Girls

Sex trafficking strikes in D.C. just as it does in Dakar or Dubai.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

When I lived in Africa and worked on girls’ education and HIV/AIDS prevention issues, I encountered what was known as the Sugar Daddy phenomenon.

In various countries in Africa, girls are the first to be pulled from school when money in a family is tight.  They’re also the last to eat, and the last to receive basic necessities like health care or clothes.  Busy with caring for siblings or fetching water, they also often go without much attention or sense of self-worth.

But Sugar Daddies are more than willing to make up for that. 

Older men, usually with means, they prey on these young women–sometimes as young as 11, 12, 13.  At first, they just show them attention, maybe by paying school fees or purchasing a new uniform.  Then, they might take a young woman out to dinner or pay for her to have her hair done.

All innocent enough.  Until he begins to convince her that she owes him and that her debt can be repaid with sex. 

I got all too used to seeing this in various African cities and villages, where poverty is rampant and there are few social services to assist vulnerable youth who may fall through the cracks into such situations.

Of course, now I’m all too used to hearing about it happening on K Street, in my city’s schools, throughout the region where I live.  In our nation’s capital.

It’s not okay that this happens to children anywhere, but there is something about it happening in one of our country’s wealthiest cities, just blocks and miles from the White House and Capitol Building, that I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to.

Which is why I was so pleased to attend an event on Tuesday evening hosted by Fair Fund–a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.  The event brought together members of our community to learn more about how human trafficking and sexual exploitation are impacting youth in Washington, D.C.   

About how young men and women in this city are routinely entrapped by pimps who start out as friends or boyfriends and then demand a return on their kindness with sex, first with them, and then with others. 

And thus the cycle of entrapment in sex trafficking continues, here in Washington, D.C. just as it does throughout the world.

Here though, we are fortunate to have a committed coalition of activists, including Fair Fund and a number of other nonprofits and Grantee Partners of The Women’s Foundation (including Polaris Project, WEAVE, Latin American Youth Center, SMYAL, AYUDA, DC Rape Crisis Center, and Ascensions Community Services), who are all working together to break this cycle by advocating for a safe house to take teens to when they are pulled out of dangerous situations and building awareness among teachers, social workers and police officers throughout our community who can help identify, assist and protect young people who fall into this trap.

To learn more about this important work or to get involved:

Fair Fund’s new report documenting these trends locally: Pathways Into and Out of Commercial Sexual Exploitation 

3-minute interview with Fair Fund’s Executive Director Andrea Powell in the DC Examiner

WAMU radio piece on Fair Fund’s work and local sex trafficking

To learn more about how to get involved, visit FairFund.org.

Lisa Kays is Director of Communications at The Women’s Foundation.

Girls in Wards 7 and 8 pose tough questions for DC Council candidates.

Posted on by Debbie Billet-Roumell

In a new report released last week by the D.C. Women’s Agenda, ninth grade girls residing in Hillcrest, Naylor Gardens and Woodland Terrace challenged DC Council candidates for Wards 7 and 8 and At-Large positions to answer questions about daily hardships they must confront.

The girls’ questions included issues related to lack of concentration in schools due to no walls; rats and mice in the school; the need for extra tutoring and teachers; unsanitary bathrooms in schools; security on metro buses; surveillance cameras at street intersections; neighborhood watch programs; curfews for youth; and, other questions relating to health insurance and affordable housing.

All of the candidates offered numerous proposed solutions to the many problems raised by the girls. In response to the problems of rats in the school, Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander planned to work with Allen Lew, head of the new Office of Public Education School Modernization to “ensure that our schools are rodent free.” She encouraged students to “e-mail [her] every time a rodent is seen in a school.” Ward 8 Candidate Howard Brown offered a different solution: “I would recommend that the school include rodent and pest control in the curriculum. I would propose an educational program that teaches the science of why rodents dwell in our facilities, and how to eliminate the problem.” Ward 8 Candidate Charles Wilson said he, “will work with the District rodent task force to rid our schools of mice, rats and other rodents.”

I spoke up and noted that while it is important to examine the candidates’ responses to these problems, it is essential for the D.C. community—including all elected officials—to take note of what these girls are experiencing.  The D.C. Women’s Agenda believes that these questions go to the heart of the policy matters that must be addressed when the DC Council enacts legislation addressing problems of youth in our city.  We will continue to bring these concerns to all of the newly elected and sitting officials in the Council this fall, I explained.

The report, 2008 Election Guide/ Supplemental Questions and Candidates’ Responses from Girls in Wards 7 & 8, details candidates’ responses to questions that came directly from girls in Wards 7 and 8. The guide is designed to help voters understand candidates’ positions on girls issues related to schools and libraries, safety, health, and housing.

Debbie Billet-Roumell is the coordinator of the DC Women’s Agenda, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation that is a coalition of advocacy organizations, service providers, and individuals working to promote the advancement of equality, safety and well-being for women and girls in the District. It is chaired by the DC Employment Justice Center and Wider Opportunities for Women.

The Election Guide is available online or by requesting a hard copy at DBRoumell@wowonline.org.

Fireside chats at Camp CEO reveal mixed messages facing today's young women.

Posted on by Phyllis Caldwell

After taking a few weeks off this summer, I’ve returned to The Women’s Foundation re-energized and excited about the coming months.

Having the time away also gave me time to think about the power of inspiring people to change the course of our lives and work by changing our perceptions of what is possible. I started thinking about this as I prepared my blog on one of my personal heroes and role models, Madame C.J. Walker, and the last few weeks have continued to lead me down this trail of thought.

Particularly my experience at Girl Scout Camp CEO, where I joined other women executives at to spend time with young women leaders in high school talking about the skills and qualities that lead to success and leadership in the corporate world—and life in general.

Spending a hot summer day roughing it with these bright, energetic young women, and sharing my experience as a woman in business and now as the leader of a nonprofit, reminded me of the importance of the mentors that had made a difference for me—that had inspired me to think of my potential in terms far greater than I might have imagined on my own.

As I worked on badges and sang camp fire songs with these young women, I was inspired by their confidence, their intelligence, and their proud sense of all they could do in this world. Of their sense of unlimited potential, and of their determination to unlock it in themselves, and in each other.

I couldn’t help but wonder who their role models were, and what messages were helping them develop this broad sense of who they could be?

Was it the impact of seeing Hillary Clinton run for president, or knowing that Nancy Pelosi was the first female speaker of the House that had to do with their bold ambitions? Was it seeing Michelle Obama’s successful career, poise and leadership as the potential first African American First Lady?  How much of their optimism was driven by their mothers, their sisters, their teachers, their Girl Scout leaders?

But as the week wore on, and many of the young women were far more able to identify and discuss a contestant on American Idol than Nancy Pelosi, it struck me that their hard-won sense of place in the world had emerged through a far more complicated set of messages than I could have ever imagined—even with two daughters of my own.

For their role models seemed to be the contestants on the reality shows they followed enthusiastically, which showed them that fame and fortune could happen overnight. And the movie and television personalities—from Beyonce to Angela Jolie — who made it look effortless to achieve lifestyles of incredible wealth and fame, and stunning good looks.

These figures were such a far cry from the hard working, disciplined, bright, serious women before me with expectations of success in a diverse array of careers that I couldn’t help but wonder where the balancing messages came from.

Were there real life examples of success of political, academic or medical leaders that touched them?  Who are the voices that have been able to cut through the many messages that tell young women that their worth is their appearance, their ability to fit in, the size and shape of their bodies?  Who have been the examples that have, like Siobhan reminded us earlier this month, shown them that a woman is evaluated for her mind far more than her looks, for her mental strength more than the numbers on scale?

This led me back to thinking about last year’s Leadership Luncheon, and the power of the stories shared by Laceiy and Sharan, about how they overcame harsh obstacles to utterly transform the course of their lives—about how they were shown the power of their potential and found the strength to unlock it.

Even when it seemed someone had not only hidden the key, but thrown it away.

And this is the power behind inspiration, I realized.  And why the voices of those close to the young women at Camp CEO–the voices of their personal mentors and role models—are able to get through to them, cutting though the chatter of easy success and glamour that is thrown at them every day from every angle.

And why Laceiy and Sharan had found the strength to change their lives.

Not because someone on TV told them to. Or because a movie inspired them. Or because they saw someone do it on Project Runway.

But because real people shared their stories—their defeats, their challenges, and their obstacles—and how they overcame them.

And in so doing held up a mirror that showed not only what was, but what could be.

And that is why I’m so re-energized and thrilled to be back at The Women’s Foundation and the work we do here. Because our work is precisely that—to hold up that mirror for women and girls throughout our region.

And to ourselves.

For by coming together, and giving together, we are able to see that our collective potential to change lives—and our community—is unlimited.

And that’s what is so exciting for me about the Leadership Luncheon.  Because giving together is at the heart of our work every day, all the time, but the luncheon is the opportunity to see it, to feel it, and to experience it all at once, in one room, at one time.  To truly understand the power of real people to come together to show one another—whether a CEO at a high-powered corporation or a woman on the journey to change her life—that, acting together, we can do anything.

That’s a true power lunch.

Phyllis Caldwell is president of The Women’s Foundation.

Building self-confidence by wearing a crown: A reflection on becoming Mrs. Maryland.

Posted on by Siobhan Davenport

I didn’t do it because I had the perfect body.

I did it because I didn’t.

I was just recovering from the birth of my second child, and needed to shake a bit of baby fat, in fact.

And, after 10 years of caring for my mom, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and becoming a mom myself, I needed to turn my attention back to taking care of myself a bit.

So when my girlfriend told me that she was entering the Mrs. Maryland pageant, instead of putting it off in hopes for a better time, or a better body, I decided to enter with her.

Life was short, I had realized as I cared for my ailing mother. Entering a pageant was on the bucket list I’d created for myself when she became ill.

In December 2007, when I officially decided to enter and prepare for the pageant, I had crossed off a few things on the list. I had run a marathon and earned a master’s degree.

Both were challenging. But neither involved a swimsuit competition.

I knew that this experience would push me further beyond my comfort zone than I ever had been.

So, I didn’t do it because I had the perfect body, or because I was dying to parade around on stage in a swimsuit.

I did it because I didn’t, and I wasn’t.

And because I wanted my daughter to see that when there are challenges, when you have to go outside your comfort zone, when you aren’t sure, that you can still take on anything you want, and succeed.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved watching the Miss America pageants on television, but it had never occurred to me that I could be in one.

Much less win one.

But on June 25, 2008, I did.

And while the crown is nice, I have been more struck by the process itself. Of learning about and testing my limits as I got back into shape and prepared for the various aspects of the pageant, including the interview.

It was through the interviews—which counted as half of our score—that I learned the amazing stories of my fellow contestants. About their careers as engineers, their PhDs, about their extensive community service.

About my fellow contestant who immigrated to this country 15 years ago, and has worked for seven days a week at her own business since then to create a future for her children. This year, her daughter graduated from the University of Maryland.

And every woman I met through the pageant had an inspiring story like this, of how she is impacting her family, her community and her own individual self-confidence.

And that is where the true beauty in the Mrs. Maryland pageant lies for me.

Because each of us was uncomfortable with the swimsuit competition and with being on stage, but we did it anyway.  Because of our sense of what we had to offer, as women, beyond what we looked like, beyond what everyone might see on the outside every day.

And yes, I enjoy wearing the crown. It has great meaning and significance for me.

But what I most treasure about it is the opportunity I have while I have the honor of wearing it to serve as a role model for other girls and women.

And what I hope I am able to convey to each of them is a concept I heard in a Tiger Woods commercial, where his father says to him, "I promise you that you’ll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life.”

Because I believe that the strongest gift we can give to each other as women, and pass along to our daughters, is the idea that the greatest goal is mental strength, and that each of us possesses it. That if you can dream it, you can make it happen.

At 37, I never thought it possible that I would be wearing a crown that I didn’t buy for myself.

And having the honor of wearing this one reminds me every day that its beauty has far more to do with the pretty face it frames, and actually represents the whole of the mind, spirit and strength that it surrounds.

Siobhan Davenport is a member of The Women’s Foundation’s board of directors and is the reigning 2008 Mrs. Maryland. She will compete in the national Mrs. America pageant in September. Siobhan’s platform and philanthropic interests include support for Alzheimer’s treatment and research, and increasing awareness of and support for early child care and education. She is an investor in The Women’s Foundation’s Early Child Care and Education Collaborative.

Scully helps girls to believe. In themselves.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

I saw the new X-Files movie, I Want to Believe, this weekend.  That’s what diehard fans do. 

Because we’ve been waiting a long, long time.

I love the X-Files for many reasons.  It’s smart. It’s funny.  There is mystery.  It involves the F.B.I.  And it stars David Duchovney.

But, it also stars Gillian Anderson, who plays one of the best female sci-fi characters ever invented.  And possibly, the best. 

She is smart.  She sticks by her principles and ideals, and doesn’t get swayed by the madness around her, even when her very good looking partner tries everything possible to get her to change her mind. 

And best of all, she’s a geek.  I mean, a real geek.  She’s a doctor.  And more prone to be wearing a lab coat than heels, and far more concerned with scientific integrity than getting her hair just right.

Yes, she is a geek in the coolest sense of the word.

Feministing perhaps says it best, with their Ode to Scully. 

And what better timing for her to make a comeback, as we’re learning that, in fact, girls aren’t science and math shy.  They’re hanging right up there with the boys, says the journal Science. 

An article on the research in the Washington Post describes how common misperceptions have led girls and their parents to expect less from them in these fields.  Such as Barbie exclaiming, "Math class is tough!"  The article concludes with a description of Barbie, saying, "So far, while her current career choices include baby doctor and veterinarian and Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, too, Barbie has not branched out into technology or engineering."

Lucky for us, Scully has. 

Helping us believe that girls can do and be anything they want.  A truth that isn’t so out there, after all.

FAIR Fund: 'At least I am not dead, but I am still out here.'

Posted on by Andrea Powell

Pimps were everywhere.

That is the first thing that I noticed when I arrived with a colleague in downtown D.C. late in the night last week to conduct outreach to prostituted teen girls. And, the police seemed to be out in large numbers, too.

So, if it’s so easy for us to find the pimps and traffickers, then why don’t the police just arrest and prosecute them – like the 2008 conviction and 96 month sentencing of Levar Simms for the prostitution of a 16 year old minor across state lines?

We hung back and watched young women, most of whom looked between the ages of 20 and 25 but could have been in their teens, as they stood on the corners and watched men go by in cars. The cars would slow down and a girl would look back to her pimp to see if she should get in the car.

Other times, a girl would be alone.

I handed some girls food and my colleague would hand them outreach cards with a hotline number for trafficked persons. As one very thin young woman with a black eye said, “At least I am not dead, but I am still out here.”

Then, she turned to follow a potential client’s car down the street.

A pimp is someone who forces someone else, usually a very young girl, to have sex for money. The pimp takes the money that the girl “earns,” and does so successfully because they are abusive and manipulative. They have strict rules, strict quotas, and dole out punishments to the girls in their "stable".

As some of the teens in our D.C. classrooms told us “Pimps Up, Hoes Down,” which means that if a girl is walking down the sidewalk and another pimp walks onto that street, she must go into the street and cross over.

I find it very disturbing that any 14-year old girl would know so much about prostitution.

Pimps run the largest growing criminal industry by exploiting girls across the globe.  So, how is it that these pimps are just standing around on 14th and K in downtown D.C.?

Pimping is illegal in Washington, D.C., as is prostitution and solicitation. And, if you are minor involved in commercial sex it is considered a form of human trafficking. As a member of the D.C. Anti Trafficking Task Force, our organization, FAIR Fund, has trained some very caring police officers in how to identify and assist victims of trafficking.

Still, the problem is everywhere on the streets – and what seems worse – increasingly moving online.

There are several reasons why an arrest for pimping and paying for sex is so difficult. 

First, both parties would essentially have to incriminate themselves. FAIR Fund has found, though, that the true barrier to ending sex trafficking of minors here in D.C. is that there are few incentives for a young girl (or boy) who is identified to testify against their exploiter because law enforcement and outreach organizations that work to help young victims have very few options to present to him or her.

Typically, she is jailed as the only means of detaining her – not exactly a comforting environment.  Nevermind the irony that In a city where a 15-year old is too young to consent to sex, she can still be charged for prostitution.

And, because there is not a single safe space designed in the District or surrounding areas that is available for a teenager who is being commercially sexually exploited, life away from a pimp means hunger, homelessness, and an uncertain amount of abuse. Trying to convince that young person to testify against her trafficker could very well seem more risky than it does safe.

Imagine, though, if there was a space for these young victims to be safe from their violent exploiters. A space where the District Attorneys Office, our Metropolitan Police Department, and local nonprofits would be able to direct a young victim to the services and support that she needs while advocates are busy working to build a case against a trafficking and pimping network.

Perhaps, then, she might feel supported enough to press charges against a man that has put her on the street since she was 13.

Perhaps, then, she might be the key to arresting, prosecuting, and jailing what we would argue are some of the most dangerous criminals in Washington, D.C. 

Perhaps, then, the scene on the streets would change and the pimps wouldn’t be everywhere.

Andrea Powell is co-founder and executive director of FAIR Fund, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.  She co-wrote this blog with FAIR Fund’s development officer Amelia Korangy.

Beauty isn't just skin deep. It should also be defined by deep pockets.

Posted on by Phyllis Caldwell

I was thrilled when the Dove representative told me how they’d found us.

"We did a Google search for “inspiring women,” she said, and we came up with a blog on your site by Wendy Weaver.

I can’t think of a better Google search I’d like for us to pop up on, since inspiring is really our business.

Our donors and volunteers inspire us, and each other, every day. Our Grantee Partners inspire change in women and girls throughout our region. And those women and girls inspire our staff, board and supporters to continue to give back and grow the powerful wave of women’s philanthropy we’re all creating together.

It feels good any time that this is recognized publicly, even by a search engine.

Dove was looking for inspiring women to invite to be guest columnists on their Campaign for Real Beauty site. They asked me to write a brief reflection on a woman that has inspired me in some way.

I chose to write on a long-term hero of mine, Madame CJ Walker, the first African American woman millionaire, a model of philanthropy and a smart, savvy business woman. She began life as a slave, and ended it a brilliant entrepreneur making the first hair products especially designed for African American women.

As I was writing the piece, which will be posted in the coming weeks on the Dove site, I couldn’t help but think about the relationship between women and body image—the very issue Dove is addressing with their site.

And how for many women, their perception of their worth, their beauty, their self-esteem, their bodies, is dictated by an externally imposed sense of what is beautiful—rather than by an internal acceptance of all the quirks and differences that make us all unique.

Yet, there are far fewer external voices dictating notions of what women should do with their money, how they should feel about their money, what they should expect from their money.

Women are to shop, to buy, to consume.

Buy this face cream, this outfit, these shoes, and you’ll look fine, be fine.

The messages that make it an equally powerful expectation that women will save, build wealth, take control of their finances and feel good about their wealth are rather quiet in comparison, keeping women, and particularly young women, focused on youth-saving face creams, rather than on financial savings—which is crucial to economic security and wealth building.

And to building a secure retirement plan.

Because all the face creams in the world don’t actually stop the aging process or the future from coming.

In retirement, women are far more likely to face poverty than men, because older women are far more likely to be unmarried, they live longer on average, and because Social Security doesn’t tend to pay women as much as men, just to name a few reasons.

But whatever the savings goal—be it retirement, a home, a college degree or a car—I wish that women received more messages that inspired them to invest in their own financial futures than they did to invest in losing weight, looking younger or dressing better.

Because there’s nothing more beautiful than a woman in control of her finances and her future.

Phyllis Caldwell is president of The Women’s Foundation.

FLY makes fashionable television appearance!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

On Saturday night, Fashion Fusion in Washington, D.C. will bring together the hottest local fashion designers and a fun way to give back to women and girls in our community. 

Proceeds from the event will benefit The Women’s Foundation. 

We, in turn, make grants to great organizations like Facilitating Leadership in Youth (FLY), featured in this ABC9 news piece on the fashion show.  FLY fosters the academic and personal success of young women in Anacostia.  One of their former students, Tawanda, is now a sophomore in college, and is featured in the video. 

You can also read more about the event at Classy Fabulous, a fashion blog co-written by a member of FLY’s staff that covers local fashion and fashion events, and particularly those that benefit women’s causes.  The tagline is Creating Sisterhood through Fashion.

Sounds like the perfect tagline for Fashion Fusion as well, which at its heart hopes to use fashion to bring women together and provide an opportunity for them to give back through their participation to local women and girls.

Which is why their actual tagline is Inspired Giving, Inspired Style.

Fashion, giving, fun.  Certainly an inspiring combination!

Going on 13: Four girls. Four years. The change of a lifetime.

Posted on by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan

If there were any rules about documentary filmmaking, we probably broke them all.

One social worker, one filmmaker and one very ambitious idea: to follow girls over the course of four years as they became teenagers. Knowing that production alone would take so many years, we decided two things: one, that we would have to pace ourselves and, two, that we would be making it up as we went along. This included a shooting schedule that allowed us to keep our day jobs, becoming very close to our "subjects," and leaving the confines of a strictly observational cinema to either chat, hang out or answer the girls’ own questions about growing up.

Seven years later, our feature-length documentary, GOING ON 13, is screening at the SILVERDOCS/AFI Discovery Channel Documentary Festival. 

And we are excited and honored to be bringing along one of the girls from the film.  (See below for information about the screening.)  

That she still wants to be a part of our lives is amazing enough, but that she is willing to come out and engage with audiences–about a very tumultuous and embarrassing time in her life–is even more incredible.

We filmed the girls of our film from when they were 9 to 13 years old.  Not an age most of us want to remember and probably not an age that we would have wanted a camera too closely focused on us. But, an important transitional time for girls and boys, nonetheless, and one that deserves to be recognized for what it is: tough, confusing and fraught with possibility.

Early on in developing our film, we decided to stick with the children who lived in our own urban community of the California Bay Area.  We wanted to choose from the girls who were attending our local public schools, and we wanted typical girls, but not of the white, middle-class suburban variety.  At the same time we understood that when urban kids were called upon–and when we say urban, what we really mean are black, brown, and immigrant kids–they were called upon to demonstrate the woes of their environment.

The girls in our film are typical urban girls, unique in personality and temperament, but they are not teen moms, in gangs, homeless or living with crack-addicted parents.

Many have asked us what exactly then, is the film about.

And I think the answer lies in the more subtle questions our film raises: When does childhood end and what does that journey entail? How is the process specific to these girls of color and at this particular moment at the beginning of the 21st century?

For each of the girls in our film the answer is complicated, distinct and inextricably linked to the little girl she once was.

And in order to hear the answer our film asks that we as adults stop and listen.  Too often we forget to listen to young people or simply choose to ignore them. We not only assume that our way is the right way but that it is the only way.

This is especially true when it comes to girls’ voices.

We wanted to make a space for these girls, at this difficult and decisive time, to voice their angst, excitement, and concern.

But most of all, we wanted to listen to their stories. We couldn’t have written this story; we didn’t know it. It was a story only they could tell.

Kristy Guevara-Flanagan is Co-Director of Going on 13.

SILVERDOCS screening information:

Going on 13
Screening: June 21 at 4:00 p.m. and June 22, 2008 at 3:15 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre & Cultural Center.

Both of the filmmakers will be in attendance, as will one of the girls from the film.

Visit SILVERDOCS for more information on purchasing tickets and to learn about other great films by and about women: In the Family, Letter to Anna, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, Football Under Cover, A Powerful Noise, Going on 13, Yidesha Mama and My Mother’s Garden.

Latest teen sex stats put a damper on celebrations of Griswold's birthday.

Posted on by Nancy Thebaut

The Washington Post published an article this past Thursday entitled “Decline in Teen Sex Levels Off, Survey Shows” on the leveling of teenage sexual activity in the United States, despite the continuation of abstinence-only education in public schools. The leveling comes after a period of decline in teen sex from 2001 to 2007 along with the flattening of a rise in condom use in 2003. Also reported was that approximately one in four teenage girls today has a sexually transmitted disease and that the teen birth rate has increased for the first time in the past 15 years.

While abstinence-only education proponents might argue that teenage sex has decreased because of the mandated (and restrictive) curricula, it has been shown that when teens do have sex, they are now more likely to not use any form of protection—which increases their risk of pregnancy, AIDS, and a number of other sexually transmitted infections. Thus, the number of teens who have unplanned pregnancies or who contract STIs has increased since the rise of abstinence-only sex education. John Santelli of Columbia University is quoted in the article, arguing that, "Since we’ve started pushing abstinence, we have seen no change in the numbers on sexual activity. The other piece of it is: Abstinence education spends a good amount of time bashing condoms. So it’s not surprising, if that’s the message young people are getting, that we’re seeing condom use start to decrease."

Naturally, supporters of abstinence-only education argue otherwise. Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association argues that sexual education that is not centered on abstinence gives teens a “green light” to sexual activity. In the same vein, Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council notes that, “Our culture continues to tell [young girls] the way to be cool is to dress provocatively and to consider nonmarital sexual activity as normative.”

Studies confirming these trends were released, somewhat ironically, during the birthday week of Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the Supreme Court case that overturned a Connecticut law prohibiting the use of contraceptives and confirmed a woman’s right to privacy.  I attended a small gathering on Saturday to not only celebrate the birthday of Griswold, but to also participate in a counter-protest hosted by the National Organization for Women in response to the recent formation of an abstinence-advocating, anti-choice contingent, The Pill Kills. Funded by the American Life League, these individuals lined the sidewalks of the downtown Washington, D.C. Planned Parenthood and harassed individuals entering the clinic.

Members of the Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force (WACDTF) were present as well, escorting those who entered the clinic all the way from the sidewalk to the doorway, as anti-choicers followed each person seeking care to the door, nearly touching them at times in an attempt to distribute pamphlets, etc. I was in total awe of the work that the WACDTF does, but simultaneously appalled by the behavior of those who verbally harass those seeking care at Planned Parenthood.

Though Planned Parenthood does provide abortions, it also provides a whole slew of other kinds of crucial reproductive care to all women and men, no matter their ability to pay.  At Planned Parenthoods in Washington, D.C. for instance, one can have a gynecological exam, seek pregnancy planning, obtain various forms of birth control, and receive testing for sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS.

Given the importance of the services that Planned Parenthood provides, I somewhat naively thought that such badgering at their health centers was illegal.

Coupled with the Washington Post piece, my Saturday morning birthday celebration and the counter-protest reminded me how precious a woman’s right to the reproductive health care of her choosing truly is and that it is crucial to continue advocating for our right to choose, seek, and obtain the reproductive health care and information we need.

Nancy Thebaut is a summer intern with The Women’s Foundation.  This fall she will be starting a master’s degree in art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art