The Pro-Choice Public Education Project. “Young Women of Color and Reproductive Rights-Research Commissioned by the Pro-Choice Public Education Project (PEP).” National Women’s Health Network, 2005. http://nwhn.org/young-women-color-and-reproductive-rights-research-commissioned-pro-choice-public-education-project-.
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This report suggests that reproductive justice groups create new and effective strategies that speak to all women, including young women, to respond to federal legislation and political debates over the past several years that have been focused on attacking women’s reproductive rights. It reframes and redefines the issue of reproductive rights by addressing its history, stating that young women of color have been left out of the reproductive rights movement. The report details a research project initiated by the Pro-Choice Public Education Project (PEP) to involve young women in the reproductive rights movement. From this project, the report detailed young women’s negative experiences with doctors and health professionals, the language they use to talk about sex and sex health issues with their family members and others, and their unfamiliarity with emergency contraceptives and how to use them. PEP’s findings revealed also young women’s concerns about healthcare coverage, reproductive rights with abortion, and unfamiliarity about emergency contraception.
Based upon these findings, the report concludes by arguing that political debates about reproductive rights should be based on stories and experiences that are understandable and relatable. PEP’s “next step is to provide real opportunities for leadership and growth in order to nurture and sustain these young women as pro-choice activists.” PEP’s recommendations for reaching out to young women of color include establishing effective messages and tools specifically for these populations that openly address health disparities such as lack of health care coverage, having pro-choice advocates use common known terms known terms that avoid jargon, and highlighting “the connections between social justice, positive motherhood and women’s reproductive rights.”