Friday, April 17, 2015

Thank you! on "Kathy Hodge Can Make HISTORY with YOUR Financial Help!"

YOU CAN MAKE HISTORY HAPPEN!

Your donation can fund Kathy Hodge* to present the report of the 1975 Women’s Health Center’s participant-controlled study of the female menstrual cycle at the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research Conference in Boston, June 4th to 6th, 2015.

“In male-dominated science, not as much work has been done to find a simple indicator of a woman’s days, which begin prior to the basal body temperature change at ovulation, as has been done on walking on the moon”

DONATE to cover Kathy’s out-of-pocket expenses
Needed: $2400.00

Donate via PayPal or check c/o Carol Downer 



 Thank You for Your Support!
  • Karen Nixon ($25.00) 
  • Francie Hornstein ($50.00)
  • Judith Kaluzny ($50.00)
  • Shelby Coleman ($50.00)
  • Monique Harriton ($25.00)
  • Melissa Davis ($40.00)
  • Teresa Downer ($40.00)
  • Thora J. DeLey ($25.00)
  • James J. Cox ($50.00)

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Kathy Hodge Can Make HISTORY with YOUR Financial Help!

YOU CAN MAKE HISTORY HAPPEN!

Your donation can fund Kathy Hodge* to present the report of the 1975 Women’s Health Center’s participant-controlled study of the female menstrual cycle at the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research Conference in Boston, June 4th to 6th, 2015.

“In male-dominated science, not as much work has been done to find a simple indicator of a woman’s days, which begin prior to the basal body temperature change at ovulation, as has been done on walking on the moon”

DONATE to cover Kathy’s out-of-pocket expenses
Needed: $2400.00

Donate via PayPal or check c/o Carol Downer



HISTORY
In 1975, the Feminist Women’s Health Centers did the first-ever participant-led menstrual cycle research. 

http://www.womenshealthinwomenshands.org/History.htm9 staff members of the Feminist Women’s Health Center (including Kathy Hodge) met each day for over a month, recording changes in our vaginas and cervixes, our moods, basal body temperature, and other physiological changes.
FINDINGS
http://www.womenshealthinwomenshands.org/History.htm“We found that healthy females can have a wider range of normal than previously believed.  We did see cyclic changes, but not the ones medical textbooks focused on.  Moods defied cyclic interpretation in our study, which frankly surprised us.”

PUBLICATION OF RESULTS
The findings were published in the journal, Women’s Health (now defunct), Helen Marieskind, editor-in-chief.


ABOUT THE SOCIETY FOR MENSTRUAL CYCLE RESEARCH
The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary research organization.  Its membership includes researchers in the social and health sciences, humanities scholars, health care providers, policy makers, health activists, artists and students with interests in the role of the menstrual cycle in women’s health and well-being.

http://menstruationresearch.org/

The Society works to have menstrual health respected as a human right.  The UNDP and UNICEF have highlighted menstruation as “the single most important factor affecting school drop-out among girls”.

THE CONFERENCE
http://www.lorettaross.com/
  • Keynote by Reproductive Justice Pioneer Loretta Ross
  • Kick-Off Flash! Plenary showcasing several short diverse talks that make the menstrual connection
  • 2015 Making Menstruation Matter award presentation to Our Bodies, Ourselves
  • Plenary on Menstrual Cycle Hygiene Management campaigns around the globe
  • “Mainstreaming the Flow”: (Still) Selling my Soul to Start the Conversation” with Tomi-Ann Roberts
  • Widening the Cycle”, a menstrual art exhibit and plenary
  • Poetry Open Mic and Raffle hosted by Dominique Christina
  • Lunette Comedy and Cocktails with the Crimson Wave Girls

KATHY WILL PRESENT A SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS
This breakthrough study exploded the medical myth that any variation from the 28-day cycle was “abnormal”.  We also found that relying on the results of routine one-time, “snapshot”, readings of lab tests could result in grossly inappropriate and even harmful diagnoses and treatments. Mood changes during our cycles seemed more impacted by the environment.




WE HAVE THE FOLLOWING PERKS TO SHOW OUR APPRECIATION FOR YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT

THE PERKS!

$5.00 OR MORE 
YOU WILL RECEIVE A SOCIAL MEDIA SHOUT-OUT AND A REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE FROM KATHY (We will list your name on our website, blog, facebook, and twitter as a supporter of Kathy’s presentation.)

$25.00
A copy of Pat Maginnis’ “Condom Coloring Book”
Donate: PayPal or check c/o Carol Downer
$40.00
A Self-Examination Kit, including speculum, flashlight, hand mirror and instruction sheet (donated by Women’s Health Specialists)
Donate: PayPal or check c/o Carol Downer
$50.00
A used, good-condition copy of A Woman’s Book of Choices” by Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer (it’s out of print)
Donate: PayPal or check c/o Carol Downer
$100.00
Framed Pat Maginnis cartoon showing a uterus being pulled in a tug-of-war between patriarchal men and population controllers) OR a PDF copy of Kathy Hodge’s paper, with tables and charts.
Donate: PayPal or check c/o Carol Downer

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=KW6TNHQGN9ZQY
We gladly accept checks!  Please write the check to:
Women's Health in Women's Hands c/o Carol Downer

Mail to:
Womenshealthinwomenshands.org
2451 Ridgeview Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90041

Social media shout out will be posted immediately.  Kathy Hodge’s PDF report will be e-mailed, and other perks will be mailed by July 31st.

Thank You for Your Support!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

SUPPORT PURVI PATEL’S RIGHT TO CONTROL HER OWN BODY

By Carol Downer

In our rush to support Purvi Patel, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison on April 6, 2015 by an Indiana Judge on the charges of child neglect and feticide (inducing her own abortion) by adopting Patel’s claim that she miscarried, we risk implying that if it were a self-induced abortion, we might not support her.

The prosecution introduced evidence that Patel had told a friend about ordering pills to induce an abortion and about taking the medication, and had then texted her to say, “just lost the baby”.

We have seen abortion rights curtailed in recent years.  The desperation of females who have denied a way to solve their problem of unwanted pregnancy and the availability of abortion-inducing pills, and female’s dependence on medical help if complications of miscarriage or induced abortion will continue to produce these horrific outcomes.  We’d better think this through and take a position that doesn’t embroil us in factual evidentiary disputes or place us in the position of accepting the legitimacy of the State punishing a female for trying to control her own body.

Given the evidence that Patel induced an abortion, many of her supporters have shifted to the question of whether the fetus was viable and if so, whether it was a stillborn.  Viability is not determined by whether a particular fetus of a certain age will live, it is determined by the statistical probability that it will live, based on whether any fetuses born at that stage of development who were cared for in a well-equipped neo-natal unit have lived.  Whether the defense’s estimate of the fetus’ age was correct or the prosecutor’s estimate of a later fetal age, the fetus was very premature and its chances of survival under the best conditions were problematic.  

But why are feminists basing our support on whether the fetus was viable?  And, why are we challenging the tests for whether the fetus managed to take a breath?  Don’t we support Patel in her right to rid herself of an unwanted fetus.  It is her body, after all, and when a female is forced to maintain a pregnancy, it is reproductive slavery.  Just because the Supreme Court decided that there was a point during pregnancy when the fetus’ rights trumped the female’s rights, why do we accept that?  Of course, her attorney should and must present every defense, but unless we agree that the State has the right to control our reproductive organs under some circumstances, we must uphold Patel whether she had a miscarriage or expelled a premature fetus.

If the authorities pay attention to our Petitions, it will be because they see how outraged the females of America are at this prosecution and sentence and because they feel compelled to respect the national outcry.  They will not be swayed by the fact that we’ve believed the defense’s version of the facts, or that we’ve presented a legal argument.

As a female and as a feminist, I support Patel unequivocally.  FREE PURVI PATEL!