[News] Support the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic

[Anti-Imperialist News]

From: INCITE! New Orleans [mailto:inciteneworleans at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 24, 2007 11:17 AM



Dear New Orleans Women's Health & Justice 
Initiative (WHJI) Supporters and Allies:

As you may have heard, on Thursday, December 
20th, 2007, the New Orleans City Council 
unanimously voted to permit the US Department of 
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to demolish 
4,500 low-income public housing units and replace 
it with ‘mixed-income” occupancy developments, 
which will further reduce the number of 
affordable housing units in the city.   Many 
public hosing residents and affordable housing 
advocates and activists who opposed the 
demolition were locked out of the proceedings and 
met with unnecessary law enforcement aggression 
inside and outside of the Council Chambers, 
resulting in many people being pepper sprayed and tasered.

Public housing residents in New Orleans are 
predominately Black women and children.  Denying 
people of color and low-income communities safe, 
affordable housing is an act of violence, which 
increases women’s vulnerability to domestic and 
sexual violence, poverty, ill-health, and 
criminalization.  Affordable housing is an 
anti-violence issue.  It’s also a population 
control issue, rooted in racial and class 
cleansing, and reproductive 
violence.  Gentrification and forced displacement 
is happening to women of color and our communities across the U.S. and abroad.

Below is an appeal letter from the New Orleans 
Women’s Health Clinic, a project WHJI 
established.  Please consider supporting this 
critical work as one way to build the capacity of 
women of color-led movements for peace, justice, and safety.

New Orleans Women's Health & Justice Initiative

*************************************************



December 2007

“Moving from the margins to the center is vital 
for the health and well being of women of color 
and poor women.  To do so, we must address the 
control and exploitation of our bodies and the 
regulation of our reproduction.  We must center 
our needs and experiences by designing a table 
without restrictions or exploitation, dictating 
who can sit where and when
.creating a location 
which we feel is ours to sit at and be heard
The 
New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic is that table.”

-Shana griffin



Dear Supporters of the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic:

Even before Hurricane Katrina, women of color and 
low income women in New Orleans lacked access to 
basic health care.  Today, twenty-eight months 
after the storm, the limited health care 
resources that existed before the storm for low 
income and uninsured individuals have yet to be 
replaced, despite repeated commitments by public 
officials to create a “better system.”   In 
reality, this “better system” includes plans to 
shift from public services to subsidized private 
health insurance, leaving over 60 percent of 
Louisiana ’s most vulnerable residents without 
health insurance or a safety net.

Combined with the loss of needed public resources 
and the continuation of economic isolation, 
gender inequality, environmental hazards, limited 
housing affordability, and racial discrimination, 
this lack of services and access to safe, 
affordable preventative care is equal to a public 
health disaster that directly impacts women of 
color and low-income women – particularly those 
who are young, uninsured, immigrant, elders, head 
of households, HIV/AIDS positive, homeless, sex 
workers, queer, disabled/differently-abled, 
incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, and 
living in public housing – as they face increased barriers to health care.

The need to organize to address this public 
health crisis in New Orleans is clear, but the 
specific needs of women and the issues of sexual 
and reproductive oppression have not been 
prioritized in the rebuilding of the city.   The 
manifestations of ill-health, lack of 
preventative care, inadequate medical resources, 
and the absence of a comprehensive health policy 
paint an unpromising picture as the voices of low 
income and uninsured women of color are largely 
silenced.    Despite this harsh reality, the New 
Orleans Women’s Health Clinic (NOWHC), a women of 
color-led project, has become a CRITICAL resource 
with vast potential for comprehensive health 
education and grassroots organizing activities.

The mission of the New Orleans Women’s Health 
Clinic is to equip marginalized and underserved 
women with the means to control and care for 
their own bodies, sexuality, and reproduction 
through a holistic, community-centered well women 
approach to health care which integrates sexual 
health and reproductive justice.  Through the 
organizing and health advocacy work of INCITE! 
Women of Color Against Violence, the New Orleans 
Women’s Health Clinic was conceived to combine 
health services with a political analysis of the 
oppression that prevents low income, uninsured, 
immigrant, disabled/differently-abled, formerly 
incarcerated, and LBTQ women of color from 
receiving comprehensive health care.

NOWHC not only provides health care services, but 
also addresses the social invisibility of 
low-income women of color that allows their needs 
to be chronically ignored and unmet.  As 
corporate healthcare programs attempt to fill the 
gaps in health care existing for low-income women 
in New Orleans , NOWHC stands out as a clinic 
that is grassroots in origin and support, and 
that incorporates an analysis of the root causes 
of the current health care crisis into the services it provides.

Since the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic 
opened in May of this year, the demand for our 
services has steadily increased month by 
month.  We currently provide a range of 
gynecological care and preliminary obstetrical 
visits including pregnancy testing and 
counseling; pap smears; pelvic exams; diagnosis 
and treatment of irregular menstruation, vaginal, 
urinary tract, and sexually transmitted 
infections; comprehensive sex education and 
access to safe and effective contraceptives; and 
prenatal care and education.  The low cost 
sliding fee scale rates of the Clinic are 
possible due to the support we’ve received this 
year, most of which has come from individuals like you.

Most recently, we established a Women’s 
Healthcare Fund, designed to ensure that 
uninsured women who cannot afford the cost of 
care or medications can receive care at 
NOWHC.  In the coming year, NOWHC plans to begin 
providing midwifery care, expand our services to 
gender variant people, conduct educational 
workshops at the Clinic space and in community 
settings throughout the city, and engage in base 
building activities to build support and 
awareness of the Clinic locally and nationally.

At NOWHC, we are working to build the “table,” as 
we continue to assist women access safe, 
affordable, and quality health services and 
resources they need to take care of their over 
health, bodies, sexuality, and reproductive.   To 
continue this, we are asking you to support the 
New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic in the following ways:
    * Make a financial contribution to the New 
Orleans Women’s Health Clinic.  We rely primarily 
on donations from individuals such as you to 
provide sliding scale medical services to local 
women, and organize to build our long-term 
capacity. Donations help NOWHC to pay living wage 
salaries, rent and maintain our space, and cover 
the cost of laboratory services for uninsured 
women.   A financial contribution of $50 will 
provide an annual exam for a woman who otherwise 
could not afford one, through our Women’s Health 
Care Fund.  Hosting a benefit house party will 
raise enough for a supplies order or a piece of 
medical equipment, as well as spread the word 
about NOWHC.  In addition to financial donations, 
we are also accepting gift cards from Office 
Depot, and prepaid medical supply orders through 
PSS Medical Supplies.  Financial contributions 
should be made out to our fiscal sponsor: Women 
With A Vision, with NOWHC listed in the memo line 
of check.   Checks and gift cards should be mailed to:

New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic

1406 Esplanade Ave.

New Orleans , LA 70116
    * Spread the word about the New Orleans 
Women’s Health Clinic. Publicity in local, 
national, and international press helps NOWHC 
spread the word about our services, connects us 
with people engaged in similar work, provides 
publicity, and generates support.  But, it’s 
something we often don’t have time to coordinate 
ourselves. If you have an idea for an article, 
please contact us at 504.524.8255 or at 
<mailto:nowhc_info at yahoo.com>nowhc_info at yahoo.com 
for an interview and press points. Alternately, 
reach people directly by spreading the word about 
NOWHC to five potential donors. Your direct 
appeal saves us time and administrative costs!
    * Donate needed supplies to the New Orleans 
Women’s Health Clinic. The supplies that NOWHC 
uses daily really add up.   Additionally, there 
are several pieces of medical equipment that we 
still need. If you would like to sponsor a supply 
order, or have supplies or equipment to donate, 
please contact Cassandra Burrows at 
<mailto:nowhc_info at yahoo.com>nowhc_info at yahoo.com 
to determine if NOWHC can use them, or to get a 
list of needed supplies.  Please don’t send unsolicited material.

The New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic warmly 
thanks our network of donors and volunteers for 
your continued generous support. You are needed 
now more than ever. Our ability to provide needed 
services, maintain autonomy, and participate in 
grassroots organizing is made possible through 
the support of individuals and organizations in our community and nationwide.


Sincerely,


Shana M. griffin, Interim 
Director

Isabel Barrios, Board Member

Rosana Cruz, Board Member

Monique Harden, Board Member

Deon Haywood, Board Member

Mayaba Liebenthal, Board Member

Thea Patterson, Board Member



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