So far, we have 20 teams registered, who have raised over $14,000. To start a team, join a team, or donate to an existing team, go to bowlathon.nnaf.org and scroll down to find the Women Have Options event. Each participant is responsible for raising or donating a minimum of $50 to attend the event, but we encourage everyone to raise at least $150, so we can reach our fundraising goals together.

Thanks to our local sponsors who have generously supported this event:

• Available Light Theatre
• Blue Rock Station Green Living Center
• Brezel
• Choice Network
• EcoFlora
• Evolved BodyArt
• Pattycake Bakery
• Pure Romance by Cheryl Moland
• PUSH Dayton
• Rendezvous
• Signature Wines
• St. James Tavern
• T & S Management
• Wholly Craft
• Wilde Hunt Corsetry

These are businesses and organizations that support reproductive freedom, so please support them when you can. The funds you raise have a direct and significant impact on women’s lives. So please join us and give choices to women in Ohio. Please email us if you would like more information about donating or participating…

I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Deciding between paying my bills and having my procedure was tough. With your help, I was able to do both. People like you are a true blessing for those in need. I pray that you are able to continue to be a blessing to others in need and one day I may be able to help someone as well. Thank you for the blessing. Sincerely, Katherine*

While I am grateful abortion does remain safe and legal in my part of the world, there are many obstacles for low-income women which prevent them from accessing this basic reproductive service. Women Have Options, along with our donors and supporters, helps to reduce these obstacles. As we say “If a woman can’t afford her choice, she doesn’t really have one.” So we as a community make choice real for women who find themselves in Katherine’s situation. This is the most direct way I can think of to support choice, and in this season of giving, donating to Women Have Options is giving the gift of choice.

*All women’s names are changed to protect privacy.

This is a guest post by our longtime board member Angie Shyrigh, who was inspired to write about why she serves on the Women Have Options board of directors. Following the murder of Dr. Tiller in 2009, Angie was determined to get involved in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movement. We are happy she discovered Women Have Options.

From left to right: Molly Hendrix, Harmony Cox, Cecile Richards, Adrienne Gavula, and Nancy Pitts

On Saturday, November 3, our board chair was asked to gather a group for coffee with Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Why? Because we know some of the most amazing pro-choice activists in central Ohio!

Attendees included WHO/O board members, Planned Parenthood supporters, and others who were interested in discussing the state of politics and reproductive health care. It was a great opportunity to get energized and discuss the importance of women’s voices and votes in the upcoming election. We are grateful to Cecile Richards for inviting us to the conversation, and we hope all supporters of WHO/O— regardless of your politics—will be ready to get out the vote tomorrow!

Learn more about how board members like Elizabeth support reproductive justice at emafund.org!

Today we have a guest post from Elizabeth Miller, a board member with one of our sister abortion funds, the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion (EMA) Fund. The anniversary of the Hyde Amendment got her thinking about reproductive justice, and what it means to her. Read her thoughts below:

So, yesterday was the 36th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, the law that prevented using Medicaid to fund abortions. That law serves to make abortion accessible to people with money to pay for it, or to pay for private insurance, or in states that have chosen to use their own funds to make it doable. Essentially, the law is a penalty on poor people. Part of my reproductive justice agenda is to overturn Hyde. But the anniversary also made me think about all the other things that I want when it comes to repro justice. A partial list (spoiler alert: most of them are really about ending capitalism):

• I want people to never have to choose to have an abortion because they can’t afford another child. I want people to have their needs met enough that questions of economics can be separate from questions of family raising.
• I want people to never have to choose to have an abortion because of disablism. This goes both ways: I want kids with disabilities and their parents to be supported enough that it isn’t a question of resources when it comes to raising kids with disabilities, and I want parents with disabilities to be supported enough that they know that they can parent well and thoroughly and that they will have a support network around them, whatever that needs to look like.
• I want people to not be excluded from foster parenting and adopting based on disablist and classist criteria. I want rules like “People with certain mental illnesses cannot be foster parents” to be eliminated and I want actual reviews of actual people when it comes to parenting.
• I want state services (if we have to have a state) to get people the supports that they need to parent and resources around addiction, instead of often racist and classist removal of kids from their homes. I also want clear and thorough and trained and resourced abuse screenings/screeners.
• I want teen parents to be supported with whatever resources they need to live the lives they want and to raise their children with the networks they need.
• I want an end to forced and coercive sterilization. This includes, for me, figuring out wtf to do with our legal guardianship system where people can speak for others (kids, adults with disabilities) and sterilize them. It also includes coercive rules around welfare, and pressure to get IUDs after abortions, and racism in our health care system that pressures women of color to be sterilized, and laws about trans people’s reproductive capacity in relation to legal status, and over-economically-incentivized clinical trials for sterilization and long-term birth control, and undisclosed clinical trials.
• I want people to be able to choose abortion freely, without needing to take economics into account, without having to wait/wade through roadblocks, without the number of weeks gestation playing into what they can do, without needing to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest clinic.
• I want people to have full (comprehensive, sex-positive, body-positive) sexual health information, full information and training and expectations around consent, full access to reproductive and physical and psychiatric health care, full access to both hormonal and barrier methods of birth control (oh, and the copper IUD if they want it).
• I want an end to rape, to coercion, to sexual abuse and assault, to street harassment, to misogyny, to heteropatriarchy, to racism, to disablism, to capitalism and the view of sexuality as an exchange. I want an end to non-consensual power dynamics. I want an end to domestic violence. I want people to be able to freely make decisions about their bodies and their sexualities.
• I want the end to nations and borders. Failing that, I want having kids to not be impacted by nationhood or citizenship. I want kids to be able to get educated, I want preventative and ongoing health care for all people, I want families to be able to access supports and services regardless of whether or not they have documentation or citizenship status.
• I want enough resources put into AIDS and other STIs that we actually fix that shit. No more super-gonorrhea.
• I want people to make their own decisions about how they want to birth children, what interventions they want used, and how they want to raise their children. I want those decisions to be supported with physical and economic resources as needed. I want people to be able to make these decisions with full information about how their bodies, health statuses, etc., can be supported in each context.
• I want us to look at parenting outside of heteropatriarchy. I want us to figure out how to talk about misogyny and how that impacts reproduction and parenting, but I want us to do it in a way that is trans*-inclusive and doesn’t reduce people to language that they wouldn’t use.
• I want everyone to have access to anti-racist and culturally-oriented/specific/sensitive health care and education, throughout their lives. I want a culture that values the contributions and work of people of color, particularly women of color, and that centers their concerns, needs, and voices.
• I want people to be able to decide what is important to them around reproduction, families, and children, and be able to easily and consistently access the resources to make those things happen.

I am sure there is more! What am I missing?

Thanks to Elizabeth for sharing her reproductive justice agenda with us, and reminding us of the importance of recognizing people’s unique ideas and perspectives when we talk about the work we do. Any advocate can tell you that reproductive justice is not as simple as a bumper-sticker slogan. Reproductive justice is anchored in the complex intersections of race, class, gender, sex, and hundreds of other things. It represents not just access to a medical procedure, but a far deeper imperative for women—indeed, all people—to have control over their bodies and their lives. We applaud Elizabeth’s work to define her own activism and push for justice that is true to it.

We also think Elizabeth is right: there must be more to say! What’s on your own reproductive rights agenda?

The evening will feature an art exhibit by Illinois-based artist and activist Heather Ault. Her nationally touring exhibit, 4000 Years for Choice, develops visual narratives about the practices of contraception and abortion around the world and throughout history. The project celebrates, inspires, and empowers women and men in their reproductive lives. We are proud to bring Heather’s art to Columbus for the first time. Come see her groundbreaking work and celebrate the reproductive roots of abortion and contraception!

Join us on Thursday, October 4, from 5:30–7:30pm. Signature Wines is located at 3816 April Lane, Columbus, Ohio 43227. Tickets are $30 and may be purchased with cash or check at the door. You can also pay for admission online. There’s nothing to print—just click here and make a $30 donation using Network for Good, and you’ll be on our guest list.

We would like to thank our host committee for supporting this event: Peggy Anderson, Kay Bork, Larry Hayman, Terrie Hubbard, Susan Karian, Danielle Smith, Stephanie Craddock Sherwood, Lydia Strauss, Sandy Theis, Judith Thomas, and Anita Waters.  Thank you for helping us celebrate 20 years of WHO/O!

If you have questions, please email info@womenhaveoptions.org.

This chart has a nice breakdown of some of the ways that women will benefit from health care reform. A great list, but there's something missing...

Care Act, or just the Affordable Care Act, or even Obamacare—insurance companies are required to cover women’s preventive health services without additional charges, such as co-pays. For many women, this means that they can now afford the contraceptive method that is best for them. Now, there are some important caveats to this—not every insurance plan provides the same benefits, and only newly written plans have to comply with the law at first so not everyone’s insurance will offer this benefit for now, and the vast numbers of uninsured women in the United States will still be paying out of their pockets for their reproductive health care—or, even worse, not getting the health care they need.
But it’s still exciting to see birth control on the health care reform agenda. The August 1 deadline ushered in many other benefits for women too, including diabetes screenings for pregnant women, STD screenings and counseling, screening for domestic violence , breastfeeding equipment and support, and other services that insurance companies can no longer choose to ignore or only partially cover. It doesn’t fix all the problems women face when they seek health care, but it’s definitely something to celebrate. The August 1 coverage changes represent a big step, one of many steps that women have been waiting for when it comes to being able to access the health care they need to make decisions around their own reproductive agency.

While there’s no denying that the new health reform law is a huge victory for women’s health, there’s a quieter defeat that underlies the conversation. We’ve asked before, and we ask again: Where’s the health care reform when it comes to abortion?

We’ve talked about the Hyde Amendment before, and how it prevents women from accessing the abortion services that they need. The Affordable Care Act only reinforces the Hyde Amendment. Health insurance plans will not be required to cover abortion, and any federally funded benefits (like tax credits) won’t be able to be used for abortion coverage or care. While insurance companies will have the option to provide abortion coverage in the health care exchanges that will start in 2014, states are already lining up to pass laws that prevent women from purchasing abortion coverage through this system. Nine states have already passed this legislation—and, unsurprisingly, our home state of Ohio is one of them. In fact, Ohio has done virtually nothing to set up a health insurance exchange except ban insurance policies that cover abortion from being offered in the not-yet-created exchange. The unspoken message is that abortion isn’t worth the same consideration as other forms of health care—that it’s optional  health care, a bargaining chip that a politician or political party can use to rally support with their base or afford to lose if push comes to shove.

We know that this isn’t the case. Abortions are not elective health care. They are necessary procedures that allow women to take care of their bodies, take care of their minds, and sometimes even save their own lives. We know that the reality of abortion in women’s lives is complex and different for every person, every pregnancy. Those who are in desperate need of abortion are the hardworking female heads of households who don’t have the resources to care for another child, the young women who are still planning the path of their lives, the victims of rape and incest, and those whose minds and bodies cannot withstand the physical toll of a pregnancy—in short, they only reinforce the idea that abortion is necessary and needed health care.

Our clients do not deserve to meet roadblocks or discrimination when they seek that care. We also know the clients who choose abortion because they simply cannot or do not desire to have a child, for whatever reason, and we respect their right to make that choice. Abortion is a legal medical procedure in the United States, and women deserve access to it as they deserve access to any other form of care. Denying them that care for reasons related to creed or religion is unacceptable. Health care reform that ignores the realities of abortion access and continues to quietly reinforce the idea that we don’t “need” abortion coverage does American women a great disservice. We can’t just accept that abortion will not be a part of it, and we will not see true reform until abortion is acknowledged as a necessary part of health care.

The Affordable Care Act is slowly coming into effect, and while we have gained a great deal, we have also lost a major opportunity to make sure that every woman can access ALL the health care she needs to make choices about her body and her life. As the health care reform conversation continues, let’s make sure to raise our voices in support of true reform, and not let our policymakers forget that we’re paying attention. In the meantime, we will celebrate the new and improved access to contraception without co-pays.
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Friends and volunteers representing WHO/O at Unite Against the War on Women on April 28, 2012. Thanks to our awesome board member Molly Hendrix for this photo!

larger political battle still going on. A woman’s right to make decisions about herself and her body is still under attack in Ohio. Supporters of the so-called Heartbeat Bill are still pushing for it, personhood is fighting for a spot on Ohio’s ballot (though it may not succeed), and Ohio still has an openly anti-choice House of Representatives, Senate, and governor. Our communities need to be ready to advocate for women and against the dangerous legislative climate in our state. Luckily, Ohio has a strong progressive community that we are proud to be a part of. When they hear the call, they take to the streets—or the statehouse—and they get heard!

On April 28, Women Have Options was asked to speak at the Columbus rally in conjunction with the national Unite against the War on Women event. This rally was a part of a nationwide network of rallies and marches designed to draw attention to the staggering amount of legislation that was proposed last year to strip women of their rights. Hundreds of people from all walks of life gathered at the Ohio Statehouse on a blustery Saturday morning to wave signs, march, and cheer for speakers who called on state and national legislators to defend women’s rights. Current and former representatives from Ohio’s legislature attended, including former congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy and current senator Michael Stinzano. Groups such as NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, Planned Parenthood of Central Ohio, the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and others were represented. Speakers ranged from college-aged Planned Parenthood volunteers to State Senator Charleta D. Tavares. Women—and a few men too—from all walks of life came forward with the same message: that they were ready to stand up for Ohio’s women. The message of the day was conveyed by words from our own board chair, Nancy Pitts:

“It’s time for the women and men across the country to raise our voices and say stop. Stop this attack on women. Stop punishing. Stop hurting. Stop shaming. To the mostly men waging this war inside buildings like this who claim to value life, I’d like to call your bluff. There’s plenty of life all across the country that needs your help: the kids in our schools, and families without jobs or health insurance. We knew you weren’t pro-choice, now we see you’re not pro-life either. You’re simply anti-woman. [...] The women and men here today, and women and men across the country, are tired of politicians who try to score political points with women’s health. Women’s health isn’t a political game to be won or lost. These are our lives.”

You can see further media coverage of the event here and here, and there are some beautiful photos on our Facebook page. With the election in November coming up soon, now is the time to get active and start holding legislators accountable for the way that women fare under the laws they pass. If you agree, now’s a great time to start getting involved with WHO/O. Get up, get loud, and raise your voice for choice!

Jennifer Weishaar from the Peggy Bowman Second Chance Fund took this great photo of us with our award. Go find out more about their fund and the awesome work they do in Kansas at prochoice.pbscf.org.

This annual conference is a chance for abortion fund activists from around the country—and a few from outside the country too—to gather and share ideas, resources, and camaraderie. I was lucky enough to be selected to participate as a member of the Building the Movement Leadership Program, an initiative specifically meant to help young women and women of color become leaders in the reproductive justice movement. This was my first visit to the summit, and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a great experience!

I started my weekend (along with 10 other abortion fund members from around the country) at a day- long workshop for Building the Movement participants. We spent our first day talking with leadership at NNAF and learning about how they became involved with abortion funding. It was a great opportunity to ask questions and learn from experienced activists. I got to meet other young women who care about reproductive justice and share ideas and experiences with them. It was a great way to kick off the conference, and helped us have a great dialogue about how young women can be effective advocates for our abortion funds.

The conference provided a number of excellent workshops. For me, one of the most valuable workshops was a 4-hour advanced fundraising session—training I really needed, believe me. In addition to the formal workshops, there was also just a fantastic wealth of non-profit know-how and ingenuity among the attendees. People weren’t just at the summit to catch up and have fun, but to help each other do the important work that they do. It seemed like every time I sat down with someone new, I learned about a great new resource or an awesome program or idea that was happening at someone else’s fund. I learned more about the nuts and bolts of how funds succeed over the weekend then I ever have before. Having the opportunity to learn and share resources and ideas with so many likeminded people was awesome. I’m really excited to bring some new ideas and skills to my work with WHO/O.

That isn’t to say we didn’t have fun, too. The opportunity to relax and hang out with abortion fund members and supporters doesn’t happen every day—the vast majority of us are volunteers, and when we’re hanging out, we’re usually working to make our programming successful. The NNAF summit provided us all with plenty of opportunities to meet new friends and enjoy ourselves too. The highlight was definitely the talent show. Everyone brought something special to the table, from tap-dancing to singing to stand-up comedy. Well, not everyone—WHO/O sat that one out. Maybe next year?

We did get our moment in the spotlight though: Women Have Options is the proud recipient of this year’s NNAF award for Most Impressive Advocacy for all of the work we’ve done in Ohio to rally women around reproductive justice. People who follow our Facebook page and this blog know we have some real advocacy rockstars here in Ohio, and we’re honored to share this award with all of you. We are truly grateful to have been recognized, and we’ll take this as a charge to do even better next year!

Overall, it was an awesome experience. I came home feeling energized and positive about the work we do, and really proud to be contributing to the amazing things that WHO/O accomplishes in my community every year. I am so thankful to everyone at NNAF for giving me the opportunity to attend. I’m already looking forward to next year!

Lawmakers have done everything in their power to take choices away from Ohio’s women. On April 29, we stood up defiantly and gave women their choices back. Throughout the month of April, abortion funds around the country participated in the National Abortion Access Bowl-a-Thon organized by the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF). WHO/O joined the fun with 31 teams made up of 161 bowlers from around the state. Teams representing Planned Parenthood of Central Ohio, Denison University Students for Choice, VOX at OSU, Women Have Options board members, and others joined us to celebrate choice and strike down financial barriers to abortion access. Our bowl-a-thon was more than a great fundraiser: it was a great way to build community, bringing together progressive people who support women’s equality.

We would like to thank the amazing sponsors who made this event possible:

• Brezel
• Capital Care Network
• Evolved BodyArt
• Pattycake Bakery
• PUSH Dayton
• Signature Wines
• St. James Tavern
• ThoughtCo
• Wholly Craft

Nationally, more than $474,000 was raised, and Women Have Options was #6 in the country for fundraising!

To raise $27,000, lots of individuals did some impressive fundraising. As encouragement, we offered prize packages to the top five individual fundraisers:

Trust Women

• Sony Bloggie Touch camera
• $25 Mozart’s Café gift card
• $20 City Barbecue gift card
• $50 Evolved BodyArt gift card
• Women Have Options tote bag

A Date with WHO/O

• $200 wine tasting for 10 at Signature Wines
• $25 Mozart’s Café gift card
• $30 Brezel gift card
• $20 Evolved BodyArt gift card
• Women Have Options tote bag

WHO/O Delight

• $50 Pattycake Bakery gift card for a special-order cake
• $20 Brezel gift card
• $15 Evolved BodyArt gift card
• Capital City Fitness: 2 personal training sessions and 2 group training sessions
• Women Have Options tote bag

Repro Justice Rocks

• Blue Rock Station 4-person tour
• Blue Rock Station gift basket
• $50 Brezel gift card
• $20 Evolved BodyArt gift card
• Capital City Fitness: 2 personal training sessions and 2 group training sessions
• Women Have Options tote bag

Abortion Access for All

• Yoga on High: 11-class pass
• Capital City Fitness: 2 personal training sessions and 2 group training sessions
• Women Have Options tote bag

Leading up to the bowl-a-thon on April 29, we offered prizes along the way, including gift cards to Brezel and Evolved BodyArt, as well as tickets to COSI, Gateway Film Center, Funny Bone, Columbus Crew, and the OSU Department of Theatre.

To see all the photos from the event, please visit our Facebook page. We can’t wait to make the 2013 bowl-a-thon just as amazing!

We're here to support you, Ohio!

Recently, Katha Pollitt wrote a piece for The Nation about why women of means should donate to abortion funds. We won’t recap the piece here–we encourage you to read it for yourself!–but the point of it is that a contribution to an abortion fund is a direct way to impact a woman’s life while making a stand for choice. We agree 100%! In fact, we wanted to tell you a little more about why the points in the article ring true for us here at WHO/O:

1. As hard as it is to get an abortion when you’re broke, it’s even harder in Ohio.

When it comes to abortion access, Ohio is a tough place to live. NARAL has consistently given Ohio an F in their ranking of abortion laws due to the wide variety of legislation that restricts access. Many of those restrictions add to the cost of an abortion in a straightforward way, such as restrictions on covering abortion in state employees’ health insurance policies or restrictions on public funding  for abortion procedures. Other laws add cost and stress in multiple ways.

Consider the mandatory counseling and 24-hour waiting period required in Ohio. Say you’re an hourly worker with no health insurance–your time is literally your paycheck–and you’re spending hours, days, weeks of it jumping through legal hoops to access the health care you need. Oh, and did we mention that you live in one of the 91% of Ohio counties that don’t have an abortion provider? So you have to travel to obtain an abortion. If you don’t have a car, you have to find a ride or pay for a bus ticket, which can cost up to $75 or more. Even if you have a car, how much will it cost to fill the tank with gas for a trip or two–since the 24-hour delay requires you to make two visits with the provider, you have to travel twice or find a way to stay overnight in another town. Even if you do have the money to pay for your abortion, these are major roadblocks to overcome.

Now imagine that you don’t have that money. After all, an abortion can typically cost between $350 and $1,000 depending on multiple factors. In a state where nearly 20% of adult women live in poverty, financial barriers are significant ones and absolutely prevent some women from obtaining a medical procedure they desperately want. Many of the women we help are within $20 of being able to afford their choice. Your donation really can make the difference.

2. Your donation makes a real difference in your community.

Women Have Options is Ohio’s statewide abortion fund. Our funding is distributed directly through 10 clinics throughout Ohio. We also partner with and advocate for choice on the state and local level in…you guessed it, Ohio. We are grateful for every single dollar we receive because we know it’s going directly to help women in the communities that we live in. Women Have Options has helped thousands of Ohio women make choices about their bodies and their lives. Those are women from your communities: your state, your city, maybe your neighborhood. Maybe someone you know. When you donate to Women Have Options, you are giving it directly to the women in Ohio that need it the most. You literally give them the power to change their life. Isn’t that worth being proud of?

3. Donating to an abortion fund is a great way to be an effective activist in a state where we need it.

Women Have Options is a proud member of the activist community here in Ohio. You’ve seen us at Walk for Choice, FOCO Lobby Day, our annual Bowl-A-Thon and anywhere else that people are advocating for reproductive justice. You’ve seen us at our pro-choice partners’ phonebanks, rallies, and maybe even at one of our own fundraisers. We’re out there supporting a woman’s right to choose every day. But we don’t do it alone–we do it with the donations of every person who has ever supported us.

In 1992, our fund was born because a friend of one of our founders needed help paying for an abortion she couldn’t afford. Twenty years later, we have thousands of friends helping women in their communities afford their reproductive choices. In a state where legislation like the Heartbeat Bill abortion ban gains more traction every day, we need all the friends we can get! The time and money you give to Women Have Options–the handful of bills you donated, the crafts you bought at our winter fundraiser, the afternoons you spent lobbying and rallying with us–those are all the things that keep WHO/O fighting. By supporting WHO/O, you are a part of our mission, and we need you now more than ever. We dream of an Ohio where every woman can make meaningful reproductive choices. Until that day comes, we’ll be working for it. We hope you’ll be there with us.