Advocating for Reproductive Rights in the Age of Obama
The mainstream media may think having a pro-choice president is all that matters, but reproductive rights activists know there's so much more to the issue. Instead of just making up for ground lost under Bush, how can we push for a reproductive justice framework, where more people have their real needs met? Most importantly, how can we use online tools like blogs and social media to spread the word despite silence from many mainstream sources?
Aimée Thorne-Thomsen brings her passion as a social justice activist and her extensive experience in leadership and communications to her role as Executive Director of the Pro-Choice Public Education Project (PEP). Her work at PEP focuses on elevating the voices of young women in the reproductive justice movement. Aimée sits on the Boards of Reproductive Health Technologies Project and Law Students for Reproductive Justice, and the Editorial Board of Our Truths/Nuestras Verdades. She earned her B.A. from Yale University and her M.P.A from Baruch College, City University of New York.
I joined the Guttmacher Institute, a think tank on sexual and reproductive health issues, in April 2006. I'm based in the Institute’s Washington DC office, where I'm responsible for many of Guttmacher’s strategic and policy-related communications activities on domestic and international issues, including outreach to online media and bloggers.
Marcotte rose to prominence in 2004 and 2005 as the first feminist blogger to gain traction and traffic in the larger political blogosphere. She continues to blog tirelessly at Pandagon, Slate’s Double X, and RH Reality Check. Marcotte has authored two books: It’s A Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments and Get Opinionated: A Progressive’s Guide to Finding Your Voice (and Taking a Little Action).
Marcotte has published on her unapologetically pro-choice, pro-science, progressive feminist ideas in Slate, Salon, the American Prospect, and the Guardian UK. She also podcasts on sexual health and reproductive rights weekly for RH Reality Check, the most popular reproductive rights publication online. She’s appeared on MSNBC with Rachel Maddow, the BBC, and frequently on political radio talk shows across the nation.
James Wagoner, a respected public policy and reproductive health expert, has been the President and Executive Director of Advocates for Youth since September 1997. He represents the organization with the media, funders, and colleague organizations, and during speaking engagements, both nationally and internationally. Before coming to Advocates, James spent seven years at NARAL, most recently as Executive Vice-President. During the decade prior to that, James served on the staff of Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum from Ohio. He is a graduate of Georgetown University.
