Sex, Wine, and Chocolate:
Telling Our Truths, Taking Off Our Masks
A Fundraiser for SPARK Reproductive Justice Now and Project South
Join us on October 2nd for a sensual night free of sexual oppression. Celebrate your authentic self at our anti-masquerade ball with live performances, delectable desserts, fabulous prizes, and more!
Doors open at 7pm. Show begins at 8pm.
Advanced Tickets (before Oct. 2): $20
Tickets at the Door: $25
No one will be turned away for lack of funds, sliding scale tickets only accepted at the door.
Can’t make it? Donate a ticket! You do not have to be present to win prizes!
Contact mia@sparkrj.org or call 404-532-0022 for more information and check http://swc2008.eventbrite.com for the latest updates!
Posted by mia
Reproductive Justice Summer 2008
Stand for Justice – Say NO to OSA
Tentative Calendar of Events
Paris: 404.917.7694, SPARK: 404 532 0022
Monday July 14th: Stand for Justice Say NO to OSA!
- 9- 10 am Press Conference at SisterSong (1237 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd) Bring your signs and spirit.
- 6 pm PPNGO for Choice at Manuel’s Tavern hosted by Planned Parenthood. Play for awesome prizes like free gas cards! Bring some cash. Manuel’s Tavern is at 602 N Highland Ave and 404-525-3447.
Tuesday July 15th: Act up for Reproductive Justice!
- 9 am Woodruff Park 84 Peachtree St
- 6 pm Sidewalk Counseling at OSA’s nightly rally. Carpool from SPARK at 743 Virginia Ave or meet at the Denny’s at 5534 Jimmy Carter Blvd. Bring your signs. Their rally is at Landmark Church at 3737 Holcomb Rd, Norcross.
Wednesday July 16th: Our Bodies, Our Lives
- 9 am protest Woodruff Park 84 Peachtree St
- 6-7:30 pm SisterSong panel: Women of Color and Abortion. Aderhold Learning Center at Georgia State University (60 Luckie St).
Thursday July 17th: RJ is Sexy! Positive Sexuality Matters.
- 9 am Woodruff Park 84 Peachtree St
- 6-9 pm Movie Night at Georgia State University. Library South 8th Floor Colloquium Room (100 Decatur St).
Friday July 18th: Act up for Reproductive Justice!
- 9 am Woodruff Park 84 Peachtree St
- 5-7 pm Protest at Colony Square (1197 Peachtree St) 404-879-2250.
Saturday July 19th: Goodbye OSA! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
- 9 am Carpool from SPARK at 743 Virginia Ave or meet at Denny’s at 5534 Jimmy Carter Blvd. Bring your signs as we say goodbye to OSA.
- Following the farewell we will have a community celebration picnic at Best Friend Park at 6224 Jimmy Carter Blvd near their hotel. Yum
Posted by paris
PRESS CONFERENCE: SisterSong, SisterLove and SPARK defend Women of Color’s Right to Abortion
Atlanta, GA – Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, SisterLove and SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW will stand with leaders from the Atlanta community to denounce Operation Rescue/Operation Save America at Sistersong’s national headquarters, MONDAY, July 14, 2008 at 9:00am. Sistersong, SisterLove and SPARK will stand with women of the civil rights community, religious leaders, and medical professionals to affirm women of color’s right to abortion and the need for reproductive justice for everyone.
Operation Save America (OSA), a radical right to life (anti-choice) organization, is hosting a National event from July 12-19 in Atlanta to protest abortion clinics and target Black women and their families as perpetrators of black genocide”. Their racially charged outreach, including a mailer reaching 8,000 people in the metro Atlanta area, strategically invokes and misuses words and ideas from the Civil Rights Movement, which sought to affirm the rights of individuals, not deprive individuals of rights.
Janis Mathis of Rainbow PUSH, Helen Butler of Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda and Dr. C.T. Vivian, longtime Civil Rights leader are scheduled to speak.
WHAT: Press Conference denouncing Operation Save America
WHEN: MONDAY, July 14, 2008, 9:00 a.m.
WHERE: Sistersong National Headquarters, 1237 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd., SW, Atlanta, GA 30312 (404-756-2680)
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL WEEK’S CALENDAR OF EVENTS
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Posted by mia
Or cut and paste into your browser: http://reprohealthhub.nirhealth.org/2008/07/11/repro-health-heroes-of-the-week-spark-reproductive-justice-now/
“OSA/OR’s week of protests comes hot on the heels of their protest of Atlanta’s Gay Pride—a parade the OSA/OR website describes was “put on by the devil” for “those enslaved by homosexuality.” The coming week’s festivities of fear represent the continuation of what OSA/OR calls the “Battle for Atlanta.” (read more)
Posted by mia
 
Women of Color Stand for Justice and Say NO to Operation Save America
By SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective
The week of July 12-19 2008, Operation Save America, a violent anti-choice and racist organization, will fill the city of Atlanta with their message of hate and terror.
During this time we call on women of color, our allies and reproductive justice and social justice activists to Stand for Justice and Say NO to Operation Save America.
As leaders, mothers, partners, students, and beyond women of color are faced with intricate realities that shape our lives. For all of us that reality includes making decisions about our bodies, our lives, and our communities. For some of us that means we choose abortion. We unapologetically support women of color as creators of their own futures and, in creating our paths of autonomy support women’s access to safe and legal abortion. Our struggle for abortion access is anchored in our belief in reproductive justice or the complete economic, physical, social, and political well-being and power to make the best decision for our bodies, our families, and our communities.
Abortion has always been a part of our lives. As healers, midwives, enslaved, free, colonized, and imprisoned people, women of color have and continue to create a story of resilience and resistance in which abortion, parenting, adoption, foster care and beyond have all played a part. We will not allow Operation Save America to reduce our lives into a simplistic sound bite that points the finger solely at abortion and not at the impact of war, poor education and healthcare to name a few. We resist our stories and our legacies being co-opted by this group. We denounce images of our children used as tokens by a mostly White group to justify their cause.
Operation Save America continues to play on a history of shaming and blaming women of color. As reproductive justice advocates and activists, we recognize our choices are dictated by our circumstances; and the discussion regarding abortion requires that we talk honestly about racism, health care, education, sexuality, and poverty. OSA’s presence is just another overt reign of terror felt by women of color and our communities by an organization whose membership and message aim only to point the finger without addressing the real issues that impact the lives of women of color and our families.
For this week and beyond, women of color and our allies unite to say NO to OSA. Calling on the prophetic traditions of the Black church, civil rights movement, and our women of color’s historical commitment to freedom and liberation, we have a firm understanding that fight for our bodily autonomy, the safety of our communities, and the demise of oppression and exploitation requires that everyone Stand for Justice and Say NO to Operation Save America.
For more info and a calendar of events for the week, please visit www.sparkrj.org.
Posted by paris
This is an official statement from Atlanta Providers in reference to Operation Save America week.
From July 12 – 19th, an extremist anti-abortion group, Operation Save America, will be in Atlanta in an attempt to disrupt our community with shocking imagery and misleading rhetoric. The actions of this extremist anti-choice group do not distract us from our primary concern, which is always the health and safety of our clients.
Everyday the health, safety and security of our clients remain our primary concern. That is why each of our health care facilities has a strict non-engagement policy with protestors. It is our hope to keep the level of disruption surrounding our health centers to a minimum, and as such, we never encourage or invite any counter-protests at any of our facilities.
We remind our supporters that OSA’s annual event will be over soon and we can focus our efforts on the things that are truly important like reducing unintended pregnancies with real solutions like increased access to birth control and medically accurate sex education while maintaining access to safe abortion care with the dignity and respect our clients deserve.
We thank the many supporters who have expressed their outrage at the efforts of the anti-abortion extremists and we honor and appreciate all your efforts to protect access to reproductive health care. We truly appreciate your support. We hope that you will join us in working to protect reproductive health and justice beyond this week.
Posted by paris
SPARK is gearing up for Reproductive Justice Summer 2008.
Here is the most up to date calendar of events for July 12-19th.
Please check back regularly since we will be constantly updating TBA info
*Outdoors events will have free water available however please make sure you stay hydrated.
Call 404.532.0022 for any questions about events or contact Paris at 404.917.7694
Posted by paris
OSA week is only 3 weeks away! Stay tuned for a schedule of events and an official statement from the clinics of Atlanta. We will get them both out to you as soon as they are available.
Thank you to all the activists and organizations who have gotten in touch with us to help out! Folks from around the country are sending their support, money and people to join us in our resistance! If you would like to get involved, let us know and we will plug you in!
For those of you who may not kow, Operation Rescue/ Operation Save America, a radical anti-choice group (among other things), is coming to Atlanta this summer. Each summer OSA chooses a city to decend on, last year, as many of you probably read about, they were in Birmingham, Alabama, set to shut-down the only abortion clinic in the state, harass clinic staff and intimidate clients from seeking services. Their targets have been in the South and Midwest.
The Next SPARK OSA Organizing Meeting is WED, June 25th at 6pm at the SPARK offices.
Contact Paris for more information: 404-532-0022, paris@sparkrj.org
Posted by mia
HALLELUJAH STREET BLUES: A Benefit Play for SPARK.
At the Horizon Theatre on July 9th, 8pm
Last year’s benefit play SOLD OUT, save your seats today! Your name will be kept at the front door, with your ticket(s).
Hallelujah Street Blues is a comedy set against the complicated issue of gentrification in Atlanta. We hope this play will spark conversations about how housing, gentrification, geographical location, class, gender and race are connected to reproductive justice and impact people’s reproductive health.
All proceeds go to support SPARK’s organizing against OSA this summer.
Tickets: $25-$10 sliding scale (no one will be turned away for lack of funds).
Buy your tickets online (credit and debit cards) or at Charis Books (cash or check only). You may also call to reserve your tickets: 404-532-0022.
Contact Mia: mia@sparkrj.org, 404-532-0022
Can’t make it? Donate a ticket(s) for talented youth in Georgia by clicking here. SPARK is working for the 2nd year in a row to provide tickets for a group of 25 talented Georgia youth and their chaperones. Last year we were able to get every ticket donated–Thank You!
Posted by mia
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