LOCAL NEWS Vol. 10, no. 8

Anti-Depo Protest

The Cleveland Pro-Choice Action Committee will hold a public meeting March 15 at 8:00 p.m. at Thwing Hall, CWRU campus, 11111 Euclid Avenue, to discuss action against the controversial and unapproved birth control injection "Depo Provera."

Speaking will be Catherine McCarly, a member of the Board of Directors of the National Women's Health Network, the largest women's health organization in the U.S. The Network also intends to sue the Upjohn Company which makes Depo Pro-

vera.

The Cleveland Pro-Choice Action Committee urges all people who have been given the drug by a doctor or other health official to come to this meeting and help us sue Upjohn for risking the health of women with a drug the safety of which is highly questionable. The Committee hopes that this meeting and others like it across the country will make people aware of what the medical industry is doing to

women.

Depo Provera,. currently approved for use in treating two kinds of cancer, has a long and stormy past. Critics link the synthetic hormone to sterility, reduced sex drive, acute depression, hair loss and uterine and cervical cancer, as well as to blood clots and other birth defects in the children of Depo users.

The Food and Drug Administration rejected U.S. use of Depo Provera in 1978, but hearings were held in January at the request of Upjohn to consider whether Depo's benefits as an injectable contraceptive outweigh its risks. The new Reagan-appointed FDA commissioner has the final say on the use of the drug, and could approve its use even if the FDA as a whole rules against it. If Depo use is approved by the FDA, it will mark the first time that a drug that failed

News

CONTENTS

National and State

National Freeze Conference...

Squeal Rule Squelched.......

Ginny Foat Seeks Extradition Hearing..

Local

Women's Enrichment Center.....

.12

Guns and Butter Conference...

Gay/Lesbian Conference.....

Depo Provera Protest....

Mobilization for Animals........

Great Expectations.....

..8

The Sexual Dilemma....

..8

Dandelion: The Official Remedy.

Find It Fastest.....

Reviews.............................

What's Happening.

Classifieds.......

......back cover ......... ....6-7 .16-19 ..19

Features

Cover Graphic by Suzanne Britt

WSW COLLECTIVE: Linda Jane, Jean Loria, Mary Walsh

WSW ASSOCIATES: Business-Judy Beckman, Blackberry, Dianne Fishman, Pat O'Malley

Editorial Bobbie Davies, Debbie Gross, Pat Randle, Cheryl Reid

Production-Louise Luczak. Jusan Woodworth

по

all required animal safety tests went on to win approval.

Depo Provera is a drug that is not widely used on American women," said Sharon Smith, a member of the Committee, "but population control groups across the country like Planned Parenthood are using it on women of the third world. We think it is a example of the racism of Planned Parenthood and Upjohn to use women of color as guinea pigs."

"The Pro-Choice Action Committee also wants to inform women of the international implications of Depo Provera," added Faith Simon.

Other speakers at the meeting will include Dr. Dena Margoulias, a doctor at Cleveland Metro General Hospital. For more information, call 321-6143 or 531-0309.

Lesbian/Gay Meeting

The Second Annual Cleveland Lesbian/Gay Conference will be held March 18-20 at the Law School on the Case Western Reserve University campus. Sponsored by the CWRU Lesbian/Gay Student Union and the Cleveland branch of the Gay Academic Union, the Conference will include a series of talks, workshops, and social events. It is expected to draw about 200 participants. Pre-registration is $4.00; registration at the door, $5.00.

The featured speakers are Joan Rourke, President of Ohio NOW; Larry Bush, Washington correspondent for the Advocate and syndicated gay columnist; and Virginia Apuzzo, Director of the National Gay Task Force. Ten workshops will center on such topics as legal issues, health issues, relations with the media, and organizational effectiveness. One workshop, on women's issues, is restricted to women. Social events include a reception Friday evening, March 18, and a party on Saturday night.

For information, call Maggie Herten, 228-8418.

WHAT SHE WANTS IS:

A monthly news journal produced for all women. We always like input from our readers in the form of articles, personal experiences, poetry, art, announcements, and letters. We welcome women who are willing to help us in specific areas of the paper (writing, lay-out, advertising, distribution, publicity, etc.) and/or who are interested in our collective.

WHAT SHE WANTS ADVOCATES:

...equal and civil rights

...the right to earnings based on our need, merit, and interest ...access to job training, salaries, and promotions we choose ...the right to organize in unions and coalitions to advance our cause ...the right to decent health care and bealth information ...the right to safe, effective birth control and to safe, legal abortions ...the right to accept or reject motherhood

...the right to choose and express sexual preference without harass-

ment

...access to quality education and freedom from prejudice in learning materials

DISTRIBUTION OUTLETS:

East: Appletree Books, Coventry Books, CWRU Bookstore, Food Communities, Food Project, Hemming & Hulbert, Rethreads, Feminist Lending Library

Central: Arcade Art, Barnes & Noble, Publix Book Mart, WomenSpace

West: Bookstore on W. 25th, Berea Books, Plants Plus, Lakewood Y, Gay Community Center Chagrin Falls: The Inside Story

Akrom: Cooperitive Market

Kent: Kent Natural Foods Store 'Columbus: Fan the Flames Bookstore Boston, MA: New Words Bookstore

DES Action Group

. A DES Action group is now forming in the Cleveland area. DES Action is a national consumeroriented group that seeks to educate the public and medical professions about the DES issue, to insure quality medical care for the DES-exposed, and to provide DES-exposed people with information, physician referrals and support.

DES (diethylstilbestrol) is a synthetic estrogen which was prescribed for millions of pregnant women from 1940 through 1971, particularly if they had problem pregnancies, diabetes or other difficulties. Because of the number of women given DES during pregnancy in the United States, the effects of this drug have become a public health issue of national importance. Concern began in the early 1970's when an association was found between DES and a rare form of vaginal cancer in the daughters of women who took the drug. Since then, other reproductive tract problems in DES daughters and DES sons have been documented. Most recently, there have been reports of possible increased risk of breast cancer in DES mothers.

An estimated six to twelve million individuals have been exposed to DES, and more than half of them still do not know it! If you were born between 1940 and 1971, you may be a DES daughter or DES son. For further information, contact DES Action/Cleveland at P.O. Box 14755, Cleveland, Ohio 44114.

Guns or Butter III

Sonia Johnson, excommunicated by the Mormon Church for her work on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment, leads the list of speakers scheduled for Guns or Butter 111, a conference on "Jobs Through Peace: Toward Real National Security," which will be held in Cleveland on March 24-26. Johnson will discuss the military budget's impact on women at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 24, at Trinity Cathedral; she will be followed by Professor John Swomley of the St. Paul School of Theology, who will trace the history of the current nuclear crisis.

The Friday, March 25 session will feature Julian Bond, who will speak on "Bread or Bombs-What is Security?" at 7:30 p.m. Marion Anderson, Director of Employment Research Associates in Lansing, Michigan, will address the conference theme with a report on the connection between military spending and job loss. Her address to the first Guns or Butter Conference in 1981 was a source of much-needed information.

Frank Martino, International President of the International Chemical Workers' Union/AFL-CIO, will open the Saturday, March 26 session at the Cathedral with a 9:30 a.m. talk on how "Labor Views the Crisis." Workshops at Cleveland State University will follow at 10:30 a.m., with a lunchtime concert of jazz and folk music in the ground-floor CSU auditorium. At 1:30 p.m., civil liberties advocate Frank Wilkinson will discuss the suppression of dissent; workshops will continue at 2:30. Át the closing session, beginning at 4:00 p.m., Tom Siemer of Columbus, Ohio, will recount his personal conversion from weapons manufacturer to peace activist.

The conference is sponsored by numerous Northeast Ohio civic, labor, religious, education and peace groups. There is no admission charge for the three days of sessions, which will be held at Trinity Cathedral, East 22nd Street at Euclid Avenue, and at Cleveland State University.

There will also be conferences in Akron and Youngstown; they will feature the same speakers in similar schedule formats. For information on Guns or Butter III, phone 696-1918 or 486-6513 in Cleveland; in Akron, 253-7151; and in Youngstown, 744-8451.**

March, 1983/What She Wants/Page }