by Leah Reis-Dennis, Amplify Front Page Blogger

I am a freshman at Harvard University, where, despite the presence of enormous individual student ambition and drive, it’s pretty much impossible to incite enthusiasm from any large-ish group about anything besides upcoming exams.  It's hard to imagine mobilizing students to spend time and energy making their voices and anger heard over the recent Stupak-Pitts Amendment to the House healthcare bill (or even provoking their anger in the first place). 

So, you can imagine my surprise when, after receiving an email message from Gina Glantz and Kim Gandy (two fellows at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics and experienced political and advocacy aficionados), I showed up to a “Stop Stupak Emergency Planning Meeting” to find a room packed with students: law students, humanities graduate students, graduate government school students, college students, and, notably, a large contingent of freshmen. 

 “Yes!” I thought. “Students care about reproductive health care, women’s right to choose, and the knowledge that women’s health care is health care. We understand that no one plans an unplanned pregnancy, something that both private and public insurance plans will be forced to cast aside if the Stupak amendment makes it into the final version of the healthcare bill. “

by Emily Bridges, Director of Public Information Services

 An independent expert panel recommended comprehensive sex ed programs, finding that they help reduce risky sexual behavior, unprotected sex, and STIs.

"There is sufficient evidence that comprehensive risk reduction efforts are effective," said Randy Elder of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"At long last, evidence and common sense have returned to public health policy," said James Wagoner of Advocates for Youth, a Washington-based group. "The task force report endorses the comprehensive approach to prevention that includes condoms and birth control. We should be spending taxpayer dollars only on evidence-based programs."
 

Yet incredibly, some legislators still believe taxpayer dollars should be spent on failed, harmful programs!  Congress is still deciding whether or not to continue funding for abstinence-only programs.  Let your Senator know that you won't stand for this waste of money.

By William, Advocates for Youth intern and peer educator

What happens when Advocates for Youth gets together 120+ young people from the US, Nigeria, Jamaica and Ethiopia? You get a INTERNATIONAL STUDENT MOVEMENT! But not just any ISM, but one that centers on comprehensive sexual education and sexual health rights. September 10-14th students embarked upon L’Enfant Plaza Hotel to learn tactics that they could take back to their respective campuses and communities. Our purpose was to learn how to become an effective educator on young people’s sexual health rights, as well as lobby to pass the Real Act. As an intern and member of Youth Resource (AFY online peer education resource team) I was blessed, humbled and honored to not only attend Urban Retreat 2009 but also a inside/outside perspective to this conference.

I would have to say that hard core prep for UR09 started about 3 months ago. Since then I had the chance to see all the magic and hard work the staff here put into making this conference a HUGE success. From travel to hotel arrangements, from food to late night activities the whole thing began to come together. We had early meetings and late afternoon meetings; we had travel to Costco and travel to Staples to make sure that ALL of our young people were well taken care of. Over all I feel that the staff executed all aspects of UR09 to completion and made sure that all the concerns and needs of the participants were met.

By Kate Stewart

“Activism is not something I do…it is part of who I am.” 
- Kate Michelman, Advocates for Youth’s  2009 Urban Retreat

Advocates for Youth recently held its 10th  Annual Urban Retreat in which 118 young activists from around the country as well as from Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Jamaica gathered in Washington D.C. for four days of training and workshops.  During the introductions of the retreat, I listened to the mostly high school and college students talk about their lives and what they are doing in their own communities.  As much as I tried to put into words the experience, I could only get out on paper –  WOW, amazing, terrific, courageous, outstanding. As I tried to craft these superlatives into full sentences, my words paled in comparison to what I was hearing and seeing. These young people are not only energetic and articulate but strongly passionate about their beliefs and the work they are undertaking in their communities.  I got the sense that I was witnessing just the beginning of their long lives of activism.

So, it was fitting that on the last day, during the closing session, they got to hear from Kate Michelman, another activists who has spent a lifetime of tireless work in support of women’s rights. As I listened to Kate speak about her own life, I was finally able to describe what I was seeing and hearing from the youth activists. These young people were not just activists, but activism defines who they are.

I started thinking of my own daughters and how in their own ways they also illustrate this point.

By Nickie Imanguli, Coordinator for the International Youth Leadership Council

I have been involved with the sexual and reproductive rights and justice work for over three years and it never ceases to amaze me the reaction I get from some people when I explain to them exactly what it is I do at my new job as the International Youth Leadership Council (IYLC) coordinator. My initial approach in explaining my job was to go into detail about US international policy around sexual and reproductive rights and young people, but then I realized that the lengthy explanation is not necessary.  Now, when people ask, I tell them that I work with policy around basic human rights.

Article 1 in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Does that not mean that all young people deserve unconditional respect and equal treatment from society? Moreover, society, in the spirit of “brotherhood” has a responsibility to provide access to information and education that will allow young people to make healthy decisions about the well-being of their bodies.

By, Kike, front page blogger on Amplify

Gender discrimination, an ill that still festers in various recesses of our society. Even today we find that every woman has and is still suffering one form of gender discrimination or the other. This is an interview of a young lady who has suffered this in no small way. Her name and certain other facts have been withheld for obvious reasons.

Question: Could you please say where you are from?

Answer: I am from Bida, in Minna, Niger state. I am 19 years old.

Question: Tell us a bit about your family background?

Answer: My father had two wives who didn’t produce sons for him so he married my mum as his third wife. After my elder sister, myself and my younger sister, my mum gave birth to a boy.

Question: Why did your father insist on having a boy?

Answer: From where I come from it is viewed as a sign of weakness if a man had no sons so my dad had to have a son at all cost. In the village we stay in huts which are in compounds.

By Meredith Schonfeld-Hicks, State Strategies Program Manager

Realizing a vision for true youth adult partnerships is a big challenge.  Too often individuals and organizations wind up tokenizing youth and engaging them in partnerships that are not authentic.  But many great individuals and organizations are making the time and effort to develop authentic youth adult partnerships in which each party has the opportunity to make suggestions and decisions and in which the contribution of each is recognized and valued. A youth-adult partnership is one in which adults work in full partnership with young people on issues facing youth and/or on programs and policies affecting youth. These partnerships value the contributions of both parties and appreciate the differences the individuals bring to the relationship and their contributions to an end product or process.  

I was recently facilitating a youth-adult partnerships training with a group of people who were all working towards the goal of teen pregnancy prevention and comprehensive sex education in their communities. The room was filled with youth and adults from various community organizations throughout the state.  At first, many of the participants seemed really confident that they knew all about youth-adult partnerships and they were doing them really well. But as I began the training and explained the meaning behind true youth adult partnerships that value the contributions of both parties and share decision making, they seemed a little less sure and a bit anxious.

“We are all shocked and saddened by the murder of Dr. George Tiller. Throughout his long career, Dr. Tiller stood for one thing - - the health and safety of the patients he served.

For almost two decades, Dr. Tiller was repeatedly targeted by anti-abortion extremists, including having his clinic bombed and being shot. However, despite these incidents, he continued to practice because he believed that women had the right to make their own reproductive health decisions.

Our prayers go out to his family, colleagues and friends. We call on law enforcement to act swiftly to ensure that the person or persons responsible for this senseless act of violence is prosecuted.”

Send Dr. Tiller's family and staff a letter of sympathy and support.

News Articles on Dr. Tiller:

• Abortion Doctor Shot to Death in Kansas Church (New York Times)
• Suspect Is Identified in Killing of Abortion Doctor (New York Times)
• In Memory of Dr. George Tiller: A Tireless Supporter of Women’s Dignity (RHRealityCheck)