Tag: Choices

CHOICES Receives Grant to Support LGBTQ Health Care

Post author By Maya Smith
Post date August 7, 2019

CREDIT: Facebook/CHOICES

Facebook/CHOICES

CHOICES’ main clinic on Poplar

CHOICES: Memphis Center for Reproductive Health is receiving a $5,000 grant to assist in its efforts to transform LGBTQ health equity in the South.

CHOICES, a non-profit that offers reproductive health care services here, including transgender healthcare, is one of four recipients of the community grant.

The Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE), an Asheville, North Carolina-based organization working to improve LGBTQ equality in all areas, also awarded grants to organizations in Asheville, Greenville, South Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia.

CSE awarded a total of $30,000 to CHOICES and the other three organizations in an effort to “promote innovations in providing health care to better serve LGBTQ Southerners.”

“The infusion of funding to organizations on the leading edge of serving LBGTQ Southerners is designed to support new models in the South that increase access to care and ensure that people are treated with dignity and respect in health care settings,” a statement from CSE reads.

More than one third of all LGBTQ Americans live in the South, where they experience “disproportionate health disparities,” according to the group.

“The South is the epicenter for the modern HIV crisis in the United States, particularly for transgender women of color and black men who have sex with men,” CSE’s statement continues. “Transgender and non-binary Southerners are frequently confronted with ignorance or discrimination while seeking care.”

Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of CSE said health care is a “human right that is fundamental to being able to survive and thrive.” The goal is for the grant recipients to use “innovation and grit to create new models to help Southern LGBTQ people access the care they need and deserve,” Beach-Ferrara adds.

With the grant, CHOICES plans to provide free sexually-transmitted infections (STI) testing, education, and referrals to LGBTQ patients through a pilot program in partnership with OUTMemphis.

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“With funds from the Southern Equality Fund, CHOICES is excited to work with our local partner to provide free STI testing and linkage to care for LGBTQ persons in Memphis,” Katy Leopard, assistant director of CHOICES, said.

Currently, CHOICES provides wellness exams to LGBTQ patients that include breast exams, birth control consultation, HIV testing, hormone management, and overall health evaluations.

Leopard said the clinic has nearly 200 transgender patients in the Mid-South area and that it can be difficult for those patients to find care elsewhere in Memphis.

“It’s very difficult for that population to find caring providers who ask questions in the right way and don’t ask unnecessary questions,” Leopard said. “A lot of our transgender patients have been wronged by the healthcare system. So they have a real wariness when coming to see a healthcare provider at all. So the fact that they see CHOICES as a place where they can come and be respected and valued is really big.”

Tags Campaign for Southern Equality, Choices, health care, LGBTQ, OUTMemphis, transgender

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Pro-Choice Advocates Rally to ‘Stop the Ban’

Post author By Maya Smith
Post date May 21, 2019

CREDIT: Maya Smith

Maya Smith

About 40 people rallied near City Hall, Tuesday, against the recent abortion bans that have been passed in other states.

Chanting “Stop the ban,” participants held pink signs reading “Protect safe, legal abortions.”

Tuesday’s effort was spearheaded by the Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, in collaboration with Indivisible Memphis, Choices, and other pro-choice advocacy organizations.

Ashley Coffield, president of Planned Parenthood for the Greater Memphis Region said that 73 percent of Americans oppose banning abortion, and “we’re out here today to raise up their voices and tell the nation that we won’t stand for it.”

“In Tennessee we have Planned Parenthood and other organizations that offer abortion, and that’s a great thing,” Coffield said. “But we are under attack from our legislature right now. It’s worse than it’s ever been.”

Sixteen states passed legislation this year either placing greater restrictions on abortion or effectively banning the procedure completely.

Coffield said the Tennessee legislature was close to passing an outright abortion ban this year, but that measure failed in the state Senate. That legislation is slated to be discussed during the legislation’s summer session.

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Tennessee did, however, pass a law that would criminalize abortion in Tennessee if the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is overturned. That law, the Human Life Protection Act, would ban abortions except “when an abortion is necessary to prevent death” or “substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function.”

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, the law would make it a felony offense for doctors to perform abortions. Under the law, women seeking abortions would not be prosecuted.

“The fight is far from over in Tennessee,” Coffield said. “Our rights are at risk like they’ve never been before and this is a coordinated attack nationwide to get a case to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.”

Coffield said abortion is basic health care for women and making abortion illegal won’t stop abortions: “Abortion will just be unsafe and women will die.”

Currently, in Tennessee abortion is legal throughout the first 20 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy. However, the law places restrictions and regulations on clinics who offer abortion and women seeking the procedure, according to Holly Calvasina, director of development and communications for Choices.

One of those regulations is the 48-hour waiting period, Calvasina said. Women seeking an abortion must a woman to see a physician on two different occasions. According to the law, this is to ”reduce coerced abortions and to allow time to carefully consider the information and resources provided by informed consent provisions.”

Calvasina said this makes abortions more expensive, because women must pay for two doctor’s visits.

Diane Duke, executive director of Friends for Life, was also at the rally. She said that abortion is a woman’s right.

“Women are able to make their own decision about the timing and the size of their families,” Duke said. “We are women. We are the ultimate authority and definitive authority of our own body. We know if abortions are illegal, women will die.”

Duke also noted that “because of white privilege, our brown and black sisters will disproportionately bear the burden of an abortion ban.”

“This will further reinforce the institutional racism that is so predominant here in the South,” Duke said.

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Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, who sits on the Planned Parenthood board here, was also at the rally, speaking against abortion bans.

“It was more important for me to be here with you on the ground to say ‘this won’t fly for us’” Sawyer said. “I know personally what it means to be able to make decisions about your body. No one should be able to tell anyone what they can do what their life and their future.

“When we are talking about stopping the ban, it is important that we show up in Memphis because if you don’t think Tennessee is next, you’re sleeping.”

Tuesday’s rally here was one of more than 400 happening across the country, urging for an end to abortion bans.

Tags abortion, Choices, Planned Parenthood, rally

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On the Scene at Condomonium

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date April 19, 2016

Condomonium was held last Saturday at Playhouse on the Square. The annual fundraiser for CHOICES features fashions made out of condoms by guest fashion and theater designers.

The event promotes good sexual health with funds going to uninsured and underinsured patients at CHOICES.

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Tags Choices, Condomonium

News The Fly-By

Ultrasound Bill Introduced After Amendment 1’s Passage

Post author By Alexandra Pusateri
Post date December 2, 2014

CREDIT: Mitar Gavric | Dreamstime.com

State representative Rick Womick (R-Rockvale) is wasting no time in taking advantage of the passage of Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that passed this month giving legislators the right to enact stricter abortion laws.

A bill introduced by Womick would require that women who choose to have an abortion would have to first hear the heartbeat of the fetus, unless there’s a medical emergency.

It also requires medical providers to show the patient an ultrasound. If the patient declines, the provider would be required to provide a verbal explanation of a live ultrasound, describing the fetus’ stage, including the heartbeat, internal organs, legs, and arms, if present.

CHOICES Memphis Center for Reproductive Health is urging its pro-choice supporters to reach out to state representatives. The clinic is also working with Healthy & Free Tennessee, a statewide organization aiming for more progressive reproductive and sexual health legislation.

Mitar Gavric | Dreamstime.com

Rebecca Terrell, the executive director for the clinic, said what some pro-life legislators call regulation is actually restriction.

“The idea behind Amendment 1 was, ‘We’re going to introduce bills to ensure that women get safe care,'” she said. “So what on earth does this have to do with women getting safe care?”

According to Womick’s bill, a woman would be required to have the ultrasound (or verbal explanation of an ultrasound) two days before the scheduled abortion — something that Terrell said only restricts access to a procedure. She said procedures need to be completed as soon as possible to ensure they are as safe as possible. Since abortions are not performed every day, a woman who goes in for an ultrasound and then needs an abortion might add a few days or a week to her appointment, making it “less safe by definition,” Terrell said.

Ultrasounds are already offered to patients as standard practice, Terrell said.

“We really just use it to date the gestation of the pregnancy, so there’s no looking for fingers and toes,” she said. “But the majority of our procedures are so early, you can’t really see any of that anyway. We always ask the patient if she would like to either see the image or have a copy of the image. All the studies [show] that seeing the image has very little effect on the women’s decision, that they have made that decision before they come.”

The Family Research Council, a pro-life organization based in Washington, D.C., quotes a study that says otherwise, but an independent study conducted by the University of California in San Francisco, published in January of this year, measured data from more than 15,000 women who sought abortions at an urban clinic. Nearly 43 percent of women chose to view their ultrasound, but 98.4 percent of those who viewed it still terminated their pregnancy. Out of the 15,000, 98.8 percent of women still followed through with their abortion procedure.

“If there’s any kind of devastation, like in a case of rape or a pregnancy terminated for medical reasons, why would you want to traumatize someone like that?” Terrell said. “It’s cruel, and it’s so intrusive. It’s about shaming the woman.”

In January of this year, a federal judge struck down a law in North Carolina requiring medical providers to describe the fetus in detail, even if the patient asked to the contrary, declaring it unconstitutional.

“We have our job. We have to provide the care,” Terrell said. “So, who’s fighting the fight? I hope that maybe some lights went on for people in this Amendment 1 battle — that [abortion] might actually be unavailable to people in our state. Legislators do pay attention when they hear from their very own districts, so don’t think your voice is unimportant. It can have an impact.”

Tags Amendment 1., Choices, Rebecca Terrell, Rick Womick

News The Fly-By

Radical Doula Collective Offers Support and Training to Full-spectrum Doulas

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date September 18, 2014

Doulas aren’t simply assisting with births these days.

Traditionally, a doula offers non-medical support to women before, throughout, and sometimes after the birthing process. But a new, local Radical Doula Collective is a network for those who offer support to pregnant women in everything from birth to miscarriage to abortion.

“A radical doula is a full-spectrum doula, whether the doula is serving as an abortion doula, a doula for miscarriage, or a perinatal or neo-natal loss, or stillborn. They can even provide support throughout the adoption process or surrogacy,” said Leslie Salama, who in August founded the Radical Doula Collective at Choices Memphis Center for Reproductive Health, where she works as a volunteer coordinator.

Choices was founded as an abortion clinic in the 1970s, but it has since grown into a full-service sexual health clinic, offering birth control, HIV testing, fertility services to both straight and gay couples, health care for transgender people, and other services.

Volunteer “patient advocates” at the clinic assist women receiving first trimester abortions, essentially acting as radical doulas. But Salama saw a need for more training for those volunteers, and she wanted to branch out and welcome doulas who don’t have an affiliation with Choices. She also noticed a lack of abortion doulas in the city.

“I felt like our patient advocates needed to have a forum where they could be more connected with each other and see other peers in a nonclinical environment,” Salama said. “They can share their stories and debrief and share tips and training and best practices. We want birth doulas to learn how to be abortion doulas and patient advocates to learn more about being birth doulas.”

Doulas differ from midwives in that they don’t need medical training. Rather than actually delivering a baby like a midwife, a traditional birth doula offers emotional and psychological support. She may offer tips on comfortable birthing positions or assist by providing aromatherapy or breathing techniques.

An abortion doula provides emotional support to women going through the process, and she may even be with a woman at her home during a medication termination, which is typically done at home by taking prescribed pills to induce abortion.

“There is no licensing for doulas, and there is no certification for abortion or radical doulas at all. A lot of organizations don’t even acknowledge abortion doula care,” Salama said.

As their primer, the collective is using The Radical Doula Guide by Miriam Zoila Pérez, a zine that addresses the political context of supporting people during pregnancy, childbirth, and other related issues.

At their first meeting in August, collective members discussed their desire to offer free services to women whenever possible, so low-income women aren’t left out.

“We’re looking at starting crowd-sourced fund-raising to allow doulas to offer services for free, so we’ll have a pool of funds to draw from,” Salama said.

The collective is open to active doulas from all spectrums, as well as anyone interested in becoming a doula. The next meeting will be held at Choices on Sunday, September 21st, at 2 p.m.

Tags Choices, Leslie Salama, Radical Doula Collective