Women's Health Specialists, The Feminist Women's Health Centers of California.
A Brief History of Women's Health Specialists
FOR WOMEN, BY WOMEN
Much has changed and much has stayed the same since the Feminist Women’s Health Center started 30 years ago. It was 1971, and a group of women sat in a circle performing pelvic exams on themselves.They were curious, determined and fiercely feminist.
A group of speculum-passing "hippies” may sound odd, but to the women who founded the Feminist Women’s Health Center it was serious business. Deadly serious.
Roe v. Wade had yet to give women abortion rights, and the desperate were dying in alleyways and shady facilities. Men dominated the gynecological field and few women took an active role in their own health care.
For the group of women who used a mirror, flashlight and speculum to gain knowledge, it signified the grass-roots beginning of a national movement not only for women’s health, but for the idea that women should be in control of their own bodies. The next step for the sisterhood was to share this knowledge with other women. Carol Downer and a colleague named Lorraine Rothman started an abortion referral service in Los Angeles, and in 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion, they joined a group of women in opening the first Feminist Women’s Health Center there. From there, the movement grew as supporters traveled to Los Angeles, and later, Oakland, to train for months and then start clinics in other cities including, in 1975, the private, non profit Chico Feminist Women’s Health Center.
"It was their sheer dedication and willingness to work for nothing that got the clinic off the ground,” said Shauna Heckert, the center’s executive director. The hours were long and the pay was miniscule, if anything. "The first person to get paid was the person answering the phone.”
This year, the Chico clinic, now called Women’s Health Specialists, also celebrates 41 years helping women understand their bodies, obtain birth control and get safer abortions.
www.cawhs.org
Women In Need Fund
It’s amazing how little women need, but without it, they are unable to get to a reproductive health provider. This is especially true for women in rural America. We are the only abortion provider in a 7 county region in Northern California. Many women have to travel hours to get to our clinic. The Women in Need Fund allows us to provide women with financial help for medical services, transportation, motels, childcare or whatever the women need to be able to come to the clinic and access their reproductive choices!
More often than not, we are the only allies people have as they try to raise money to pay for an abortion. We are also at the forefront of a dynamic and growing movement that honors the leadership and voices of low-income women, young women, and women of color. Join us!
