rights in the United States.

The questions that sparked the work were not theoretical. They were practical: When civic frustration is high, what can individuals actually do? What happens when you are not a policymaker, when you cannot pass a bill, when the mechanisms of power feel distant or inaccessible?

History provided an answer repeated again and again: people improvise. They build networks. They pass information quietly. They accompany one another to borders, to doctors’ appointments, to courtrooms. Long before formal institutions caught up, communities created their own systems of care and resistance.

We also discovered extraordinary historical figures -- women who operated intelligence networks, smuggled information, and ran sophisticated communication systems during times of political and religious conflict in early modern Europe.

Rather than simply dramatizing these figures, we used their stories as inspiration to invent something new. The 1628 story line in PLAN C imagines a clandestine “chamber” of women who gather information and quietly reshape political outcomes from the margins.

At the same time, we were looking closely at contemporary grassroots networks working to expand access to reproductive healthcare -- organizations that distribute accurate medical information, support patients across state lines and advocate for bodily autonomy in practical ways.

The present-day story line of PLAN C reflects the ingenuity and determination of these modern networks.

Creating A Lab for Storytelling

Hook & Eye Theater developed the play through our ensemble-driven devising process. Rather than starting with a finished script, we began with research, historic documents, news articles, and long conversations with collaborators and advisors.

From there, the ensemble built scenes through improvisation, movement, and debate. Actors experimented with language, character relationships and narrative structure, while designers explored how sound, lighting and visual imagery could help audiences move fluidly between centuries.

Our rehearsal room became a laboratory for storytelling. Scenes were built, dismantled, and rebuilt again.

We asked questions constantly: What information is being passed in this moment? Who holds power here? Who is listening? Who is at risk?

The play’s two timelines began to echo each other, revealing that technology changes, but the human mechanics of organizing -- trust, courage, secrecy, humor -- remain remarkably consistent.

Humor is essential to the piece. The situations in PLAN C are high stakes, but the characters are clever, flawed and funny. Comedy allows the play to examine difficult questions without becoming didactic. It also reflects reality: humor is one way that communities sustain themselves under pressure. Laughter creates resilience, and resilience keeps networks alive.

Honoring Possibility and the Arts

We hope audiences take away from PLAN C a sense of possibility.

The play does not present heroes in the traditional sense. Instead, it shows ordinary people deciding -- sometimes reluctantly, sometimes boldly -- to participate in something larger than themselves. Small actions accumulate. Information travels hand to hand. A conversation leads to another conversation. A network begins to form.

Art has a unique role in advancing social justice because it allows us to rehearse empathy and imagination. Policy debates can feel abstract, but theater brings us into direct contact with human choices and consequences.

In the shared room of a theatre, watching a story unfold in real time, audiences experience the tension, humor, fear and courage alongside the characters. The questions become personal rather than theoretical.

Theater also creates space for dialogue. After select performances of PLAN C, we host conversations with organizations working on reproductive rights, health and justice. These discussions invite audiences to reflect on the play and to learn about real-world efforts that support bodily autonomy and access to care. The goal is not simply to present a story, but to connect that story to ongoing work in our communities.

PLAN C ultimately argues that social change rarely begins with grand gestures. More often, it begins with people sharing information, looking out for one another and refusing to accept that they are powerless. Networks -- past and present -- are built through trust, creativity and persistence.

Carrie Heitman is the Artistic Director of Hook & Eye Theatre, and the director of PLAN C.

PLAY SYNOPSIS:

PLAN C is a darkly funny, time-collapsing caper of resistance, resourcefulness and rebellion by Hook & Eye Theater Company in which 17th-century espionage collides with a modern small-town shop. Imperial postmistress Alexandrine Von Taxis, Brussels 1620, moves more than mail through the empire’s hands during The Thirty Years’ War. In present-day West Virginia, Charley Gibson runs her family’s hardware store, where lockers hide more than tools. PLAN C exposes how rebellion takes shape - through wit, nerve, and crossing a line.

Using movement, original music and ensemble-driven storytelling, PLAN C theatrically flips between two eras to create a madcap theatrical experience that reflects the complexities of the present moment. With Hook & Eye’s signature devising style, this nine-person ensemble brings to life a fierce and funny story of whispers, defiance and impossible choices that reflect the complexities of the present moment. PLAN C asks what it takes to keep hope alive in times of surveillance and silence.

Directed by Carrie Heitman,the performance features Parnia Ayari, Elizabeth London, Cynthia Babak, Meghan Grover, Jesse Koehler, Nylda Mark, Vann Dukes, Rina Dutta and Daniel Olguin.

The show plays from March 12 - April 12, 2026, at The Tank, 312 W 36 St, NYC NY 10018.

DETAILS

PLAN C by Hook & Eye Theater
WHERE: The Tank, 312 W 36 St, NY NY 10018
WHEN: March 12 - April 12, 2026
TICKETS: https://tinyurl.com/PlanCTankTickets
WEBSITE: www.hookandeyetheater.com
IS: @hookandeyetheater

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Hook and Eye Theater

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Upcoming Fall 2026: ReproEco: Plays with Dance

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

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Podcast: Two Abortion Doctors Pierce Contemporary Issues

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 21:56:00 +0000

Two doctors from North Carolina opened a podcast on reproductive health and rights that is insightful, straight-to-the-point, and informative.

Called ‘Outlawed,’ the podcast is the work of Dr. Beverly Gray, a professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, and Dr. Jonas Swartz, also a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the same institute. Both doctors, it’s important to know, are entirely supportive of abortion access and rights.

The podcast episodes, beginning in November 2024, generally run from 25 minutes to 50 minutes, although two run 90 minutes. Each is organized around a specific topic, such as abortion pills or how people traveling for abortion find transportation or housing.

“These podcasts aim to provide evidence-based information, share stories from the frontlines of reproductive care, and discuss the impact of changing abortion laws in the U.S.,” states the Outlawed mission.

The first program by the duo, Why Learn About Abortion, also describes their intentions. A 3-minute trailer introduces season two (2025-2026), as the doctors talk about their programming plans.

In the episodes, the hosts invite a guest, such as the author of a book or a leading expert or historian, and pull out essential knowledge. Dr. Gray and Dr. Swartz are ever-congenial and manage to keep the discussions framed in language that is shed of academic pompous and legalist or medical discourse, as well as the insider jokiness that can undermine many podcast ventures.

The program now has 25 listings (one a rebroadcast), creating an exceptionally strong archive of listenable discussions of reproductive health topics. From fall to spring, they air twice a month.

A recent example is ‘Meet the Abortion Pill Revolution,’ in which the doctors delve into self-managed abortion care with abortion pills. They engage with the founder of plancpills.org, Elisa Wells, about mail distribution of pills, and also with Rebecca Kelliher, author of the book 'Just Pills: The Extraordinary Story of A Revolution in Abortion Care.'

Another recent program of Outlawed features a conversation with Heather Booth, one of the founders of the pre-Roe Jane Collective that provided abortion care. In addition to historical context, she talks about how organizing networks and action plans are active and essential today.

Episode two on November 25, 2025, released the same day as the introductory podcast, is an in-depth conversation with lawyer Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the Reproductive Freedom Project at the ACLU, who talks about the post-Dobbs changes in legal services in a program titled, Roe v Everyone.

Several episodes deal with post-Dobbs logistics that force people to travel from states with abortion bans (about a dozen) to states where care can be accessed, including on travel and housing for patients. One episode delves into the travel issues facing doctors – including hosts Dr. Gray and Dr. Swartz -- who travel to other states to provide care.

Aired twice is the program, ‘Are Women People?’ in which the doctors interview Northwestern University Professor Katie Watson, the author of 'Scarlet A: The ethics, law, and politics of ordinary abortion.' The program delves into harmful myths about abortion, the impact of abortion bans on other forms of reproductive healthcare, including IVF, and the ethics of reproductive health care. The 28-minute program aired in January 2025, and again at the end of the year.

Reviews for the podcasts by Dr. Gray and Dr. Swartz have been very strong. ‘I’m glad I found this podcast. It demonstrates the importance and impact of autonomy,’ writes one listener. ‘Everyone should know the details about abortion that this podcast unfolds,’ writes another.

The Outlawed podcasts can be accessed on podcasting sites, but also can be heard without a subscription fee by going directly to links on a web page.

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: From Outlawed podcasts

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

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Stop Silencing Us! Abortion Doctor-Author Censored at Texas U

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 01:53:00 +0000

Dr. Shelley Sella, the author of a book about her experiences as an abortion provider, was censored and abruptly banned from giving a planned talk to medical students at Texas Tech University's Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas.

Dr. Sella’s book, ‘Beyond Limits” Stories of Third-Trimester Abortion Care,’ is about the real stories of people she encountered in her work. The university chapter of Medical Students for Choice invited her to speak to them on January 26, 2026. The program was called, "Beyond Limits: A Conversation with Shelley Sella, MD."

Instead, the university announced that the program would not be:“the [Texas Tech] center determined it is not in the best interest of the university to host this event on campus,” according to an anti-abortion publication.

Dr. Sella’s book, published by Beacon Press in 2025, has been widely praised.

“Sella does a stellar job of straightforwardly and compassionately explaining why third-trimester abortions happen: ‘Third-trimester abortions are rare,’ she writes, ‘but the situations that drive women to seek them are not.’ This bursts with insight,” noted Publisher’s Weekly.

The book, which describes and traces her work during one week in her clinic, has been featured in Mother Jones, The Nation, Rewire News Group, The Cut, and on the Feminist Buzzkill Podcast.

Time Magazine published an excerpt from the book. There, Dr. Sella writes: "For 20 years, I was the first woman doctor in the United States to openly provide abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy. My patients' stories -- of trauma, desperation, and resilience -- tell a very different story from the political rhetoric, which often demonizes the procedure, vilifies doctors, and shames those who seek care.

"Though this procedure makes up a relatively small segment of abortion care (by some estimates, around 1%), it is the key to understanding all abortion care. When we listen to those in the most desperate circumstances, we begin to understand everyone who seeks an abortion -- and the urgent need for safe, legal, and accessible care in every trimester."

Dr. Sella is also known for a prominent role in the award-winning documentary film, After Tiller, which follows four doctors who carry on the practices of Dr. George Tiller after he was assassinated by an anti-abortion terrorist who shot him point-blank in the head in church.

Beyond Limits is on the long-list for a Science Writing Award from PEN America, an organization that advocates worldwide for the freedom of expression and the freedom to write as a human right. PEN issued a statement, decrying the censorship of Dr. Sella.

"PEN America sees the censoring of information available to students -- especially medical students --as part of a dangerous nationwide trend that undermines the traditional excellence of American higher education," the organization wrote.

The censorship of Dr. Sella began, it seems, with advocacy against her speaking engagement by two noncampus anti-abortion activists and the school chapter of Turning Point USA, which, ironically, is the group founded by the late Charlie Kirk to advocate for free speech. To cover for their turnabout, the campus Turning Point leader asserted, “This wasn’t a suppression of free speech. ” The problem, he said, is that the talk by Dr. Sella "was planned on government-funded property but would be promoting an illegal activity."

Pamela Merritt, Executive Director of Medical Students for Choice, countered that statement, writing, "Dr. Sella’s book discusses her career providing third trimester abortion care, which is legal if not accessible within the current framework of exceptions in Texas law."

Merritt continued: "Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine must prevent future incidents where medical education is censored for partisan amusement. Students deserve a medical education that prepares them for all potential scenarios, and the public deserves physicians prepared to provide evidence-based care."

FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), another prominent organization that defends free speech, dismissed the "government land" claim as meritless, too. "This argument is immaterial given that 1) speech of a student organization is not the speech of the university ... and 2) the First Amendment protects the mere advocacy of unlawful conduct," wrote Senior Program Counsel of FIRE Haley Gluhanich in a letter to the university leaders.

FIRE also wrote: "Cancelling a student organization’s event that merely discusses a controversial medical procedure because others are opposed to the speaker and her views is not in the best interest
of (the university center) or any other institution of higher education which, by its nature, should be
dedicated to open debate and discussion. Rather, it is viewpoint discrimination, which the
Supreme Court has labeled the most 'egregious' act of censorship.

"As a public institution bound by the First Amendment, (the university) is obligated to protect speech that some members of a community will find controversial or offensive. The First Amendment protects students’ and student groups’ broad expressive right to both invite and hear speakers free from limitations based on 'orthodoxy or popularity of their political or social views.'”

The FIRE letter continues, "Protecting speech that challenges prejudices and
preconceptions is crucial to discussions of medical procedures among medical students and
professionals, who will likely face multiple decisions directly affecting whether their patients
live or die. Allowing political judgments to deny academics and clinicians access to information
and debate about medical procedures will impair the ability to make informed medical
judgments."

Under Supreme Court decisions, FIRE writes, campuses have an even higher obligation to enforce First Amendment protections than other parts of the community: "the vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in the community of American schools."

FIRE, which called for a reversal of the Texas Tech university decision and a promise to uphold free speech protections in the future, also responded in 2023 when three visual artists were censored at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho and select works were removed from an exhibit called 'Unconditional Care: Listening to people's health needs.' This blatant banning is described at length in a prior blog "No Gag Rule: Speak Up for Artists Censored for Referencing Abortion."

In that case, works by Michelle Hartney, Lydia Nobles and Katrina Majkut were summarily removed from a long-planned exhibit. FIRE wrote that if the college were allowed to censor art, it "would restrict a wide range of constitutionally protected expression -- not just in an art exhibit, but in libraries, lecture halls, and student organizations .... in violation of clearly established First Amendment rights."

And FIRE declared in a public statement, "There is no abortion exception to the First Amendment."

ACTION YOU CAN TAKE

Write a letter to Texas Tech leaders, calling upon them to reverse the decision censoring Dr. Sella and Medical Students for Choice; to reschedule, with an apology, Dr. Sella's speech at the university; and to vow that the university supports the free speech rights of all people speaking about reproductive freedom, health, rights and justice.

Send your letter to:

Dr. Lori Rice-Spearman
President of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
President’s Office
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
3601 4th Street
Lubbock, Texas 79430

Dr. Lawrence Schovanec
President of Texas Tech University
Office of the President
Texas Tech University
Administration Building, Room 115
Box 42005
Lubbock, TX 79409-2005

Chancellor Brandon Creighton
Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System
c/o Dede Kirkpatrick, Executive Assistant
Office of the Chancellor
System Administration Building
1508 Knoxville Ave., Ste. 306
Box 42013
Lubbock, TX 79409-2013

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Website, Shelley Sella, MD

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

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Textile Series Spotlights Those Harmed by Dobbs' Abortion Bans

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 01:29:00 +0000

by Tracy McCabe, guest blogger

"Living and Dying Under Dobbs" is a fabric-book project that tells the stories, in text and textiles, of those dying and suffering because of abortion bans.

The seed for the project was planted in September 2024, when ProPublica broke the story of Amber Thurman’s preventable death in Georgia.

I realized that Amber died for lack of a D and C at age 28, whereas in 1990 I received one at the same age. Deepening the resonance of the contrast in our stories was that Amber left behind a six-year-old son, while I went on to bear a son.

The page I designed in honor of Amber appears in Volume 1 of this ongoing project and simply reads "28."

As I continued to follow Jessica Valenti’s reporting on Substack, Abortion, Every Day, I was stunned to realize how much suffering and death was happening, and that virtually none was being covered in national, mainstream news outlets.

I became determined to tell, represent, and amplify the stories not only of the women who have died but all those maimed and traumatized when denied care for incomplete abortions, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, fatal fetal anomalies, and other pregnancies dangerous to their well-being.

I also tell the stories of those unjustly accused of crimes for miscarriages and legal self-managed abortions and of several health care providers impacted by bans.

As of this writing, I have made seven volumes, which include the stories of almost 50 women.

Inspired by textile “craftivism” like the AIDS Memorial Quilt, I began making 4”x 4” fabric squares to represent the stories. I use mainly appliqué and embroidery, and fashion the squares into six-page accordion style fabric books.

Each square is a pocket that holds a card that tells the story in words. I design the pages based on details from each story. For example, in the case of Adriana Smith, whose body was kept on life support for four months to incubate her fetus, I made a coffin with a uterus. (See above.) The beads around the coffin signify her spirit.

I hope that the clash between the medium of the project – embroidery --- and the horror of the stories intensifies the impact. Embroidery is traditionally associated with stereotypical "feminine" qualities like patience, precision, delicacy, obedience, and smallness.

But I am using needlework to tell bloody stories of state-sponsored violence against women, as in the story of Kaitlyn Joshua, turned away from two Louisiana hospitals while miscarrying, despite bleeding through her jeans.

Or the story of Mallori Patrice Strait, who miscarried in a public restroom and then spent 147 days in jail before a Texas medical examiner cleared her of charges of trying to damage the fetus.

Or Anna Nusslock, whose water broke at 15 weeks, but was refused miscarriage treatment at a Catholic hospital in California and discharged with a bucket and towels “in case something happened in the car.”

Sometimes, the stories lead me to use unusual materials, like the scrap of towel on which I stitched the blood-filled bucket. I’ve also used plastic, links of a necklace, and toilet paper -- whatever I feel will make for a powerful image.

Reading these stories is one thing, but an image that stirs your grief and rage will sear the stories into your heart and mind, which is where I want them to live.

Research by the organization Abortion in America suggests that stories of real people’s experiences with abortion bans can influence opinions and votes.

But what truly motivates me to continue indefinitely is my desire to collect these stories for the future.

Someday, I believe, abortion will be legal again nationwide, but we can never, ever forget who paid the price.

Details: Living and Dying Under Dobbs
Website: www.underdobbs.org
Instagram: @underdobbs

Tracy McCabe is a lifelong maker and professor emerita of English and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Lake Forest College.

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: copyr. Tracy McCabe

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

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Doing One Good Thing for Roe Day: Plants for Patients

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 21:18:00 +0000

This post is about plants and why we should think about them now as we approach what would have been the 53rd Anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Not just any plants. These are plants from Plants for Patients. Volunteers in one community in North Dakota organize and deliver plants to people seeking abortion care, along with loving notes.

The post focuses on one action in one place, and underscores one of their upcoming activities on January 22, 2026.

January 22 is also the anniversary of the decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973, which held that states could not make abortion illegal in all cases. For years, we posted a nationwide guide with descriptions and links to events around the country created to honor the Roe v. Wade Anniversary, sometimes just called "Roe Day."

After the fantastically bad Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Care in June 2022, overturning Roe and sending it to the dustbin of history, we continued to post the Roe Day events, even though they now were memorializing Roe rather than celebrating it for another three years until 2025.

The Roe anniversary blogs, all linked at the bottom of this blog, were and are enormously popular, garnering many hits. They were intended to serve as a counter to the ongoing harassment of anti-abortion forces which reach their peak frenzy in a January march that still happens in many locations.

But this year, we are shifting attention to ONE creative action that ONE community has taken for more than a dozen years and is still taking to support abortion care. Because in the end, that's what we need to do -- take action, big or small, but steady, determined and ongoing, until we secure full reproductive freedom and human rights for one and all.

The Work of Plants for Patients (P4P)

Plants for Patients, or P4P, is a grassroots nonprofit organization located in Fargo, ND/Moorhead, MN. The group began in 2012 and through it, community members offer the gift of plants and notes of support to abortion patients. They describe themselves as "pro-compassion and pro-choice."

"People who have had abortions are offered a handmade ceramic planter, a small plant, and a handwritten note of support to promote both emotional and physical healing, and to establish a connection–an anonymous bridge of love and support–with their community," the group's mission says.

"The program strives to begin breaking down the social stigmas perpetrated against individuals who have experienced abortion by leveraging the kindness of community to create a network of love and support," the group says.

The group, which describes its beginnings as an undergraduate thesis, also writes that its work is built on "social practice art theory." Plants and nature have healing effects, P4P writes.

Now, abortion is banned in North Dakota, excepting exceedingly rare cases. There are no abortion clinics in the state, although the Red River Women's Clinic, previously in North Dakota for 20 years as the sole N.D. clinic, sits across the state border in Moorhead, Minnesota, and serves North Dakota patients from there.

Last year, Plants for Patients delivered 1,100 plants to patients.

According to a 2016 article in High Plains Reader, Plants for Patients was started by Meg Roberts, a ceramist who had an interest in ecotherapy, reproductive health and community engagement. Roberts ran the program from 2012 to 2014 before turning it over to others.

Now community engagement is a hallmark of Plants for People. The plants are homegrown, the pots are hand-made in clay classes, and notes of encouragement are created in group writing sessions.

In clay classes held monthly at the local Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity, community members are invited to make 'pots with a purpose.' The pots are all made by hand sculpting, that is without a pottery wheel. Classes, which have a modest fee, offer different twists and turns -- pots with imprints, pots with animal themes, and so on.

But what is really clear is the steadiness and continuity. Every month.

"Did you miss our most recent clay class? Don't worry! We have them EVERY MONTH! That's right, every 3rd Thursday you can make planters that get donated to the @redriverwomensclinic !" announced one post on the Plants for Patients Facebook page.

After the pots are filled with plants, another group gathers to write notes to patients. The notes are messages of compassion and care. They might be as simple as 'You matter.'

And this is precisely what is coming up on the Roe anniversary, January 22.

"Join us ... as we fill cards with words of compassion for patients at the Red River Women’s Clinic! Cards, pens, and guidance templates will be provided. Come ready to spread the love and spread compassion. Everyone is welcome! Jan 22 – note writing – plants for patients." Facebook post.

Community members can get further involved in deliveries to the Red River Women's Clinic. the clinic writes: "Each abortion patient who goes to the Red River Women’s Clinic is offered a handwritten note of support from a community member, a handmade planter, and succulent or houseplant of their choosing. We think of it like a hug or handshake from the community as they travel along their paths."

Plants for Patients also holds regular fundraisers and auctions with items like one-of-a-kind experiences, local art, and, yes, plants. Donations are also welcome, and people can buy tee-shirts and hoodies on a shopping site. All donations go to cover costs.

Plants for Patients is clear: What does support look like? A plant on a windowsill. A note that says, “You matter." Knowing someone chose care over judgment.

Do One Thing, Do It Every Month

On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 22, do something to support abortion care and access -- write a post on social media, write of note of thanks to an abortion provider, sent a check to an abortion fund, talk to a friend, go to a protest, sticker public walls with safe numbers, call a legislator in your state or city.

And then keep doing it every month! After all, our reproductive rights and human rights are an everyday need, and they need our support!

There are groups that send postcards of gratitude to providers, make aftercare kits for abortion patients, facilitate access to abortion pills, leaflet, make art, and even others that cultivate and deliver plants to abortion patients -- a multitude of ways to connect and contribute.

Posted here and here are some things you can do to make a difference yourself -- or share with a friend who wants to step up.

As our kick-ass hero, Flo Kennedy said, the only sin is sitting on your ass. Don't Agonize, Organize: Wisdom from Flo Kennedy

Details: Plants for Patients
Website https://plantsforpatients.org
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1695391795178018
Instagram @plants4patients

Contact: plantsforpatientsteam@gmail.com

READ about Roe anniversary events in the past:

2025 Roe Anniversary Events Follow on Heels of People's March, New Reality

2024 Memorializing Shifts to Marching on Roe v Wade Anniversary 51

2023 Roe Anniversary Events: Looking Back, Firing Up

2022 Virtual Roe v. Wade Anniversary Events Take a ReflectiveTone

2021 Coast-to-Coast Virtual Events Honor Roe v Wade Anniversary

2020 Activists Across the Country Honor 47 Years of Roe v Wade Amid Pending Threats

2019 Roe Anniversary Events Mark Stark New Reality

2018 Purpose and Persistence Mark Roe Events

2017 Roe Events Add to Women's March in Demand for Reproductive Freedom

2016 Resolve and Determination Drive 2016 Roe Events

2015 Wary of the Future, ProChoice Activists Mark Roe Event

2014 Roe v. Wade Events Bolster Resolve

2013 Roe at 40: Anniversary Events

Also:

How Roe sounded and felt: Walter Cronkite in 1973.

Listen to Roe and other Supreme Court hearings and decisions

Roe to Doe: Without you, I'm nothing ... the Doe v. Bolton decision on January 22, 1973

Actor Carl H. Jaynes with words from Justice Harry A. Blackmun on YouTube

Listen to the Righteous Words of Justice Sonia Sotomayor on SB8 on YouTube

Watch We Dissent: Voices of Reproductive Rights on YouTube, our Award-Winning film in which actors recreate the writings of the DISSENT in the Dobbs case, and read about it here.

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Plants for People

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

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Words Matter: Selections from Democracy Writes!

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 19:54:00 +0000

When a group of high-profile artists created a project at the end of the year called Fall of Freedom to encourage artists across the country to challenge encroachments to freedom and democracy, Democracy Writes! began to take shape.

Democracy Writes! became creative resistance in action, calling upon people to write their own thoughts about freedom, democracy, diversity and reproductive rights -- several writers who attended have shared their works, below.

Democracy Writes! was planned by Rhonda Zangwill, writer and workshop leader, Cindy Cooper, playwright and organizer ReproFreedomArts.org, Yuko Kudo, visual artist, and Chaski (Saskia Knowles), an organizer of the Cybernetics Library. It was slaated for November 22 at the Prime Produce Guild Hall in midtown Manhattan.

Fall of Freedom was a call to the arts community "to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation." Hundreds of events, each scheduled by individual artists and arts groups across the country, were visually displayed on a map online.

Our Democracy Writes! team naturally wanted to reinforce the Fall of Freedom messages by engaging with the broader grassroots creativity. We also to make sure that among the rights expressed that reproductive freedom held a place front and center.

In addition to inviting participants to write in a guided workshop, we invited performers into the space to present selections from Reproductive Freedom Is All We Want and other works presented by ReproFreedomArts.org, and Shawn Fischer and Abigail Ramsay opened and closed with performance pieces. Yuko Kudo sang an improvised song around the Fall of Democracy theme, "Art Matters, Courage is Contagious."

In addition, a display table was filled with three dozen banned books -- ranging from Our Bodies Ourselves to RubyFruit Jungle. Chaski set up a table describing the works of the Cybernetics Library, an artist-run space that collects zines and materials related to art and technology. Yuko Kudo created an interactive table, asking people to describe in brief -- on a post-it -- what freedom means to them -- see some of those results below, too.

Rhonda Zangwill

Organizer Rhonda Zangwill describes the day.

"Outside: a beautiful New York City autumn day. Inside: a diverse group gathered for an afternoon of creative activism. Together we embraced free expression as part of Fall of Freedom, a national movement spearheaded by a group of artists to defy authoritarianism and champion freedom.

"Democracy Writes! included a writing workshop, open mic, dramatic readings, a participatory arts exhibition and a banned books table. Our writing prompt, excerpts from 'A House Called Tomorrow' by Alberto Rios, offered inspiration as we wrote together and then shared our words.

"Democracy Writes! drew a group of individuals – from millennials to seniors – who in just a couple of hours became a mutually supportive creative community, united by shared values and a common purpose."

Words Gathered in 'Democracy Writes!'

Participants in Democracy Writes! were invited to share their writings with us. Here is a small sampling of the work from, in Rhonda's words, "our afternoon of literary rabble-rousing."

Taking Action
by Austin Alexis

The constitution is disappearing.
There it goes, out the window.
down the boulevard.
There it flies
up the chimney,
over the hills.

Our goof-ball leaders have shredded it.
They’ve left it to the wind
and have neglected to replace it.

Make history by retrieving it,
by saving it from gutter water,
by taping its fragmented pages
together again.

The constitution is historical
as long as it exists in some form—
damaged but still valued,
damaged but still breathing.

~

Untitled
by Michele D'Aulerio

The feminists of the ‘50s and ‘60s made my house so that today I could live freely, own my own body, have agency and financial independence. They created that house, laid the foundation and fought to build the frame, the walls, the roof, without knowing if they themselves would ever benefit from that hard work. I grew up in a mostly safe house because of their courage and bold actions. They didn't let criticism and ridicule and often threats to their safety stop them. The house they created made my life so comfortable, I didn't know it could be taken away. It felt so effortless, I didn't understand the maintenance that would be required to keep it. I couldn't foresee the demolition that would occur leaving me with nothing to pass on to my nieces. I wasn't prepared to fight, to redo all the work the women before me did. The roof has blown off. The walls are falling down, the frame crumbling and the foundation eroding.

What do I tell my nieces?

How do I explain why they have less autonomy over their own bodies today than I did thirty years ago? I feel unprepared. I don't know how to build a house. I know rage instead of architecture. I'm mad instead of strategic. How do I transform my outrage and disgust to strategy and organization?

What is my first step? To vote and vote well. Yes. Ok, but that feels like passing the buck, electing someone else to do the work, delegating. So, what's left? What do I have to offer? Deep breath. Step back. Slow down. Assess.

Use your words.

Heed the Call
by Amy Grech

Our Nation is
best served by
quiet contemplation.
Thunderous applause
is cause
for jubilant celebration.
Free flowing collaboration.
A wellspring of ideas.
None too big or too small.
There’s room for one-and-all.

Is That How You Really Feel?
by Velina Velikova

Are you saying something to me right now?
I thought I heard you speaking, but maybe I just felt you...
feeling.

Hey! I saw you repost that video.
Do you think we should go?
It looks like tens of thousands of people will show up!
Hmm...
You're right.
There's probably more than enough people going already.

You know, we could go to that holiday food drive this weekend.
It looks like they raised a ton of money to buy groceries for people affected by the SNAP pause.
Oh, you're right.
They got their benefits back!
That's good.
They're probably fine.
Hey. What's on your mind?
I've been feeling a lot lately.
I wonder if you have been, too.

I think we should go.
Even if thousands are already going,
I believe you and I can have an impact.

Food accessibility is a human right.
Let's go and see how we can help.

We're feeling the same things.
Share with me your real words.

Yuko Kudo

And, from the interactive art table by Yuko Kudo, some responses to her prompt, "What 'words' unleash amplify; empower your Freedom today,"

Singing
Dancing
Smile
Love is the answer
Joy is the future
Bodily autonomy

As 2025 turns to the next quarter-century, we're continuing our reliance on words to keep the flames of freedom, democracy, diversity and reproductive justice alive. As the poet Adrienne Rich wrote in "North American Time," and our actors included in their performance:

"Words are found responsible
all you can do is choose them
or choose
to remain silent. Or, you never had a choice,
which is why the words that do stand
are responsible"

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Photos by @peggyryandesigns, Cindy Cooper, Yuko Kudo

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

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Spiritual and Faith-Based Site Offers Abortion Positivity

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 07:28:00 +0000

Spiritual support for abortion is available on a comforting special website, AbortionsWelcome.org. It has recently upgraded to provide stories, creative and spiritual activities and tools in an easy-to-navigate format.

AbortionsWelcome.org, operated by the Religious Community for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) supports people who seek abortion care, as well as those who provide abortions or are called to counsel providers or patients.

As a pro-faith endeavor, it stands in essential opposition to the loud religiously-based organizations that denounce abortion and try to blame and stigmatize abortion care.

"(M)any people who have abortions are people of faith, and it can be hard to find affirming and compassionate spiritual resources online in a sea of religious anti-abortion extremism. Our intention and hope is for this site to be a resting place, a sacred space of comfort and care for people on their abortion journeys," the site notes.

Information is presented in categories, such as Elements of Nature; Scared Ritual and Prayer; Scripture and Sacred Text; Meditation; Art, Writing and Music; Stories and Perspectives, and Body Movement and Pain Relief.

For example, under 'Art, Writing and Music,' are: five playlists with music for abortion care, poems from ‘What I Wish: 100 love notes to help you survive, come alive, and thrive after abortion’ by Amanda Kingsley, an earth-based ritual by doula Emma Thomas, guided journaling by Rev. Anna Flemming-Jones, art therapy by Erica Pang, the classic abortion resolution workbook by Margaret Johnston and a writing exercise by Lisa Marie Basile.

The categories can be further filtered by selecting from this list: 'Preparing for Abortion,' 'During Abortion,' and 'After Abortion.'

The writing-based exercise by Lisa Marie Basile is designed to honor "your many selves." Basile describes a writing ritual that involves three candles and string, along with paper. "(Y)ou will work with your many selves, to take a moment to be in tune with the past and the present, and the future. To give each self some space, a pause, a breath, and a moment of prayer and hope. To see your many layers. And to find some perspective," she explains.

The selection Art Therapy for Letting Go leads to a video in which Erica Pang offers a meditative art exercise ... "to help you let go of any weight you've been carrying. Follow along with this step-by-step guide on how to transform the heaviness in your heart into the freedom of a bird."

Erica Pang

A journaling exercise by Rev. Anna Flemming-Jones uses a stone and four questions for reflection: Where have you come from? What is your mother rock? Where are you on your journey? Where do you hope to go from here?

The category 'Scripture and Sacred Text' offers prayers and affirmations emanating from an array of religious beliefs -- Christian and Catholic, Islamic, Jewish. One selection, 'Liturgy of the complicated,' is based on Hebrew text and includes a ritual walk.

A separate category, 'Sacred Ritual and Prayer,' provides guides for 'connecting with the divine.' Here are prayers for providers, for the waiting room, and spiritual support for your abortion journey, among other selections.

Another section on AbortionsWelcome.org, Storytellers and Perspectives offers 21 stories, many first person accounts from the point-of-view of a provider, a doula, and people who have had abortions, as well as not-easily-categorized selections on digital privacy, and more.

The site also has links to Resources, such as finding a provider, abortion pills, an abortion fund or help for young people. The Resources section can be accessed in Spanish, too.

A separate entry for providers offers a clinic pamphlet and a contact for a clinic blessing program. Spiritual Care Providers and Faith Leaders are invited to a Religion and Repro Learning Center.

The site proclaims its values:

Dignity and Autonomy ("We believe reproductive decision-making is sacred and that every person has the right, ability, and responsibility to make their own reproductive decisions, free from stigma and with unhindered access to the care, support, and resources they need to make those decisions")

Compassion (We believe that our call is to accompany people throughout their reproductive journeys and do so without judgment. We center the needs, emotions, and conscience of the individual person as they make decisions and process their experiences. We believe reproductive freedom is religious freedom.")

Whole Person ("We believe in providing holistic, integrated care that honors and tends to the physical, emotional, mental, relational, spiritual, and other needs of people on their reproductive journeys. We believe our call as people of faith is to protect the freedom to access reproductive care.")

In clear, uncluttered design and language, AbortionsWelcome.org makes important strides in establishing a narrative of abortion positivity and spirituality.

For further information, a contact form is provided. Follow (IS) @rcrchoice

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: AbortionsWelcome.com

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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Opportunities: Writings, Photos on Lesbians and Repro Justice

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Sat, 29 Nov 2025 22:18:00 +0000

Sinister Wisdom, a 'Multicultural Lesbian Literary and Art Journal,' has a call out for works for a special issue on Reproductive Justice and Lesbianism.

The editors write, 'This issue seeks to answer: what is the role of lesbians in the RJ (Reproductive Justice) movement?'

In order to answer that question, Sinister Wisdom is seeking poetry, photography (color for cover and black and white for interior), essays up to 5,000 words and oral histories. (Other formats will be considered.) Writers and artists at all levels are encouraged to submit; photos of lesbians working in reproductive justice are specially solicited. Experimental work is welcomed.

The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2026 (more).

In 2026, Sinister Wisdom will mark its 50th year of quarterly publication, dating its beginnings to 1976.

For this special issue on Reproductive Justice and Lesbianism, Sinister Wisdom wishes to explore diverse topics within the umbrella of Reproductive Justice, drawing upon a definition inspired by the National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda as the "human right to control our sexuality, our gender, our work and our reproduction."

The editors explain, in depth, their understanding of reproductive justice as the legal right to access reproductive health services, along with the addressing "social, economic, and political conditions necessary for individuals to have the resources and support to make autonomous reproductive choices."

They describe those issues as reproductive rights in vitro fertilization, abortion and contraception, and the intersections with "healthcare access, family-building options and the ability to make informed choices about our reproductive health and bodily autonomy."

The publication invites contributors to explore six tenets of reproduction justice as they intersect with queer/lesbian lives. The six: (1) The right to access affirming, affordable health care that recognizes diverse genders and sexualities, takes steps to prevent illness and provide access to healthy food, undertakes relevant research and centers marginalized people; (2) The right to tools that promote bodily autonomy, including comprehensive knowledge about how bodies work, sex education, freedom from shame and violence; (3) The right to have children, including access to fertility care and birthing justice including second-parent adoption and racial politics of sperm donation; (4) The right not to have children, including access to abortion, contraception and noncoercive sex, and dignity for families that do not include children; (5) The right to parent children in safe and healthy environments including access to necessities, freedom from genocide, famine and injustice; and (6) The right to be free of reproductive coercion and violence.

The journal publishes works by Lesbians only. Traditionally it uses a definition from the writer Cheryl Clarke of a lesbian as a woman who says she is a lesbian. In their call for this issue, the Sinister Wisdom editors say: "Lesbianism defined as intimacy between people of marginalized genders," and note that they are using a "non-essentialized" understanding of lesbianism. "Lesbians are not exclusively cisgender women, and we are excited about and encourage submissions that hold and explore the nuances of trans and nonbinary lesbian experiences within reproductive justice. We hope to broaden, rather than constrain, both the lesbian label and the RJ (Reproductive Justice) movement."

Works should be sent through the Reproductive Justice and Lesbian Submittable, although, by request to the editors, other arrangements may be made. Writers should also include a biography of 25 words to 200 words, and social media links. Submissions for the issue need not be in English but must include an English translation. Specific guidelines for submissions can be found online. Also listed online are style guidelines.

Works must be unpublished online or in print in North America. Sinister Wisdom takes first North American serial rights.

The editor of Sinister Wisdom is Julie R. Enszer (julie@sinisterwisdom.org). The team for this special issue includes Leonne Tanis, a midwife and reproductive health practitioner in New York City; Drewe Haddox, an artist and abortion doula in Detroit; Izzy Nunez, a Colorado eco-lesbian, and Margaret Zanmiller, a lesbian writer in Minnesota.

Questions about the Repro J issue can be directed to Tanis at otherwisecnm@gmail.com.

Sinister Wisdom, a nonprofit organization, describes its mission "to create multi-class, multicultural, multi-gender, multi-racial, world-wide intergenerational queer and lesbian spaces." In addition to quarterly issues, it has a Sapphic Classics book series, a yearly calendar, a bi-weekly newsletter, online discussions, a book club, issue launches, discussions with authors, and provides free subscriptions to women in prison and mental institutions, and reduced price to lesbians and queer women with limited incomes. and educational program. "Sinister Wisdom is a living archive that celebrates the multiplicity of lesbian identities across races, classes, genders, abilities, and lived experiences. Sinister Wisdom recognizes the power of language and art to create radical, empowering, resilient, and joyous sanctuaires that build and sustain vibrant lesbian futures."

Past issues of Sinister Wisdom from 1976-1996 can be viewed online at Reveal Digital, Independent Voices/LGBT. (See our prior blog for details about this digital library.)

In addition, Sinister Wisdom has a database accessed on this page of each issue from 1 to 126 and the writers in it, and the ability to download a pdf of issues from 1976 to 2012. Biweekly newsletters can also be accessed online.

DETAILS of SINISTER WOMEN, REPRO JUSTICE AND LESBIANISM:

-Reproductive Justice and Lesbianism Call for Works: https://www.sinisterwisdom.org/ReproductiveJustice, deadline March 31, 2026
-Inquiries about Reproductive Justice Issue: Leonne Tanis: otherwisecnm@gmail.com
-Sinister Wisdom Website sinisterwisdom.org
-Sinister Wisdom YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/SinisterWisdom
-Sinister Wisdom Instagram @sinister_wisdom
-Sinister Wisdom Facebook: facebook.com/SinisterWisdom

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: Sinister Wisdom website, archive screenshot

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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Three Videos Show Abortion Challenges in Nigeria, India, Poland

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 08:26:00 +0000

Three fact-driven videos from three continents demonstrate the continuing battles on abortion access around the world. They also reverberate uncomfortably with post-Dobbs experiences in the U.S.

From Nigeria, India and Poland, the three videos describe the challenges that pregnant patients encounter. Each country poses a different set of obstacles, and yet they are united by their agonizing harm to pregnant people and their abusive control of women.

Nigerian Film Seeks Abortion Protections

“The Silent Crisis: The Impact of Unsafe Abortions on Women and Girls in Nigeria,” viewable on YouTube, was released by IRISE working with Amplify Change.

Described as an ‘AI-powered’ video, the four-minute selection explains the harrowing effects of unsafe abortions comparable to ‘back alley’ abortions in the U.S. The voices of health-care professionals call for the implementation of Safe Termination of Pregnancy -- or STOP -- Guidelines to prevent unnecessary deaths.

Nigeria has a high number of deaths from unsafe abortion – accounting for up to 40 percent of maternal deaths, according to advocates.

The STOP Guidelines provide clear direction for health professionals on the safe termination of pregnancy in limited circumstances such as to save the life of a pregnant woman and to preserve her health. They were passed in June 2022 in Lagos but were suspended almost immediately because of anti-abortion objections. The end result left healthcare providers and women “in limbo,” one article notes.

“Policies that limit abortion access do not eliminate abortions; they only push them underground, making them more unsafe. Abortion is not just a moral or legal issue -- it is a public health emergency. Restrictive policies do not save lives; they cost lives,” the article says.

In the video by IRISE a narrator describes the health landscape as the screen shows a series of images of Nigeria, women, and healthcare settings. Medical professionals then describe the unsettling consequences of unsafe abortion. “The suspension of the STOP Guidelines has left health care providers unable to offer safe and legal services to those most in need. Without these guidelines, women are driven to unsafe alternatives, facing irreversible harm,” one says.

People interested in using the video should contact: : iriseinitiative077@gmail.com. Watch Silent Crisis here.

India: End Stigma, Expand Law

Barkha Dutt

A four-minute video segment from India narrated by the award-winning journalist and TV anchor Barkha Dutt challenges the ongoing stigmatization of abortion even though abortion has been legal in the country for half a century. The video, while first released several years ago, offers an important example for people across the globe on how to address stigma.

Called ‘My Body, My Choice,’ (embedded below and viewable here), the video was originally part of a combined campaign by Asia Safe Abortion Partnership, Family Planning Association of India, India HIV/AIDS Alliance, Global Health Strategies, We The Women and Youth Ki Awaaz to raise awareness about safe abortion care.

More than 15 million women access abortion care in India each year, according to narrator Dutt. But nearly 4,000 women die each year of unsafe abortions due to misinformation and misdirection.

The problem, Dutt states, is that once abortion was legalized in 1971“we never really had a campaign to tell women that you are entitled to safe legal abortions in this country.” Studies show that forty percent of women don't know abortion is legal, she says.

Abortion is treated with disdain in popular storytelling and several clips are dissected for their misogyny. Stigma-inducing myths cloud people's understanding of abortion, the video says, especially a refrain that it is used for sex selection. Eighty-one percent of abortions take place within the first seven weeks of a pregnancy when the sex of the fetus is not known, Dutt explains, and 90 percent of abortions have nothing to do with sex selection. “Remember the right to a legal abortion is every woman's right,” she concludes.

In 2021, one year before the U.S. entered its current post-Dobbs regression, India passed a new law to expand abortion access with the passage of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Act of 2021. The new legislation is designed to “further empower women by providing comprehensive abortion care to all.”

See the embedded clip below or watch My Body, My Choice here.

Poland: Abortion Ban and Hardship

A 30-minute magazine-style TV story by ARTE Europe takes a look at the abortion crisis in Poland.

“Re: Polish Women Fight for Abortion” is a sophisticated production, taking viewers right to key voices and issues surrounding a ban on abortion in Poland.

Although abortion was once legal in Poland, heavily influenced by conservative Catholicism, it now has the most restrictive laws in Europe.

ARTE reports on several women who are at the center of the storm.

The story begins with Dr. Maria Kubisa, an ob-gyn doctor whose office was raided by government agents in 2023.

Dr. Maria Kubisa

"I was ambushed by armed officers," Dr. Kubisa says. "They burst into my office, threw patients out of the waiting room, and started tearing through everything." They took laptops, a cell phone and the medical records of 6,000 patients.

The current Polish law permits abortion only when the woman’s life is at risk, or when the pregnancy is the result of rape. Doctors can face up to three years in prison if they are found to provide an abortion that is not sanctioned by the narrow limits of the law; many have stopped offering abortion care altogether rather than face police intervention.

The second woman introduced in the ARTE video is a conservative anti-abortion lawyer and campaigner. Filmed at several meetings and panels, she insists that life begins at the moment of conception and that “abortion is never an option at all.”

Next, the filmmakers bring the viewers to Joanna P., a woman arrested for taking abortion pills. She describes how she was arrested after mentioning to a mental health professional that she had taken abortion pills. “It’s simply a witch hunt in this country,” she says. Joanna meets up with an activist, originally from Ukraine, who had an abortion after being raped.

ARTE follows her as she meets with women who are displaced by the war in Ukraine.

The video closes with the journey that some woman must take to cross the border into Germany to get an abortion.

“Polish Women Fight for Abortion,” released in summer 2025, can be viewed online (with English subtitles) through early 2026, here.

Below: My Body, My Choice with Barkha Dutt

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Images: YouTube screenshots

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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WANTED! Special Postal Inspector for 19th Century Abortion Job!

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 06:05:00 +0000

Apply NOW! Special US Postal Inspector for 19th Century Abortion Job! by Angela Bonavoglia

As our century's first-ever Special Agent of the U.S. Postal Service, you'll be the enforcer of the 150-year-old Comstock Act that is still on the books and more relevant than ever!

The mutton-chopped, vice-hunting Comstock got Congress to criminalize mailing anything abortion-related and to authorize him to open other people's mail, tote a gun, and make arrests. As Comstock's successor, you'll be the man to lead a holy crusade against the abortion, aka murder pills, and the escalating number of sinners who want them!

Working with an army of other specially trained mailmen, you'll have the authority to:

-- Create the first-ever database of the nation's menstruators! You'll dig into women's period trackers, social media accounts, and emails for incriminating evidence of their pregnancy plans! You'll dive into the growing supply of state records to find the women who already had abortions and might kill again!

-- Root through women's trash for evidence of period-interruptus! Using your database, you'll methodically monitor all their bloody supplies …we know, yuk. But we also know, when the bleeding stops, the trouble starts. That's your target list. Now, you might see her around -- gardening, taking the kids to school, shopping, and think, she seems nice, like a good mother. DO NOT BE FOOLED! Any woman at any time can become a baby killer!

-- Break into those mailboxes! Shake packages! Tear open envelopes! If you find the murder pills, BRAVO! Intercept them! No one "needs" murder pills! Don't believe what you hear -- that she "needs" them because she just "can’t bear" to carry a "rapist's" baby! Because her doctor told her that another pregnancy could "kill" her! It’s all malarkey! She'll manage; and if she doesn't, well, that's God’s will. Remember, you do what you do to save innocent lives! And let's face it: she was never innocent.

-- Arrest the suppliers! Did the pills come from a doctor? A clinic? The boat ladies floating on international waters? A relative, a friend? (If it's a man, forget it. He's been duped -- it's not his fault). You get to travel FREE anywhere, by any means (piggyback on a nice vacation?) to track down the source! If you need help, call the cops -- they're your partners! Request a SWAT team! Make as many arrests as possible -- Comstock made thousands over his 42-year career! Don't be shy! Like Comstock, you'll make some wrongful arrests and there will be suicides, but those mishaps are nothing compared to all of the early pregnancy tissue you will preserve!

-- Get creative! Like your namesake, you'll be authorized to draft decoy letters with false signatures! Posing as a barely pregnant woman (pills only work up to the 12th week, so hurry up!), you'll write to medical providers or, better yet, her close relatives or friends, begging for their help getting access to the pills. If you're successful and find the pills in her mailbox, BRAVO again! Intercept, arrest, convict, imprison! The supplier is her mother? Who cares! No one is above the law.

Sammy Alito loves the Comstock Act! So does Clarence T! So do the three state Attorneys General (Kansas, Missouri, Idaho) who filed a do-over lawsuit to outlaw the mailing of the abortion pills, using the Comstock Act! It's a case that the Supremes' -- compliments of 45 and now, 47 -- are sure to green-light!

Freedom, power, job security -- sound good to you? If so, send your resume to us at stopthosesluts.com! DO IT NOW! Be the godly man we know you are!

Angela Bonavoglia is a NYC-based author and journalist. Her works include the books 'The Choices We Made: 25 Women and Men Speak Out About Abortion' and 'Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church,' as well as many articles and essays in Ms., NY Daily News, Chicago Tribune, The Nation, Salon, Newsday, Women’s Media Center and Huffington Post. https://www.angelabonavoglia.com/

Read a blog about the history of the Comstock Law and listen to actors reading the text

Images: Open Source

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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ReproEco Virtual Theater: Writing About Toxins, Then Real Life

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Cooper, ReproFreedomArts) — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 01:03:00 +0000

Writing About Something and Then It Happens

by Laura Shamas

I'll never forget speaking with artistic activist Cindy Cooper about her initial ideas for a theater project about the intersection of reproductive freedom and environmental justice.

It was in Autumn 2023. The project, ReproEco, would involve several women writers from across the country. I believe Cindy and I spoke for 90 minutes that day!

My mind was swimming afterwards. There was so much to consider -- so many things to learn about, all of which were worthy of dramatizing for the stage. Cindy’s idea of how all the writers in the cohort would learn more about these issues was so innovative: we’d learn and review together.

As a group, we’d would listen to experts on Zoom on a weekly basis for a few months. We’d build a library of information. (Read more about this unique process in a blog post by playwright Mildred Inez Lewis.)

The six ReproEco writers are Diane Breeser, Cindy Cooper, Alinca Hamilton, Mildred Inez Lewis, Cassandra Medley and me.

When I wrote my short ReproEco play Priorities in May 2024, I tried to highlight as many issues as I could as part of the intersection of environmental and reproduction issues, with an eye to the future: PFA’s, wildfire foam, landfill proximity, lead present in water, pesticide exposure, and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals. How will this affect us through generations?

by Laura Shamas, near her home in CA

Little did I know that by January 7, 2025, my own home would be part of a large megafire disaster area in Los Angeles. I’d see firsthand the toxic effect of burn areas in my own town. Watching Priorities now certainly has traumatic resonance for me -- and underscores how necessary it is for us to make changes in lifestyles today.

My short play, Priorities, is set in a dystopian future. The setting is “perpetually autumn.” In our own village in Los Angeles right now, many months after the megafire, we see: dark, blackened trees; chimneys representing remnants of destroyed homes; metal staircases that lead nowhere; mostly bare, empty lots where family homes used to be -- you can see the Santa Monica Mountains clearly because nothing blocks them. Dystopia has arrived.

Friends who see the disaster area for the first time tell me it reminds them of a war zone, and it goes on for miles and miles, up through Malibu. Whenever I see firefighters here, I worry about their futures -- and ours.

Virtual Production Shares the Plays Nationwide

Our next showing of “ReproEco” is virtual, produced by Transformation Theatre on Tuesday, October 14, at 7 p.m. EDT (4 pm Pacific).

Because the six playwrights live in different parts of the U.S. (New York, Wisconsin, California), this will be the first time we’ll view the same performance and participate in the same post-show discussion at the same time.

Laura Shamas (photo:Stephanie Girard)

With the directors, dramaturgs, and actors, too, I’m really looking forward to a rousing developmental discussion -- and a chance to admire the five other shows in performance. For ReproEco, there will be a virtual post-show discussion lead by our dramaturgs on camera and in the chat section afterwards.

We live in a time of chaos and confusion in the United States. I’m so proud of be a part of the ReproEco team, especially now, in Fall 2025.

Our plays are strong statements, and I’m certain that audiences will find the ReproEco virtual evening to be provocative, illuminating, and inspiring in terms of “next steps” to solve some of this.

We are not powerless. Change is possible. Let’s try.

The ReproEco Plays:

We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living by Cassandra Medley. Directed by Shanea Taylor. Dramaturgy by Kajoree Bhattacharya. Starring A'lisa D. Miles, Pernell Walker, Kimberly Fairbanks, and Jada Owens.

Priorities by Laura Shamas. Directed by Carly Bodnar. Dramaturgy by Victoria Estes. Starring Kimberly Fairbanks, Pernell Walker, and Harriette Feliz.

Maybe Our Baby by Diane Breeser. Directed by Shanea Taylor. Dramaturgy by Kajoree Bhattacharya. Starring A'lisa D. Miles, Harriette Feliz, Olivia Harden, and Alfie Antillon.

Through Water Into Blood by Mildred Inez Lewis. Directed by Carly Bodnar. Dramaturgy by Victoria Estes. Starring Thomasin Savaiano, Olivia Harden, and Alfie Antillon.

Always Never Really Here by Alinca Hamilton. Directed by Shanea Taylor. Dramaturgy by Kajoree Bhattacharya. Starring Kimberly Fairbanks, and Jada Owens.

Until The Change Comes by Cindy Cooper. Directed by Carly Bodnar. Dramaturgy by Victoria Estes. Starring Jada Owens, Thomasin Savaiano and Harriette Feliz.

Details:
ReproEco Virtual Presentation, Transformation Theatre, Oct 14, 7 pm ET; 4 pm Pacific
Transformation Theatre Website
Meet the ReproEco Virtual Creative Team
Buy Tickets

More About ReproEco:
About ReproEco on ReproFreedomArts Website
Facebook invite; Instagram

Laura Shamas is a writer who lives in Los Angeles. She is a Chickasaw Nation citizen.

Images: Transformation Theatre, Laura Shamas

This blog is a public service of Repro Freedom Arts

Celebrating Reproductive Health, Rights, Freedom and Justice

Our collection: Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom

We Dissent: Voices for Reproductive Rights, now on YouTube

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Manhattan

See an index of 180 of the most recent blogs

See the guide to 520 blog posts on Up the Creativity

Repro Freedom Arts is a platform of Words of Choice, a nonprofit arts organization Tax-deductible donations can be made online.

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Bluesky @reprofreedomarts.bsky.social

X: @ChoiceTheater @ReproJWalk
Instagram: @ReproFreedomArts
Website: www.reprofreedomarts.org

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