What She Said

Part III, Case 8: Health

Secular and non-secular women's organizations have engaged with issues of public and women's health for several decades. Today, women's advocacy and public policy engagement continues to target issues associated with the provision of healthcare to children, the poor, the elderly, and others, though in more recent decades many individuals and organizations have directed their attention most forcefully in the area of women's reproductive rights.

Reproductive rights encompass a wide gamut of health issues of relevance to both women and men, many of which are politically divisive today. While activists earlier in the 20th century worked to prevent involuntary sterilization and forced contraception, especially among women of color and those living in poverty, activism since the 1970s has tended to center on subjects like access to reproductive healthcare, birth control, safe and legal abortion, information about sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and about reproductive choices more generally.

On display are numerous items that serve as evidence of the work individual and organized women have done around public and women's health, especially reproductive health. These include flyers and memoranda informing the public about proposed Medi-Cal reforms, flyers inviting attendance at various demonstrations and other events focused on Roe v. Wade, correspondence about the allocation of government funding for family planning clinics, a magazine article defending a woman's right to make decisions about her own reproductive health, a newsletter issue investigating moral ambiguities around reproductive rights, a pamphlet promoting the rights of the unborn, a report produced during attempts to reform the American health care industry in the 1990s, and more.

Case 9, Childcare, is the flat case toward the Gohstand Reading Room.

• 1

  Correspondence from One Organization for the Needs of the Elderly, regarding the intergenerational daycare program, May 1, 1990Joy Picus Collection

• 2

  Welfare Reform newsletter published by the League of Women Voters of California, focusing on "Health Care for California's Poor," April 1979League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection

• 3

  Booklet, Critical Choices in Health Reform, published by the National League of Women Voters Education Fund, 1993League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection

• 4

  Brochure, Voicing Your Choice: A Guide to Citizen Participation in Health Reform, published by the National League of Women Voters Education Fund, 1994League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection

• 5

  National Voter, "Health Care for the People," published by the National League of Women Voters, January/December 1994Joy Picus Collection

• 6

  Flyer, March for Women's Equality/Women's Rights, 1989Zero Population Growth of Los Angeles, Inc. Collection

• 7

  Voter registration and Pro-Choice Rally, organized by the League of Women Voters, Los Angeles, 1989League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection

• 8

  Flyer, Pro-Choice All American Luncheon, January 22, 1983Zero Population Growth of Los Angeles, Inc. Collection

• 9

  Flyer, A Woman's Right to Decide, January 2, 1982Susan B. Nelson Collection

• 10

  Reproductive rights protest, organized by the League of Women Voters, Los Angeles, 2004League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection

• 11

  Flyer, "A Note from Alice Walker," in support of the Center for Constitutional RightsZero Population Growth of Los Angeles, Inc. Collection

• 12

  Magazine, Conscience: The Voice of Pro-Choice Catholics, September/October, 1984Zero Population Growth of Los Angeles, Inc. Collection

• 13

  Newsletter, NARAL News, National Abortion Rights Action League, July 1985Zero Population Growth of Los Angeles, Inc. Collection

• 14

  Invitation to attend the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles annual Pro-Choice Activator, February 11, 1986Catherine Mulholland Collection

• 15

  "Public Policy on Reproductive Choices," in Facts and Issues, published by the National League of Women Voters Education Fund, 1982League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection

• 16

  Letter of thanks from Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman to the League of Women Voters, Los Angeles, in regards to support for the State Office of Family Planning and reproductive freedom, March 9, 1990League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection

• 17

  Article, "The Right to Choose," in New West, May 1981Zero Population Growth of Los Angeles, Inc. Collection

• 18

  Booklet, "Who Killed Junior?"Vern L. Bullough Papers

• 19

  Reproductive rights protest organized by the League of Women Voters, Los Angeles, 2004League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection