Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
>> 1916: America’s first birth control clinic opens. Margaret Sanger — together with her sister Ethel Byrne and fellow activist Fania Mindell — opens a birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Nine days later, police raid the clinic and shut it down. Less than a month after opening their storefront, all three are charged with crimes related to sharing birth control information. Sanger refuses to pay the fine, instead spending 30 days in prison, where she shares birth control information with other inmates. Today, there are approximately 650 Planned Parenthood health centers nationwide and 99 percent of sexually active women have used birth control at some point in their lives.
>> 1966: Hawaii Planned Parenthood opens its doors providing education services on birth control and family planning, fertility counseling, research and training for medical professionals. By 1973, the affiliate has added 12 health centers throughout the islands.
>> 1970: Before Roe v. Wade, Hawaii changes its 100-year law to become the first state to allow abortion at the request of a woman. That same year, Alaska, Washington and New York follow Hawaii. Today, nearly 1 in 3 women will have an abortion at some point in their lifetime.
>> 1971: Planned Parenthood’s international work begins with a grant to improve reproductive health care around the world. Today, 1 million individuals are reached annually with information and services by over 100 Planned Parenthood Global partners in 12 countries across Africa and Latin America.
>> 1973: On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, recognizing the constitutional right to privacy and women’s right to choose abortion.
>> 1979: Planned Parenthood develops its national education program to ensure teens have access to medically accurate information and confidential health care services. Today, 1.5 million young people and adults are reached annually through these educational programs and outreach.
>> 1989: Planned Parenthood Action Fund is established to engage in public education campaigns, grassroots organizing, legislative and electoral advocacy. Today, 9 million activists, supporters and donors work to protect sexual and reproductive health, safety and rights.
>> 1990: Planned Parenthood of Western Washington launches a peer education program, Teen Council, to empower teens to educate their peers about healthy sexuality and relationship issues.
>> 1997: SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective is founded by 16 organizations with a focus on grassroots mobilization and public policy. SisterSong begins popularizing the term reproductive justice based on the human rights framework.
>> 2000: Planned Parenthood establishes its first campus group to organize students around reproductive health and rights; today, there are over 275 campus groups.
>> 2006: Hawaii amends its abortion law to repeal the residency requirement for women seeking an abortion and allow the procedure to be performed in clinics and physicians’ offices outside of a hospital. Freedom of choice language is added that says, “The state shall not deny or interfere with a female’s right to choose or obtain an abortion.”
>> 2006: Planned Parenthood of Hawaii’s education program is galvanized by a collaboration with Hawaii Youth Services Network to promote evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs as well as training and technical help to other Hawaii agencies.
>> 2009: Hawaii passes a law requiring all state-funded sexual health education be comprehensive and medically accurate.
>> 2015: Hawaii Board of Education votes to require public schools offer age-appropriate, medically accurate sex education to students.
>> 2015: Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands is formed with the merger of Planned Parenthood of Hawaii and Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest; it covers Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho and western Washington.
———
Courtesy of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands
78