Cleveland Women's

Counsel

p.o. box 18472 cleve. hte., oh. 44118 321-8587

We are writing to WSW at this time for a couple of reasons. One is to respond to your suggestion that groups write down and share their origins and herstory (WSW, Jan. 1979). It is particularly appropriate that such reflection occur at this time in the herstory of Cleveland Women's Counsel because the organization is at its second major point of transition. We would like to bring WSW readers up to date. However, let's begin at the beginning.

In November 1971, the first meeting of a group which was to become Cleveland Women's Counsel  ́ occurred. Several women who had been working at Pregnancy Information Referral Service and the Free Clinic wanted to do their abortion counseling and referral work in a feminist context. At that time the closest place for legal abortions were New York and Washington, D.C. The founding mothers included Leslie Pinegar, Mickey Stern, Norma Mark, Marilee Talman, Nancy Wood, Betsy Tabac, Sally Tatnall,Barbara Teoppen, Susan Woodworth, Debbie Hamolsky and a few other women.

The basic premise underlying the early activities of CWC was that women must control their own bodies in order to control their own lives. We felt that women have a fundamental need for information about their bodies and a right to control their own sexuality. We were also concerned that health care providers offer high quality medical service as well as a treatment modality which respects women. Many health care institutions saw (and still see) women as ignorant creatures, to be dealt with as expediently as possible.

In order to address these concerns, a three-pronged program was undertaken. The first program was referral and counseling for women with problem pregnancies. We counseled 700 clients, over the phone and face to face, between June 1972 and June

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1973. Before making any referrals, however, some members of CWC traveled to New York and Washington to evaluate the abortion clinics there. We also evaluated some of the local services, and these thorough evaluations were used by other service providers as well. At this critical point we also established an emergency loan fund to assist women who needed financial help.

This counseling service was based on the premise that women are human beings capable of understanding the medical, psychological, and social implications of pregnancy and abortion and of making appropriate decisions about their lives. Experiences about health care were also shared. All counselors were trained before secing any clients.

Education was the second facet of the program and included offering a course entitled "Our Bodies, Ourselves". The first edition of the book by that name had just been published in newsprint and sold for $.35. The other educational effort involved the printing and distribution of a comic book for high school aged women informing them about the availability of birth control and abortions. This comic book was designed, printed, bound and distributed entirely by members of Cleveland Women's Counsel,

These educational efforts sprang from the perspective that prevention is better than after-the-fact, temporary solutions. One of the most powerful weapons a woman can have is information about her body and the knowledge of her right to demand humane and thorough treatment. We felt that women needed to know where to get the kind of health care they deserve and where not to get it.

The third program area grew out of the first and second areas of concern. It was a commitment to devise strategies to address the health care institutions which women had to use. We began publishing

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the "Pink Speculum" irregularly. This newspaper contained information about the health care needs of women and exposed doctors and institutions which had abused their female clients. CWC also functioned as health advocates for its own clients by raising health issues with them. We undertook efforts to provide easier access to quality health care, particularly gynecological care, for all women.

In 1973 the Supreme Court finally legalized abortion nationally, and a few clinics opened in Cleveland. Many of the CWC women saw the need to open a women's health clinic which would embody many of the feminist aspects of health care. After many months of hard work, Preterm began operation. Also at this point, several CWC members moved out of Cleveland, leaving only two members, Pearl Simon and Betsy Tabac.

The process of providing the abortion referrals had shown CWC that women needed referrals to a wide variety of services. Also, it was obvious that many of the women's movement activities at that time were "underground" in the sense of being small, not well publicized, and seemingly very radical. Women needed a vehicle to acquaint a larger number of them with these organizations. Pearl and Betsy therefore decided to expand the referral service to include anything relevant to a woman as a woman.

We moved the telephones to an office in an attic and continued to answer them 15 hours a week. We also had our first paid staffperson at a salary of $250 per month, and we wrote and accumulated literature. The referral list at that time amounted to sheets of paper in a three-ring notebook. We located new sources of services for women and offered support groups. Friends offered their homes for emergency housing, since there was no other place available. We also initiated a program of special support, called the Sisters program.

A few more women joined CWC, including Judy Rainbrook, Iris Bishop, Ruth Brdar, Wegi Louise and Merrily Kaplan, and we prepared our Dissolution of Marriage packets which we distributed for $5.00. Financial support was a constant concern, but the community always came through. It was thrilling to receive the first $100 contribution, and even more thrilling to receive the first $1,000! We initiated our first contact with local foundations for a grant in 1974, with a sizeable grant finally coming through in 1975.

The relatively stable foundation funding enabled CWC to move from the attic to our present offices and to incorporate more paid and volunteer staff. We defined organizational structures and improved record-keeping.

During the period 1976-1978, 10,000 women called CWC with a variety of concerns. We continued to of fer support groups, and community education became an important facet of the program, CWC, with the ACLU and NOW, was instrumental in getting Ohio Senate Bill 87, which mandates the establishment of Bureaus of Support in every county in Ohio, introduced into the Ohio Legislaturc. We assisted many new organizations, especially the Self Help Collective, the Geauga Women's Center, and WomenSpace. CWC was one of the key forces behind the process which has become the Women's Equity Planning Project and for the long-awaited Cleveland Women's Handbook. In addition, we defended the right to publish the pro se divorce packets before the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee of the Bar Association.

Cleveland Women's Counsel is now entering its third stage of activity. We have chosen as our new focus addressing the economic needs of divorcing women. This current emphasis grew out of our many years of experience in providing direct service and in conducting groups. We have talked with over 3,000 women in Cuyahoga County in the past three years about their divorces. We are struck with a picture of women and their children suffering great economic deprivation as a result of their divorces and of long-

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Febrary, 1978/What Sho,Wanya Page Ha