I have finished tallying all the assignments for your class and they are reflected in the spreadsheet.

Don’t forget to complete the concept review by Monday, May 23 at 11:59 pm. I will be adding those numbers in on Tuesday and hope to post final grades no later than Wednesday.

Again, thanks for a good semester. I hope you all have a good summer, and that you stay safe from COVID which is on the rise again in the city. Mostly, I hope that you learned some things this semester that you can take with you to make your life and our shared world more just and caring. I wish each of you well!

The concept review is being administered via google forms.

• You WILL be sent a copy of your responses to the email address you enter at the start of the review.
• You will also be able to edit your responses.
• Remember, you can complete any outstanding assignments until Wednesday, May 18th at 11:59 pm

Thank you for a great semester!

Hi All! This is just a quick note to let you know that I am still counting up responses to discussion board posts but, as of the writing of this post, I have counted everything else. Please reach out to me via email if you find I have missed something.

You can still complete any assignments until Wednesday 5/18 @ 11:59 pm.

I will post the concept review at some point Monday 3/16. It will be due on Monday 3/23 by 11:59 pm

I truly enjoyed your art selections for week thirteen. I hope you enjoyed the prompt and the assigned readings.

This is our last week of assigned discussion posts, reading reflections, and discussion responses. I had not planned to end on this note, but given recent events, it seems important that we discuss abortion. I saw references to the leak of the Supreme Court briefing on overturning the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade in some of last week’s posts. I assume most of you are aware of what is happening, but I think it would be useful for us to explore the topic. I am going to ask that you be particularly thoughtful with your words in this week’s posts.

We started this semester reading bell hooks. In our reading hooks wrote:

. . . let’s take the issue of abortion. If feminism is a movement to end sexist oppression, and depriving females of reproductive rights is a form of sexist oppression, then one cannot be anti-choice and be feminist. A woman can insist she would never choose to have an abortion while affirming her support of the right
of women to choose and still be an advocate of feminist politics. She cannot be anti-abortion and an advocate of feminism. Concurrently there can be no such thing as “power feminism” if the vision of power evoked is power gained through the exploitation and oppression of others.bell hooks, “Feminist Politics: Where We Stand” in Femnism is For Everybody, p. 6

Please keep this in mind as you read and write this week.

I would like to begin by providing you with some information about abortion I learned while training to become an abortion doula.

Brief History

Abortion was allowed and practiced for centuries before it was criminalized and turned illegal. There were no laws against abortion until the 1860s. These laws came about during the time of slavery (in 1863). Enslavers did not want those they enslaved to have abortions. They wanted them to have many children because those children would be the property of the enslavers, increase their wealth, and provide free labor for their enterprises. A second reason these laws came to be when they did was an increase in the medicalization of human bodies. Immigrant and enslaved communities relied on the knowledge of midwives, apothecaries, and homeopaths that were passed down through generations. The role of the midwife was a prominent and powerful role in these communities. As the medical field became more established, midwives were competition for Medical Doctors. By outlawing abortion, midwives, apothecaries, and homeopaths were gradually replaced by medical doctors – most of whom were wealthy white men and deemed to be more knowledgeable by their status in society.

Illegal abortions of course continued, and in high numbers. But they were done in secrecy and pregnant people were left to suffer and die alone. In 1873, the Comstock Act was passed making it illegal to send “obscene, lewd or lascivious,” “immoral,” or “indecent” publications through the mail. It defined contraceptives as obscene and illicit, making it a federal offense to disseminate birth control through the mail or across state lines. Anthony Comstock, for whom the act was named, was a postal agent with Victorian values, who used his position to enforce the law. This made the prevention and termination of pregnancy even more difficult. Though there were underground networks, like the Janes in Chicago, for the next century abortion was federally banned.

Then, in 1973, we had the landmark supreme court decision Roe v. Wade that made abortion legal in all fifty states. Since then, different states have enacted laws with different aims. Some protect abortion (in places like New York, where abortion became legal in 1969) and others (like in Texas) have sought to erode access and resources for providers to the point where abortion is virtually illegal. And then we get the recent Politico article “Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows” on May 2, 2022, that exposed a leaked document indicating the Supreme Court had voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. This week, I would like you to read that article.

Who, What, How?!

It is important that we understand who gets abortions and that there are a variety of types of abortions. To address the “Who” I would like you to watch this 13-minute documentary Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa. If you have time, you may also wish to watch The Abortion Divide a 50-minute documentary from Frontline on PBS – this video is OPTIONAL.

There are medical abortions, which are performed when the pregnant person takes prescription medications (either orally or vaginally), usually at a clinic, and then is sent home with the remaining pills to complete the abortion at home. They have a second visit to confirm the process was complete. These are non-invasive and allow the pregnant person to be somewhere comfortable of their own choosing. Most typically they feel like a very heavy period with cramping for roughly 1-4 hours. They can be performed (depending on state laws) until about 11 weeks gestation. They have a high success rate.

There are also spontaneous abortions, which are typically called miscarriages or stillbirths.

There are also procedure abortions that can be done within 5-10 minutes in a clinic. These are called Manual Uterine Aspiration (MUA) Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) or Dilation and Curettage (DnC). The last is the one you are probably most familiar with because it is what tends to be portrayed in the media. But it is far from the most common. All of these procedures require some type of anesthesia, usually sedation. The MUA and MVA involved inserting instruments into the uterus through the cervix. They are one-step procedures and do not require follow-up in all cases. These are the “most common” abortion experiences. The provider inserts a cannula, what looks like a small plastic straw, through the cervix, into the uterus and uses soft suction. It takes 2-5 minutes.

DnCs are surgical procedures that are often performed to clear the uterine lining after a spontaneous abortion in the first trimester. Dilation refers to the opening of the cervix. Curretage refers to the eliination of the contnst of the utuerus. There is also some vacuum aspiration involved in this procedure. These procedures are also done if the pregnancy is advanced and requires cervical dilation. They are performed under twilight or general anesthesia.

Please read this article from MS Magazine about Rebecca Gomperts, a pioneer in medical abortions. The article talks about her efforts and includes an interview. She is one of my personal heroes.https://msmagazine.com/2022/02/23/telemedicine-abortion-rebecca-gomperts-abortion-pills/embed/#?secret=PIrxQEPf8Z#?secret=rZfwoIBcRe

Due this Week:

• Discussion Post 14 and Reading Reflection 13 due Wednesday, May 11 by 11:59 pm
• Discussion Post Responses due Friday, May 13 by 11:59 pm



I have counted your work for the semester thus far in a google sheet, which I am sharing, and explaining in this post. I am sharing this openly because it is a count and not a grade. There are likely to be things I have missed, so we can work together over these last few weeks of the semester to make sure that all of your work is properly counted. If something looks incorrect, please email me and I will fix it within a few days.

Things to know before you look at the google sheet

• Uses your last name only as it is listed on the roster.
• Please allow 72 hours for changes.
• All Assignments will be counted until May 18th. After this date they won’t be counted.
• See “Evaluation and Requirements of Students” beginning on page two of the syllabus for details of how your grade is calculated

Choose the TAB for your section

Key For The Google Sheet

• D# = Discussion Post (1 counted)
• RED# = Discussion Post Replies (Up to 3 Counted)
• RR# = Reading Reflection (1 counted)

LINK TO GOOGLE SHEET

Before you contact me about how to interpret this sheet, make sure you have read all of the instructions in this post twice.

REMEMBER: The Concept Review is 10% of your grade. To be completed during finals week

When you start your post you have a screen that looks like this. Hover over the black square with the + sign in it.

When you hover over the black square with the + sign, you will get a drop-down menu that looks like the picture below. Choose “image.”

You will then see a screen that looks like this:

You can upload the image if you have it saved on your computer. You can also insert a URL for the image if you found it on the internet. Be sure you preview your post before sharing so that it looks the way you want it to. You can do the same thing for a video or a song, just choose the appropriate icon from the drop-down.

Thank you for your thoughtful and emotional responses to last week’s readings. I think it is important for us to acknowledge that not all people have the same access to health. We live in a world that promotes wellness and health in ways that are unattainable by many and recognizing the disparities is important. Some of you pointed out that the medical establishment has a history of abuse, and this is particularly true for black and brown people. Other factors that impact the type of care we receive other than those we read about include sexuality, disability, fatness, mental health history, and the type of health insurance we have (if we have it).

In relation to menstruation, I think it is important to note that access to menstrual products is a problem in this country as well. Notice I don’t use the term “feminine” or “hygiene” — that is because people who are not feminine also menstruate and because when we use the term “hygiene” we imply that menstruation is dirty, which it isn’t. I appreciate that some of you brought up the “pink tax” and that others offered recommendations for products other than pads or tampons (a menstrual cup is a great alternative if you are comfortable with your body). Regarding menstrual education, I would ask you to think about what you were taught about menstruation. Who is educated about it and who isn’t? How much education do you really receive? Did you learn about endometriosis or PCOS?

We just touched the surface of gender-based discrimination in healthcare with the content from last week. I encourage you to search further if any of these topics were of particular interest to you. I can also provide resources if you wish – just email me. We do have a course at BMCC in the health education department that explores some of these issues (depending on the instructor).

This week…

… we will be exploring art and how it can be a type of activism, as well as how activism is a kind of art. There will be two readings and a slightly different discussion prompt from what we have done this semester.

First, please read Why Artistic Activism? from the Center for Artistic Activism. This piece attempts to explain the link between art and activism, its role in our contemporary landscape as well as how it has been used throughout history, and some of the tenets of artistic activism.

Secondly, 10 Female Performance Artists You Should Know, from Ana Mendieta to Carolee Schneemann, will provide you with some examples of feminist performance art, which could also be considered activist art. I chose this article because performance art is one of my areas of expertise, but mainly because performance art integrates different genres of art. Performance art can take the form of photography, land art, durational art, dance, sculpture, painting, video, writing, and more.

Due this week

• Wednesday, May 4 at 11:59 PM: Discussion 13 & Reading Reflection 12
• Friday, May 6 at 11:59 PM: Responses to Discussion 13