A Publication of Planned Parenthood South Texas
HORIZONS
2021 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Elise Ring Boyan, Chair
Merritt Clements, Vice Chair
Catherine Payer, Treasurer
Brian Steward, Secretary
Kathy Armstrong, Immediate Past Chair
Lisa Alcantar
Brooke Benson
Jane Bockus
Laurie Greenberg, MD
Stephanie Guerra
Alison Kennamer
Mina López
Maria Mathis
Liz McFarland
Mayra Mendoza
Patricia Morales
MaryEllen Veliz
Daniel Walker
STAFF LEADERSHIP
Jeffrey Hons, President & CEO
Polin C. Barraza, RN, Senior Vice
President & COO
Angela Koester, Vice President
for Community Engagement
Valerie Mascorro, Associate Vice
President for Operations & Growth
MISSION STATEMENT
We provide and protect the
health care and information
people need to plan their
families and their futures.
THANK YOU TO OUR
GENEROUS FUNDERS
The work of Planned Parenthood South
Texas is made possible by support from you
and from institutional partners, including:
Planned Parenthood South
Texas
2021 WINTER
A Publication of Planned Parenthood South Texas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 | Letter from the Board Chair
3 | Care during SB 8
5 | Day in Court: Fighting back against SB 8
7 | Staff prole: Four decades of care
8 | Biden reverses Trump-era
anti-abortion policy
10 | Spotlight on breast exams
11 | Attitudes toward abortion
in Texas and Mexico
13 | Lunch with Jon Meacham
16 | Join us at these 2022 events
www.ppsouthtexas.org | 800-230-7526
HORIZONS
2021 Winter HORIZONS | 1
I have begun to mark the
passage of time without
reference to a calendar.
When my children were
younger, I lived and died by the
familiar march of days,
weeks and months,
knowing what was about
to happen like I knew the
back of my hand.
But the emptying of
my nest, the loss of
my mother, the global
pandemic, and the
murder of George Floyd
changed everything.
Now, time is divided
into the Before and the
After.
At the tail end of the Before, in January
of 2020, I became the Chair of the Board
of Planned Parenthood South Texas
(PPST). There’s never a “dull moment”
at PPST, but with the Texas Legislative
session a year away, and Governor
Abbott’s Medicaid case languishing in
the courts, I took the PPST baton from
my predecessor, Kathy Armstrong, with
a sense of calm.
Within months, however, the
After began.
While much about PPST’s operation
stayed the same — we did NOT close
clinics, staff stayed at their posts,
and patient volume, after a brief dip,
continued to be quite strong — the
virus applied horric economic and
emotional pressures to our patients,
staff and their families. Inside our clinics,
control and safety were re-dened to
include beating back a global, deadly
disease. Outside our doors, very little
felt under control or safe.
And while, for its patients, PPST exed
its family planning muscle mightily, in
old and new ways, the
After delivered the
greatest threat in my
lifetime to women’s
autonomy and health
in the form of S B 8.
So, while, PPST made
contraception readily
and inexpensively
available, and stood
up a new telehealth
service, elected
leadership in Texas
willfully and hostilely
cherry-picked which Texans they would
represent and champion and which
they would chase outside the state for
constitutionally protected health care.
All the work I calmly planned for the
board in the Before necessarily took a
back seat to the events of the After.
Which brings me to Jeffrey Hons and
his upcoming retirement.
Jeffrey and I live fewer than two miles
apart and we both walk for exercise.
Even before we had to forsake meeting
in ofces and conference rooms,
Jeffrey and I took our CEO/Board Chair
meetings to our neighborhood streets
and parks.
Our peripatetic meetings conrmed
three incontrovertible truths. First,
Jeffrey walks quickly. Second, Jeffrey is
a once-in-a-generation leader whose
stewardship of PPST, over 22 years, is
Letter from the Board Chair
2 | 2021 Winter HORIZONS
the stuff of both sturdy and unwavering
pragmatism and extraordinary dreams.
And third, though Jeffrey, by virtue of
his intellect, experience, talent and job
description, has been the face and voice
of PPST for decades, the beating heart
of PPST is, and always has been, ALL
the people who, today and for close
to 100 years, preciously hold and
ercely protect PPST’s mission.
So, though I accepted Jeffrey’s notice of
retirement with a heavy heart, it had far
less to do with the futures of PPST and
its patients than it did with my wanting
to hold on to the familiar Before.
As of January 1, 2022, I will no longer be
PPST’s Board Chair. And not long after
that, Jeffrey will no longer be PPST’s
CEO and President. Merritt Clements
will take the baton from me, and some
exceptional person will take the baton
from Jeffrey. And the two of them, and
their board and staff, will lead PPST into
a new age of robust health care service
and equity advocacy.
How can I be so sure? Two things.
The rst thing is practical. David
Oppenheimer and I are Co-Chairs of the
PPST CEO Selection Task Force made
up of a collection of rock star donors,
directors and friends. We will nd that
exceptional new leader. I look forward
to introducing her or him
to you.
The second thing is
more from the heart.
As we approach the
two-year anniversary
of the beginning of the
After, I can say, without
qualication, that the
concentration and effort
I expended in service of
PPST and my communities,
just like the hard work
and love poured into my
relationships with my
mother and my children,
bring me peace and
comfort. And they prove
a point. How happily and
safely we’ll ride out the After is directly
correlated to how vigorously and
faithfully we applied ourselves during
the Before. The way I see it, the After’s
forecast for PPST looks good.
Thank you for your support.
Your friend in mission,
Elise Ring Boyan
Elise and Jeffrey in an off-site meeting
Letter from the Board Chair (cont.)
2021 Winter HORIZONS | 3
Care under SB 8
In early September, our Ambulatory Surgery Center was eerily silent.
On the rst of the month, the nation’s cruelest abortion law went into effect:
SB 8, which bans the procedure when embryonic cardiac activity can be
detected. That’s about six weeks, when many people don’t even know
they’re pregnant.
The state’s diabolical law allows anyone, from anywhere — even anti-abortion
protesters who have no connection to the patient — to sue anyone who performs an
abortion or helps someone get an abortion beyond the new limits. As a result of the
state’s extreme overreach, the majority of Texans can no longer access this essential
care within the state.
PPST briey paused abortion care while we watched the impact of this terrible
law. We have since resumed care within the legal limits. But because the law is so
restrictive, only a very limited number of patients can be helped — a small fraction of
the patients we would typically serve.
While PPST and other reproductive
rights champions ght this
unconstitutional ban in court, we have
had to nd ways to help the community
access essential abortion care.
“We are providing care to the patients
that we can, but most of them need
While PPST and other
reproductive rights champions
ght this unconstitutional ban in
court, we have had to nd ways
to help the community access
essential abortion care.
4 | 2021 Winter HORIZONS
navigation assistance, because they will need to leave the state,” said Polin Barraza,
PPST Senior Vice-President & COO. “People are very upset. They’re desperate for help.”
In response to SB 8, we launched a Contact Center with dedicated, highly trained
staff to provide guidance and navigation to patients seeking abortion care. Contact
Center agents navigate callers to abortion providers in New Mexico, Oklahoma,
Louisiana, and other states, and offer additional information on the logistics of travel
and lodging.
We have also hired a Patient Advocate to provide high-touch assistance to clients
who need more than a referral.
In September, we helped more than 370 people who called the contact center
for abortion care; in October, that rose to more than 440.
For people who need more help, we connect them to nancial resources to cover
the cost of their procedure and other expenses or provide aid directly. We can
provide lodging vouchers so patients can have a place to stay on their journey.
There is also nancial assistance to help with travel, food, and childcare.
And because it’s more important than
ever to prevent unintended pregnancy,
we are also offering emergency
contraception (the “morning-after pill”)
free of charge at all of our health centers.
It can prevent pregnancy if taken up to
72 hours after unprotected sex.
No matter what, we will continue to be
and become what our clients need us
to be. That has changed many times in the 82 years since we began serving South
Texas. Today, our clients need us to be trusted providers of high-quality health care,
unstoppable abortion navigators, and relentless advocates. It is our honor to step
forward, meet the need — and push forward through the need to the better reality
that Texans deserve. Our movement was born out of a ght for equity and
justice. We were made for moments like these.
No matter what, we will
continue to be and become
what our clients need us to be.
That has changed many times
in the 82 years since we began
serving South Texas.
2021 Winter HORIZONS | 5
Texas patients and providers
have their day in court
On November 1, the Supreme
Court heard two cases challenging
Texas’ ban on abortion at the
detection of embryonic cardiac
activity (Senate Bill 8): United States v.
Texas, a lawsuit led by the U.S. Department
of Justice, and Whole Woman’s Health v.
Jackson, a case led by a broad coalition
of plaintiffs, including Texas abortion
providers, abortion funds, and doctors. The
court declined to rule on a request to block
the ban until it heard the cases, meaning
Texans were forced to wait, and continue to
wait, for access to constitutionally protected
health care to be restored.
Prior to the hearing, patients, supporters,
and allies advocating for abortion rights
gathered outside the Court to tell the
stories of the Texas patients, providers, and
health center staff directly impacted by this
unconstitutional ban.
During oral arguments, justices heard
not only why SB 8 should be blocked
as soon as possible, but how the law’s
civil enforcement scheme is a threat not
only to abortion access, but every other
constitutional right we hold dear. In a
statement following oral arguments, Alexis
McGill Johnson, president and CEO of
Planned Parenthood of America, noted:
“Patients and providers from Texas nally
had their day in court, and we are grateful
for the brilliant lawyers from the Center
of Reproductive Rights and the U.S.
Department of Justice who made the case
against SB 8 on their behalf. But let me be
clear: It never should have come to this.
“Despite agreeing to hear the challenges
to this unconstitutional law, it’s devastating
that the court has allowed SB 8 to go into
effect and remain in effect for over two
months. As Justice Kagan pointed out, the
harm of the law is not hypothetical — it’s had
a chilling effect that has all but eliminated
Texans’ access to abortions after the
earliest stages of pregnancy. . . . If SB 8 is
allowed to stand, access to abortion is
not the only freedom at risk. As Solicitor
General Elizabeth Prelogar made clear,
every constitutional right we have could be
threatened by similar citizen-enforcement
schemes. The Supreme Court must move
swiftly to allow this law to be blocked and
Texans’ constitutional rights restored.”
Notably, last month the Washington Post
released new data from a Washington Post
and ABC News poll that demonstrates
broad support for abortion rights.
According to the Post, “Americans say
by a roughly 2-to-1 margin that the
Supreme Court should uphold its
landmark abortion decision in Roe
v. Wade, and by a similar margin the
public opposes Texas’ law banning most
abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.”
The poll reveals, once again, that
protecting Roe is popular across political
ideologies and religious views. The polling
notes that “overall, 75 percent say such
decisions should be left to the woman
and her doctor, including 95 percent of
Democrats, 81 percent of independents
and 53 percent of Republicans.”
At press time, the Court had yet to rule
on SB 8.
6 | 2021 Winter HORIZONS
Fighting back
On October 1, reproductive rights
advocates in more than 130 cities —
including San Antonio and Brownsville
— showed up to rally for abortion justice.
In Washington, D.C., thousands took
to the streets to march to the Supreme
Court building, demanding abortion
rights as the justices began their
session. They sent a clear message to
the High Court and elected leaders in
their states: We will not stop ghting
for abortion access, no matter what!
2021 Winter HORIZONS | 7
Candy Padron
Center Manager, Marbach
health center in San Antonio
I have a deep emotional connection
with Planned Parenthood. That’s
what’s kept me here all these
years since I was hired as a medical
assistant in 1981.
I have a great passion for the work I do. Our work has a purpose and a meaning. I love
my job. It gives me the opportunity to make a difference in our patients’ lives. That’s what
makes me feel good at the end of the day. Tired, but good.
If it weren’t for our supporters we couldn’t help the community like we do. I’m so thankful
to the people who donate to us. I love to help the community because I feel like I am
the community.
I have so many memories of my time. I remember there was a young teenager who came
in pregnant. Her mother just dropped her off. She knew she didn’t want to continue the
pregnancy. We felt for her. She had an abortion without charge. One of my coworkers went
inside and held her hand. After that, she would come back for birth control. We were all
mothers and big sisters to her. That was one that really touched my heart. She has always
stayed on my mind.
The laws are so much stricter now, but we manage to help patients who need us. Planned
Parenthood stands strong. They’re not going to knock us down. We’ll survive whatever
they’re going to throw at us. We’re not going anywhere.
Staff prole:
Dedicated to
the community
for 40 years
8 | 2021 Winter HORIZONS
The Trump administration struck many
blows to reproductive health care in
four years, but at least one of those
has been reversed.
In October, the Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) put an end
to the harmful Title X gag rule, giving
Planned Parenthood health centers
reapply for participation in Title X,
the nation’s only dedicated family
planning program.
Title X helps provide affordable birth
control, STI testing, cervical cancer
screenings, and other reproductive
health care to people with low incomes.
In 2019, the Trump administration imposed a gag rule designed to cut off Title X
patients from the health care providers they trust. The rule banned providers who
refer pregnant patients for safe, legal abortion from participating in Title X. This was
a laser-focused idealogical attack on Planned Parenthoods nationwide, and people
with low incomes were the casualties.
To be clear, Title X-funded health centers already were prohibited from performing
abortions with those funds. But the gag rule prevented health care staff from even
answering patient questions about abortion or telling them where they could safely
access this essential health care. The rule excluded all Planned Parenthood health
centers from receiving Title X funds — even the ones that do not provide abortion
care — because we refused to compromise our commitment to educating
patients about all their options.
When the gag rule went into effect, Planned Parenthood health centers made up
about 13 percent of Title X-funded centers but served 41 percent of all Title X patients.
The gag rule slashed access for hundreds of thousands of people nationwide who
relied on Planned Parenthood for health care. A shortage of alternate family planning
providers meant that many of these patients had no place to go.
The Biden administration reversed the rule, and as of November 8, the Title X
gag rule is no longer in effect.
“This policy change will restore access to health care for patients with low incomes
who rely on trusted providers like Planned Parenthood,” said Valerie Mascorro,
PPST’s Associate VP for Operations & Growth. “We’re working on our application
and hope to be selected to return to the Title X network.”
Reclaiming Title X
2021 Winter HORIZONSS | 9
Rejoining the Title X network of providers is
more important than ever with SB 8, the state’s
cruel abortion ban that makes the prevention of
unintended pregnancies all the more critical.
In addition, recognizing the harm of SB 8, the federal
government has set aside an additional pot of funding
to address dire need for family planning services
in Texas and other states where restrictive laws and
policies impact reproductive health access or in states
where there is a lack of or limited Title X access.
The benets of Title X:
• Providers in the Title X network receive federal funding. Before the gag rule, PPST
received more than $800,000 annually in Title X funding.
• Minors (anyone younger than 18) can get birth control without parental consent
at a Title X clinic, which is otherwise not allowed under Texas law.
• Providers have access to 340B drug pricing, allowing them to purchase birth
control and other pharmaceuticals at a reduced cost. For example, when PPST
was forced out of Title X and no longer had access to 340B discount pricing, our
cost of a hormonal IUD rose from $50 to $480. We want patients to choose the
contraceptive method that’s best for them — not just the one they can afford.
Even with the gag rule reversed, an invitation into Title X funding is not automatic.
PPST must apply for this federal funding.
We celebrate this important progress, and redouble our commitment to protect
access to care. We are so
grateful to medical providers,
grassroots organizers, and the
countless supporters like you
who spoke out against the Trump
administration’s gag rule. It’s
the kind of bold advocacy and
courageous action we need to
protect access to care.
While this is a step in the right
direction, we know there is still
much more work to be done —
to reverse the harm of the Trump
administration, ensure equity in
health care, and expand access
to sexual and reproductive care.
Even with the gag rule
reversed, an invitation
into Title X funding
is not automatic.
PPST must apply for
this federal funding.
Some patients come in because they felt a lump.
Sometimes it’s their partner who noticed something was different.
Other times, the patient didn’t notice any symptoms, and it’s a routine breast
screening that reveals the lump.
Every year, Planned Parenthood South Texas clinicians administer thousands of clinical
breast exams to patients at our health centers. Every year, those clinicians refer more than
600 patients for additional screenings, such as mammograms or ultrasounds.
“If there are any abnormalities, the earlier we detect it, the better the outcome is,”
explained Nikki Johnson, R.N., Quality Manager at Planned Parenthood South Texas.
During a clinical breast exam, a trained health care provider examines the breasts for any
possible signs of breast cancer or other breast problems. The provider uses their hands
to feel the breasts to detect lumps or other abnormalities, and also checks the armpits.
Besides lumps, other symptoms of breast cancer can include breast pain or swelling,
nipple discharge or bleeding, skin thickening or dimpling, and changes in the size or
shape of the breast.
Breast exams are an important part of preventative health care. The frequency depends
on the patient’s age and personal risk factors.
Planned Parenthood also providers referrals for screening mammograms (routine
mammograms administered in patients with no apparent symptoms) and diagnostic
mammograms (those used after abnormal results on a screening mammogram or
after abnormalities appear during a clinical breast
exam). We can connect patients to free or low-cost
mammograms when necessary.
While experts used to recommend monthly breast
self-exams, research showed these exams were not
that helpful. Now experts recommend looking at
your breasts and feeling them from time to time so
you will notice any changes in how they look or feel.
If you do notice a change, make an appointment to
be seen as soon as possible.
“We want you to come in and be evaluated, so we can take action if necessary,” Johnson
said. “I know sometimes people are afraid, but the more proactive you are about your
health, the better the outcome.”
Spotlight on…
breast exams
10 | 2021 Winter HORIZONS
2021 Winter HORIZONS | 11
By Nubia Reyna, Community
Engagement Manager in the
Rio Grande Valley
There are a lot of things that come to
mind when people ask me what it was
like to grow up in Mexico, attend school
there and be raised in a traditional
Mexican family.
Most people assume that since I am a
Mexican feminist who has lived alone
since I was 18, my parents must have
been very open-minded with me. But
that is far from the truth.
Growing up in Mexico, as a woman, with
a mother who did not have sex until the
day she got married, was like this: “Ni se
te ocurra salir con tu domingo 7 porque
te arruinas la vida. Yo no te voy a andar
ayudando” which loosely translated to
English means: “Don’t even think about
having sex because you will get knocked up
and ruin your life. I will not help you.”
All my girlfriends and I grew up with this
belief, which was strongly enforced at school,
too, where we learned abortion was a sin
and we would go to hell for “killing babies.”
Once, the school made all the female
students watch an anti-abortion video that
portrayed a talking fetus asking its mother
why a doctor was destroying his house (the
womb) and why he was not loved.
Some of the girls in my class cried while
watching this video. Since abortion was
completely illegal in Mexico, we had no
other choice but to think that that video
depicted the absolute truth, while also
keeping in mind our mothers’ advice. So, at
10 years old, I learned that abortion was out
of the question because it could only mean
one of three things: jail, death or hell. Or
even all three, and in that order.
But a lot of things have changed since I
watched that traumatizing and fake video
with my female classmates. It has been 15
years since I had that deep conversation
with my mom when I had my rst period, a
conversation that now strikes me as funny.
This year, Mexican women got a new
message. In September, the justices of
In the U.S. and in Mexico,
abortion access is a
constitutional right
Nubia at the International Women’s Day rally
in Mexico in March 2021
12 | 2021 Winter HORIZONS
the Mexican Supreme Court
unanimously ruled that it is
unconstitutional to criminalize
abortion. The court stated that
the constitution guarantees the
right to choose and no Mexican
woman, or person with the
ability to become pregnant,
should be prosecuted for
exercising their constitutional
right to choose.
And who do we have to thank
for this? Feminist activists. In big
and small cities all over Mexico,
feminists have taken to the
streets for more than 29 years,
and even more so during the last
two presidential administrations,
demanding access to aborto
legal, gratuito y seguro (legal,
free and safe abortion). This
movement has grown all over Latin
America, and more and more Mexicans
now realize that we need access to sexual
education, contraceptives, and safe and
legal abortion.
The decriminalization of abortion in Mexico
does not mean that we will actually have
access to safe and legal abortion. We
still have to nd a provider who is willing
to perform the service and the nancial
resources to pay. But the message Mexico
sent in September to the world was loud
and clear: abortion is not a crime.
Contrary to Mexico, in Texas, my home
for the past ten years, things have taken
a U-turn. With Senate Bill 8, which
interestingly enough also went into effect in
September, millions of women and people
with the ability to get pregnant in Texas
have lost their right to choose, lost their
bodily autonomy. While Mexico continues
to work toward complete access to safe
and legal abortion, Texas does the total
opposite and takes away our constitutional
right to choose. A right that we’ve had for
the past 50 years.
Texas is looking a lot like Mexico did when
I was growing up, but there is one big
and important difference: the majority of
Americans do not want to see Roe v. Wade
overturned. The majority of Americans are
condemning this ban.
Just like in Mexico, we are taking to the
streets and ghting this ban in court until
we restore access to safe and legal abortion
for every person in Texas. And like the
message of our feminist sisters in Mexico,
our message is loud and clear: We are the
majority, and we want access to safe and
legal abortion. We will not go back.
Nubia at the Brownsville Bans Off Our Bodies rally
in Brownsville in October 2021
2021 Winter HORIZONS | 13
“You have to tell a story
where possibility is more
important than peril.”
—Jon Meacham, 2021 Planned
Parenthood Annual Luncheon
The stories shared at the 2021 Annual
Luncheon were profoundly powerful.
The personal story of Luncheon
Co-Chair Joan Wyatt was a bold
renunciation of abortion stigma and
shame. It reminded everyone why abortion care is a medical service to be grateful for, why it
needs to be talked about honestly, and why it must be protected.
Jon Meacham cautioned us not to let nostalgia rewrite the story of America. Many of the
rights we are ghting so hard to protect at this current moment in history, have only been won
very recently in our nation’s history. The good old days weren’t good for everyone and the
pace of our progress towards equality, justice and freedom is not a predictor of our ultimate
success. Persistence — and relentless optimism — are what’s demanded of us now.
Each of our 24,900 clients has a story. And when at some point
they reect on their own story, it is very likely that they will
associate a turning point, a resolution or a new beginning to a
visit to Planned Parenthood. You, and the more than $700,000
you contributed in support of the Luncheon, make life-changing,
life-saving, health care possible. And because of that generosity,
your names are written between the lines of our patients’
personal stories. All of us who work and volunteer at Planned
Parenthood South Texas are overwhelmed with gratitude.
14 | 2021 Winter HORIZONS
Once again, here we are, with friends and
colleagues to demonstrate our support
of Planned Parenthood South Texas.
Each year (well, except for 2020), we come
together to hear about the high quality,
affordable and essential healthcare, and sex
education that Planned Parenthood provides.
Your support of this luncheon helps Planned
Parenthood continue to offer these services,
even in trying times. . . . And wouldn’t
you agree, these ARE trying times? As my
Co-Chair Katy Flato would say, these are
hair-on-re trying times — today, in this state
and in this political environment. So, while it
would be wonderful to talk about the other
essential healthcare PP provides, today we
need to speak directly about the 3.4% of total
services Planned Parenthood offers: abortion.
I am an ardent supporter of PP, for ALL of the
services it provides to its clients — primarily
patients with low incomes. And also because
Planned Parenthood was there for me when I
was a teenager and young adult.
It was 1979 and I was in high school in
New Jersey. My
responsible and
good friend and
I walked to the
Planned Parenthood
clinic to learn
more about birth
control options. I
have no idea how
we knew Planned
Parenthood would
be a good resource,
but we knew exactly
where its closest
clinic was located.
It was on a major
street we traveled all the time. It was not
hidden to avoid threatening protesters or
to y under the radar. PP’s clinic was loud
and proud at the intersection of Tinton Falls
Road and Broad Street, right next to the
Dunkin’ Donuts. I will never forget the
non-judgmental care I received and the
excellent information I got about my birth
control options.
I turned to Planned Parenthood, because my
wonderful, loving and amazing mom, whom I
miss terribly, was a product of her generation
and religion. We were not able to have
conversations about sex and birth control
when I was young and in need of information
and education. We were not unique then;
regrettably, our story is not unique today.
PP helped me select the right form of birth
control for me, which I used, dutifully, until
my mom found it — and took it away from me.
We never spoke of it. She couldn’t nd a way
to tell me why, and I couldn’t nd a way to ask
her. In hindsight, as a parent, I understand
her legitimate concerns and questions
about my choices. But they went unvoiced
and unheard — undiscussed. Why was that?
Because my sweet mom was restrained
by shame and secrecy around sexuality, as
was, and is, so often the case. It was taboo.
My mom’s unspoken
message was clear:
Good girls don’t have
sex before marriage
and you’re not old
enough to have birth
control. Your choice
is not okay. In other
words, you do not have
sovereignty over your
own body.
A number of years
later, in my early 20s,
and at a painful and
difcult time in my life,
I had an abortion. And while this fact is not
easy for me to share with you, not only am I
without regret and shame about my choice,
I am grateful. Grateful to have had access to
Remarks from the stage by Joan Wyatt,
Co-Chair of the 2021 Annual Luncheon
2021 Winter HORIZONS | 15
safe and legal abortion care at a time when I
was grossly unprepared to nurture a healthy
pregnancy or become a parent. I trusted my
decision implicitly.
And because of my lived experience, by
extension, I trust ALL women implicitly to
make the best reproductive healthcare
choices for themselves, whatever those
choices may be. I believe in their
sovereignty over their own bodies.
Something I cannot say for the — I’m sorry,
but this is accurate — the
overwhelmingly male Texas
ofcials who authored,
voted for and signed SB
8. How many girls and
women in Texas have been
denied their sovereignty
and deprived of their
constitutional right to
abortion health care since
this cruel and dystopian law
went into effect September
1st? I shudder to think what
is happening to them, their
dreams and their futures.
Women like me, and many of you — our
friends, sisters, daughters and nieces, who
have access to resources — will always be
able to obtain safe and legal abortion care.
We will take time off from work — if we work,
or away from school, and travel to another
state or even another country.
Under this new law, right now, as we speak,
women in Texas, with unwanted pregnancies
— and without resources — have far, far less
access to safe abortion care.
Let’s be clear: making abortion illegal does
NOT make abortion go away. It only makes it
less safe, adding signicant risk to a woman’s
health and life.
With or without resources, all of our
sovereignty is being trampled. And the fact
that some of us can afford a work-around is
unbearably unfair, sad, and infuriating.
All of which is why I was compelled to share
my story with you today. Have you ever
heard the expression, “You’re as sick as your
secrets?” You’re as sick as your secrets...
Shame festers in secrecy and binds us in
silence. I believe now is the time to change
the abortion narrative. To break the silence...
to own our choices and our rights, not just
privately, but with others.
While, as a healthcare organization, Planned
Parenthood will always protect our right
to privacy, it is our job, as supporters
of Planned Parenthood,
to address the resultant
shame, secrecy and stigma
surrounding abortion care.
We know that a 59% majority
of U.S. adults say abortion
should be legal in all or
most cases, while 39% think
abortion should be illegal
in all or most cases. We also
know that 1 in 4 American
women will have an abortion
by the age of 45. Abortion is
an integral part of women’s
health care. Yet how many of us who have
had abortions have not told our spouses,
families, friends or even physicians? Our
desire for privacy, in part, masks shame. We
are not living out loud in alignment with our
values. Many of us don’t want to talk about
it. It’s awkward! Complicated. Unpleasant.
I get it — it’s private. But I think it’s possible
that until that changes, nothing will. We will
continue to be subject to the tyranny of
the minority until more of us are willing
to make it personal and destigmatize
abortion by sharing our experiences.
My preference? Of course I would prefer
not to tell you my story — but I’ve come
to the conclusion that my preference
for privacy is part of the problem in the
national debate about abortion. My
preference for privacy can no longer
trump her rights and her sovereignty
— so that’s why I’m speaking up.
Let’s be clear: making
abortion illegal does
NOT make abortion
go away. It only makes
it less safe, adding
signicant risk to a
woman’s health and life.
16 | 2021 Winter HORIZONS
ABOUT SARAH SCHULMAN
Sarah Schulman is a novelist, nonction writer, playwright,
screenwriter and AIDS historian. She is a Guggenheim
Fellow in Playwrighting, A Fulbright Fellow in Judaic Studies
and has been awarded the Kessler Prize for Sustained
Contribution to LGBT Studies and the Whitehead Award
for Lifetime Contribution to LGBT Literature. Sarah is also
a Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the City
University of New York, College of Staten Island and is on
the Advisory Board of Jewish Voice for Peace.
2022 Patron Party with Sarah Schulman
Dear Friends,
I’m writing with a personal invitation to join me on February 14, 2022 at the McNay
Art Museum for our annual Patron Party. This party feels important to me for several
reasons. It will be my last as President & CEO. (Though you can be sure I’ll be on the
guest list for future Patron events. My support for PPST continues no matter what.) The
party is also important because it will feature a special guest who I’ve come to admire
and respect greatly: Sarah Schulman.
Ms. Schulman is an intellectual heavyweight and a prolic writer. Her early activism
included action for abortion rights and opposition to sterilization abuse. She was a
signicant gure in AIDS activism and in the leadership of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition
To Unleash Power. I rst fell in love with her when I read her book Gentrication of the
Mind. Now I’ve begun to read Let The Record Show.
In Gentrication, she argues (successfully, in my view) that AIDS eliminated over
500,000 Americans — overwhelmingly artists, activists, progressives, Queer people and
others who, had they lived, would have contributed signicantly to moving the nation
forward on progressive issues. Without their cultural inuence and contributions, the
nation’s zeitgeist shifted to the right (think Ralph Reed, Focus on the Family, and the rise
of the Christian Coalition, as examples) because we were missing half a million thought
leaders and progressive warriors who would have raised the nation’s consciousness in
a different direction.
In Let The Record Show, Schulman’s premise is that a very small group of marginalized
people who, at the time, had no guaranteed civil rights, no real power, and who were
dying very quickly at alarming numbers, were able to bring the world’s most powerful
government to shift policy on AIDS. How? Direct action. She tells us that people
who have nothing to lose are willing to risk a great deal. She makes clear several
aspects of their strategies, such as, ACT UP would never provide any medical or social
services because providers have to follow rules. ACT UP would not concern itself with
whether or not it was “getting along” with those in power, rather, the point would be to
NOT follow any of the unwritten rules of the game. Act Up wouldn’t worry about their
respectability. There would be only one rule: we will force the government to work
faster in order to save our people.
[continued
c
]
2021 Winter HORIZONS | 17
Black Quantum Physics:
A Professionalism
Time-Warp
6:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
on Thursday, January 20
Hopscotch, 711 Navarro St., Suite 100,
San Antonio
As part of Dreamweek San Antonio 2022,
Black Freedom Factory presents an event
exploring the future of professionalism,
art, and fashion. Sponsored by Planned
Parenthood South Texas, the event
includes a Bans Off Our Bodies fashion
show, Afrofuturism panel discussion,
and Teoaxicatli Activation: a soundscape
immersion experience. Tickets cost $10-$50
at ppsouthtx.org/dreamweek.
Feminist Read-In
Noon on Saturday, January 29
Carla Hughes Studio and Art Gallery,
305 W. Van Buren Ave, Harlingen
Gather to discover books exploring
feminism in all its forms. Participants pick
a book from a diverse array, read their
selection, then share their thoughts with the
rest of the group. Refreshments included.
Admission is free, but RSVPs are required.
Contact nubia.reyna@ppsouthtexas.org.
International Women’s
Day Art Exhibit
5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8
Brownsville Museum of Fine Art,
660 E. Ringgold St., Brownsville
In the exhibit Marches That Move Us,
curated by Carla Hughes and Josie Del
Castillo, Rio Grande Valley artists celebrate
protest, activism, and ghting for progress.
To RSVP and for more information, email
nubia.reyna@ppsouthtexas.org.
Upcoming
Events!
Schulman believes that the lessons from ACT UP have value to other issues and
movements. I believe that her observations about direct action (the style of activism
employed by Act Up) and how to move the nation (as ACT UP did in the late ’80s
and early ’90s) are spot on — this is the type/style/sort of activism that we need now.
I’ve devoted my career to Planned Parenthood. My work has been grounded in the
conviction that sexuality is a wonderful and beautiful part of being human, therefore laws
and governments that try to shame people and control their bodies, their decisions, their
ability to be themselves — those laws must be challenged and those governments must
be taken down. Abortion rights and reproductive self-determination are at an inection
point and we must become ready to stand up and ght like never before. I think Sarah
Schulman knows a good deal about this and that is precisely what I intend to discuss with
her on February 14, 2022. It would make me very happy to see you there.
Jeffrey Hons
__________
The PPST Patrons Party celebrates donors whose support in the prior year reached
or exceeded the thousand-dollar mark. Please consider renewing your Patron-level
support before the end of the year or becoming a Patron for the very rst time. Contact
Angela Koester at (210) 736-2244. ext 317 or angela.koester@ppsouthtexas.org.
Planned Parenthood South Texas
2140 Babcock Road
San Antonio, Texas 78229-4424
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
NONPROFITORG
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
SANANTONIO , TX
PERMITNO. 1498
www.ppsouthtexas.org | 800-230-7526
