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Category Archive: News

  1. #MyRightMyDecision

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    Next week, the Supreme Court will hear the Center for Reproductive Rights’case, June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo (formerly June Medical Services, LLC v. Gee), challenging a law that would close two out of three abortion clinics in Louisiana making abortion nearly impossible to access for thousands of individuals.

    The disputed law is identical to the law struck down by the court in 2016 in its 5-3 decision in Whole Woman’s Health vs Hellerstedt. The Louisiana law requires doctors who provide abortion care to have admitting privileges within 30 miles of the clinic. The only change is the composition of the Supreme Court, now stacked with anti-abortion justices. The outcome poses a dire threat to abortion rights; while the court could uphold its own precedent and reaffirm the constitutional right, it is far more likely to let the law go into effect – gutting Roe and opening the doors for other states to pass similar legislation.

    The court will also consider whether abortion providers have legal standing to argue cases on behalf of our patients. Without standing for clinics to challenge hostile laws with groups like the Center for Reproductive Rights and the ACLU, we would lose one of our most effective tools in protecting abortion access. In 2015, for example, Mabel Wadsworth Center teamed up with other providers and the ACLU to sue the state of Maine on behalf of our patients to restore MaineCare coverage of abortion. Our case relied heavily on expertise of clinic staff who explained the numerous barriers faced by our patients and why coverage was necessary to ensure meaningful abortion access to all Mainers. While we ultimately ended the MaineCare coverage ban through legislation in 2019, being able to bring litigation to represent our patients when needed is equally important, especially in states like Louisiana led by anti-abortion politicians.

    Understanding the significance of this case, our executive director, Andrea Irwin, and our board member, Aislinn Canarr, have shared their stories with the Supreme Court in two different amicus briefs. Andrea joined over 350 lawyers and legal professionals who have had abortions and would not have been able to realize their personal and/or professional goals were it not for their ability to control their reproductive lives. Aislinn’s story is one of eleven stories that represent a wide range of experiences held by people who have had abortions.

     “Aislinn was not ashamed to get an abortion. She told her family she was pregnant as soon as she found out. Although her family supported her decision, she would not have had the resources to sue the State had that been required to obtain an abortion.”

    Additionally, our director of community engagement, Abbie Strout-Bentes, will be heading to DC next week to participate in the #MyRightMyDecision rally at the Supreme Court. You can vote for her rally sign here.

    At this point, you are probably wondering “what can I do?”

    Help get the word out. 

    Here is everything you need to spread the word about the #MyRightMyDecision campaign. Share the graphics and use the hashtag #MyRightMyDecision to demand that abortion is treated as what it is: a normal and common part of reproductive healthcare and a constitutional right guaranteed to all, regardless of what state you live in.

  2. Support Family Planning Funding

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    Aislinn Canarr, board member and advocacy committee chair, testified in support of LD 1613 a bill that will replace the “gagged” Title X funding with state funding and preserve Maine’s family planning network. While Mabel Wadsworth Center does not seek nor accept state or federal funding we stand with Maine Family Planning and the 23,000 Mainers who seek care within the family planning network. Here is the testimony provided by Aislinn:

    Good afternoon. My name is Aislinn Canarr and I live in Winterport Maine.  I’m here today in support of LD 1613 to ensure funding for continued family planning services in the State of Maine.

    In my life, I have been a beneficiary of Maine Family Planning’s health care services.  For a period in college and my early 20s, they were the only provider I saw. In addition to gynecological care, my provider gave me a basic check-up.  Their sliding scale for services and prescriptions allowed me to access care and get birth control when I was uninsured. I remember sitting with someone from the office after my appointment to fill out the financial paperwork.  I can still feel the vivid relief when I was told I qualified for the sliding scale program and my birth control prescription was going to be $11/month instead of $35.  That $20 may not sound like a lot, but it was huge as a college student.  It is huge for those who struggle to make ends meet.  It was the difference between being able to consistently fill my prescription and letting it lapse.  I am so grateful that they were able to provide me health care and I got the services I needed.  I continued to see my provider at Maine Family Planning when I had health insurance because of the great care they provide.  I only stopped being a patient after I became pregnant and needed to find prenatal care.  My provider there confirmed my pregnancy, and I was saddened I would have to find care elsewhere.

    I know that I was able to get the healthcare I needed when I was uninsured because of the outside funding they receive.  I applauded their decision to refuse Title X money when restrictions were placed on the funding.  When I go to the doctor, I don’t want them censored from providing me with options that may be in my best care.  I also understood that it would be a hardship in continuing to provide care to some of our state’s most rural and vulnerable populations.  I appreciate our State’s initiative to replace the funding that the federal government is keeping from qualified and legitimate health centers.  The state funding will benefit so many in our state the same way I was benefited.  I fully support LD 1613 and providing healthcare to Maine residents.  I hope you all in the committee will support that as well.

     

    Thank you.

    Aislinn Canarr

     

  3. 47 Years of Roe!

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    Today marks the 47th anniversary of Roe v. Wade which has kept abortion legal in the US for almost five decades. While we take a moment to recognize the importance of this landmark Supreme Court decision, we must also acknowledge that Roe has never ensured meaningful access to abortion care for all of us. It hasn’t kept politicians from pushing abortion out of reach for people struggling to make ends meet—especially women of color, young folks, LGBTQ individuals and immigrant communities. As Amanda Reyes, a leader from the Yellowhammer fund explains:

     

    “Rather than a day of “victory,” January 22 should be a dayof reflection for our movement, in which we remember how narrow our political victories are when we do not position the right to a legal abortion as a human right, regardless of a person’s income, zip code, age, race, or immigration status.”

     

    We made huge strides last year in the state of Maine with the passage of LD 820 requiring MaineCare and private insurances to cover abortion and LD 1261 which allows trained and qualified advanced care providers like Nurse Practitioners to provide abortion care. These laws have significantly increased access to care for low-income Mainers and people living in our most rural communities. We are proud of Maine’s progress and envision a future where we all have the ability to decide when and whether to parent.

    The fact remains that the right to abortion is at risk. In 2019, we experienced an unprecedented number of abortion bans passed in states across the country and the Trump Administration continues to stack the federal courts with judges with extreme ideologies in opposition to reproductive freedom. And while abortion remains legal and available in all 50 states, in this upcoming year, we will continue to face the real threat of abortion care being further dismantled, further restricted or pushed out of reach entirely. However, we are part of a resilient, creative, and determined movement and we’re not backing down!

    Join us this Friday, January 24th for our annual Roe v. Wade Anniversary event. We are building community and strengthening the movement through story sharing. We will be gathering from 6 – 8 PM at Tea and Tarts in Downtown Bangor for a public abortion sharing event. Everyone is welcome, whether you have a story that you to share or want to listen as people in our community share how the right to abortion has impacted their lives – please join us. Prior to the event, we are holding a story-crafting workshop from 3:30 – 5:30 PM at the Health Equity Alliance for anyone who has had an abortion. There is still space in the workshop and you can sign up here!

     

     

  4. September 2019: Body Positivity

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    At Mabel Wadsworth Center, our interns are responsible for updating the bulletin board in our waiting room once a month. In case you haven’t had the chance to visit us recently, you can read about this month’s bulletin board topic here. This post is by our 2019 summer/fall intern, Sarah Penley (she/her/hers), who comes to us from the University of Maine in Orono.

    Being a person in the world is hard. Everyone seems to have an opinion about everything, from what we eat to how we look and the ways we move through the world. We’re constantly bombarded by images in the media of thin, hairless, light-skinned young women (often heavily retouched) along with ads from the diet, beauty, and “wellness” industries that promote an unattainable standard of attractiveness. All of that informs our own opinions about ourselves, and our emotions can get pretty intense pretty quickly. But even if we don’t see ourselves as perfect human beings, that shouldn’t mean we need to feel terrible about ourselves 24 hours a day.

    The body positivity movement aims to alleviate some of this stress by advocating that no person should be shamed, discriminated against, or held back because of how they look. Body positivity has its roots in the fat acceptance movement, but thanks to the work of advocates from all walks of life, it has become so much more than that. It includes celebration of trans bodies, thin bodies, short bodies, tall bodies, thick bodies, large bodies, small bodies, bodies of varying abilities, bodies of varying races and ethnicities, changing bodies, bodies of all ages, non-conforming bodies, and non-binary bodies. The movement wants to show that you don’t need to squeeze yourself into somebody else’s narrow definition about what a person ought to look like. You are allowed to take up space, and you are worthy of being admired.

    Some people prefer the term “body neutrality” to body positivity. This recognizes that sometimes the pressure to think positively about one’s body ends up being more of a burden than a relief. People who are experiencing illness or chronic pain might not have the capacity to love their bodies – but nor should they need to constantly beat themselves up about the parts of their bodies they don’t care for. It also recognizes that no person is going to have perfect self-confidence or love for their bodies at all times: our emotions naturally fluctuate depending on what we’re going through at any moment in time. It’s totally okay to feel bad about yourself from time to time as long as you are not paralyzed by constant self-scrutiny.

    Reaching a place of positive self-image, or even body neutrality, can take a lot of work. To begin with, investigate your assumptions about other people you see out in the world living their lives. When you see a fat person running on the sidewalk, what are your assumptions about their life and their motivations? Ask yourself, would your assumptions change if the person you saw running were thin? Recognize that these assumptions come from years and years of social conditioning and do not have any bearing on an individual’s worth as a human being. When we begin to practice seeing every person’s dignity and worth, we can begin to see our own inherent value as well.

    So how do we translate acceptance of our own bodies into action that improves our community? There are several ways:

    1. Model body positivity: Modeling body positivity around others creates an environment of loving support. Kids who are forming their own relationships with their bodies use adults as their example. Avoiding negative self-talk about your own body, modeling intuitive eating, and celebrating your physicality can promote positive self-image in others. Modeling positive behavior includes how we refer to others – especially as they relate to ourselves. Celebrating your own body doesn’t mean you have to put down other bodies that don’t look like yours – for example, we can celebrate curves without demeaning “skinny” people in the process.
    2. Advocate for representation: Everyone deserves to see themselves reflected in public in a positive way. Seeing people we can relate to tells us that we are not alone and that it’s okay to celebrate the way we look. Without representation of many different body types in the media, we are missing out on stories about people who matter. Unfortunately, some companies have used fat acceptance as a tool to sell products without truly understanding what the body positive movement is about. Take action by holding companies accountable who drape themselves in the mantle of body positivity but only actually show images of young, white, cisgender, able women who are no larger than a size 16.
    3. Support Others: Gaining a positive body image is a journey, and it’s one that’s easier to make when we know we’re not alone. Notice when your friends and family engage in body positive behavior and let them know you appreciate it. Celebrating others makes us feel good about ourselves, too, creating a positive feedback loop that helps us build upon the inner strength we already have. If you witness others beating up on themselves for their looks, you don’t have to immediately shut them down – instead, seek understanding about why they feel that way and collaborate with them on getting to a place of acceptance. Support for others also means standing up for people who are being treated unfairly for how they look.

  5. August 2019: Unmentionables

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    At Mabel Wadsworth Center, our interns are responsible for updating the bulletin board in our waiting room once a month. In case you haven’t had the chance to visit us recently, you can read about this month’s bulletin board topic here. This post is by our 2019 summer intern, Julia Seixas (she/her/hers), who comes to us from College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME.

     

    A majority of us grow up in a society where we do not talk about sexuality and reproduction. For many Americans, most of our schooling involved little to no sexual education, leaving us feeling weird and uncomfortable talking about sexual and reproductive health, even though it is a normal and necessary part of our lives. Some of us may have had “the birds and the bees” conversation at a young age, but that was likely far from an inclusive dialogue. Perhaps we learned about sexual health in our schools, yet that did not leave us in a better position in navigating our sexual lives. Many of us get squeamish when we talk about sex and our bodies, so how can we become more comfortable when we are talking about sexuality and reproduction? 

    According to the Guttmacher Institute, only 24 states mandate sex education: 22 of those require both sex and HIV education, and the other two require only sex education. Meanwhile, a mere 13 of those 24 states require the information to be medically accurate, which is an appalling statistic. With an education system that largely does not teach students about a natural part of their lives, it creates a world where it is socially unacceptable to discuss sex and reproduction openly. The lack of openness in talking about sexual health perpetuates a society that is unaware, and therefore uneducated about our bodies and our options. Without proper knowledge about safe sex practices and a general understanding of our bodies can lead to various health risks such as sexually transmitted infections and increased chances of unintended pregnancy. 

    The solution is clear: we need schooling that teaches students to love their bodies and embrace their sexual and reproductive lives. If we learn about our bodies, including about how puberty begins, how contraception and birth control work, pregnancy risk, the dynamics of consent, and about the diversity of human sexuality and gender identity, it sparks a conversation that can prepare us for our sexual and reproductive lives while providing us with the knowledge to be more understanding of others and their experiences. 

    We need to bring human sexuality into the light and create a culture where it is normal to talk about it so we can empower each other by sharing our stories and experiences, letting people know they are not alone. If we are more open to talking about sexuality and reproduction, it helps to build a more welcoming society.

    At Mabel Wadsworth Center, we have a client-centered, feminist approach to healthcare, and believe that everyone deserves to be educated, empowered, and have the right to autonomy over their sexual and reproductive lives. Though the reintroduction of the Mabel’s Voices Project, our goal is to demolish the silence, shame, and stigma that surround sexual and reproductive healthcare, bodily autonomy, and personal identity by building individual and collective power through story sharing.

    On August 9th, Mabel Wadsworth Center will be hosting a Story Slam at West Market Square Artisan Coffeehouse in Bangor. The slam will focus on stories of sexual and reproductive healthcare, and everyone is welcome to share stories that they might not have been able to before. The story slam will be a safe, inclusive, and judgment-free space where all folks are welcome to listen and/or participate. 

    Let’s change the conversation and make it normal to talk about sex and reproduction. We look forward to hearing your stories!