Since the anti-reproductive rights movement is intent on banning not only abortion, but also birth control (as I documented today over at BlogHer), I thought it would be nice to highlight work being done to promote reproductive health and positive sexuality. The people in this field are doing amazing work, often under threats to their (and their family's) safety, and they should be celebrated and commended for their important and humane efforts to make the world a better place.

One of my favorite organizations is The Alan Guttmacher Institute. Alan Guttmacher was horrified when he witnessed a woman die from an illegal abortion when he was a medical intern in the 1920s. He believed that:

"No woman is completely free unless she is wholly capable of controlling her fertility and...no baby receives its full birthright unless it is born gleefully wanted by its parents."

This is not to say that unplanned pregnancies should never be carried to term; any child who is adopted fits the description "gleefully wanted by its parents," and many birth parents have joyously welcomed unplanned children into their families. The point it is that women need the ability to control if and when they will have children in order to live their lives. Although this exceptionally compassionate man died in 1974, his commitment to human sexuality and reproductive rights lives on in the Guttmacher Institute. The organization's mission:

... advances sexual and reproductive health through an interrelated program of social science research, policy analysis and public education designed to generate new ideas, encourage enlightened public debate, promote sound policy and program development and, ultimately, inform individual decision making.

While anti-choice advocates throw around their unscientific rhetoric about accepting whatever God throws your way, Guttmacher has conclusively shown that family planning and contraceptive use actually saves the lives of men, women, and children around the world. Anyone who values life, as well as personal freedom, thank the Guttmacher Institute for their consistent voice on our behalf.

While Planned Parenthood can be controversial even among reproductive health advocates, it is also important to think about the valuable work they do for families around the world. In the United States, PP staff are often the target of harassment. This past Saturday (June 7), the American Life League called for people to protest "peacefully" outside of clinics that distribute birth control pills. In many communities, Planned Parenthood is the only source for women to obtain this vital medication, so they bore the brunt of the protests.

As anyone who has ever participated in or witnessed a demonstration knows, even peaceful ones are extremely disruptive to the business being protested. (Let me be clear: I am saying people do not have the right to protest. However, whatever the cause, the outcome is to disrupt.) However, calls for "peaceful" protest by anti-choice organizations are often anything but peaceful. Women trying to enter a clinic - for any reason - are subjected to slurs and hate language at best. At worst, violence inflicted against workers and patients can maim or even kill. I Am Emily X is a blog that documents the terrifying threats that Planned Parenthood employees face, in some cases on a daily basis. I wholeheartedly thank these people for their dedication to providing reproductive health services.

These are just two examples of organizations that are fighting the good fight to protect our rights, both as sexual human beings and as healthy individuals. The legislative attacks on these rights, as well as the personal ones, are gaining in force. Without the work of Guttmacher, Planned Parenthood and others like them, the religious zealots and their controlling agenda would be a complete success. I am grateful for their work.

Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants and at BlogHer.