Connecting with Members: Bridging the Generations

Special Section on Plan A: NCJW's Campaign for Contraceptive Access

Through the generations, NCJW members have held firmly to the belief that the right to prevent pregnancies is fundamental to women's equality and well-being. And they've passed this family value on to their children.

Some grew up, like Joan Butwin, when "nice girls didn't." Others, like Terry Vismantas, "came of age during the era of free sex, love, and rock 'n' roll." Some grew up when the pill was ubiquitous; others, like Sue Schreiber, when only married women could get the pill.

Historically, NCJW was an early supporter of Margaret Sanger’s work, passing a 1931 resolution in favor of women’s access to confidential family planning services. Today, contraception is fully legal, yet access is still not guaranteed and varies state by state. In the decades between, NCJW activists worked hard to expand women’s access to contraception, preventing sexually transmitted disease and unwanted pregnancies through education, funding, and policy changes. History shared through personal stories has helped fuel this movement, as generation after generation has passed down tales and memories of what life was like before.

Before Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the Supreme Court case that established a married woman’s right to use birth control. Before Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972), which expanded that right to include unmarried people.

Or even further back, when it was a federal offense to distribute birth control — or even information about contraception — through the mail or across state lines.

In recent years, the backlash against contraception and information has grown more prevalent and politically powerful, spurred largely by a religious right committed to curtailing the ability of others to make their own personal decisions. Headlines attest to this: women unable to get birth control prescriptions filled, inadequate funding for programs that provide poor women with contraception, laws that exempt employer-provided insurance from contraceptive equity, barriers for young women, abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula that mislead students about the efficacy of contraception, and attempts to redefine contraceptives as abortifacients.

Yet such restrictions aren’t universal. Many states have passed laws that expand access, whether it’s New York women being able to buy emergency contraception with a Medicaid card or Kansas public school students being taught comprehensive sex ed.

Plan A: NCJW’s Campaign for Contraceptive Access was designed as a vehicle for expanding access in communities around the country. In some states, that means defending current access from new restrictions. In less restrictive states, this means educating more women and young people about contraception and making sure that all women who want to use contraception can.

Of the hundreds of members who took a recent NCJW Journal survey, more than 85 percent said that reproductive rights activism transcended the generations in their families, with many members reporting that they and at least two other generations in their families are staunch proponents of access who take action through NCJW. For some, this means their children and mothers; for others, their children and grandchildren.

Consider Judy Traub (b. 1935), co-president of the Palm Beach (FL) Section. Traub first got involved with reproductive rights activism in the early 1980s as a member of the Minneapolis (MN) Section. In Minnesota, she was asked to run for the state legislature on a pro-choice ticket. As a state senator, Traub sponsored legislation on medically accurate, comprehensive sex education. After all these years, she says, "We're still fighting for the same things."

Traub says she was "always upfront on the issues" with her daughter, Stacy Saef (b. 1968). Both remember the first time they marched together at a reproductive rights rally, wearing matching NCJW T-shirts. Today, Saef — treasurer of the Chicago North Shore (IL) Section — says she's "blessed with two beautiful children" but doesn't plan to have any more. "It's essential that every woman has the ability to choose if and when to have a child. As the mother of a young daughter, I will do everything within my power to ensure Plan A's success so that my daughter has the same access to information about reproductive options and, when the time comes, the same access to contraception that I had and continue to have."

For NCJW board member Joan Butwin (b. 1936), a member of NCJW for 45 years, protecting access is "extremely important," especially at a time when younger generations of women have no firsthand experience with the obstacles their mothers faced. Butwin’s daughter, Peninsula (NY) Section board member Ellen Begun (b. 1965) remembers her mother explaining the importance of protecting the rights of all women to make reproductive decisions for themselves. Today, as the mother of a middle-schooler, she feels that comprehensive sex education is crucial. "Kids need to be educated."

For her part, Sue Schreiber of the Omaha (NE) Section (b. 1938) remembers "the first fight" — "to get contraception available without restrictions." Today, Schreiber's daughter, Omaha Section president Deb Marburg (b. 1967), follows in her mother's footsteps.

"I don't want the generations that come after me to have to fight the way that those before me did," says Marburg. "I can't imagine thinking that I don't need to do anything. That's how you lose what you have." And already, she’s thinking ahead to the day when she passes the torch to her sons, 6 and 8. "It's my responsibility to educate my children about how we value people’s health and the choices they make."

For Terry Vismantas (b. 1951), daughter of NCJW past president Esther Landa (b. 1912), reproductive rights are “absolutely a family value… In my family we respect the rights of individuals to make choices.”

For many supporters, Plan A is personal, not just political. "I have a daughter who might need access to medications that a pharmacist refuses to dispense," says Traub. "I have a granddaughter who will grow up in this country — I want her to have full access to reproductive health care, medically accurate sexuality information, and to know that she lives in country where the agenda of a small, narrow-minded minority does not control access to information for the balance of the population."

As Vismantas put it, "It's time to get the grassroots fired up." And with Plan A, they’ll have the tools they need to mobilize their communities. For many NCJW members, that mobilizing will start at home.