BCVoices Inc.

As we move into Spring and the promise of new life, BC Voices wants to thank you for all your support, with special thanks to the generosity of Craig Newmark Philanthropies, The Bettner Foundation and The Puffin Foundation, and, let you know we’re moving along producing Stand UP, Speak OUT – Episode 3: Reproductive Rights.

We are excited to announce four new videos ready for your viewing. Hear women spanning 3 generations speak about the impact of having, and the consequences of not having, reproductive control in their lives, addressing such crucial issues as forced sterilization, birth control, abortion, and family planning.

Collectively, their personal stories illuminate the transformation in women’s lives over the past 60 years, as a result of gaining the right to privacy in making reproductive choices. They tell us what’s changed, what’s still the same, and how far we must go to realize and preserve our reproductive autonomy.

Our work continues. The Know Your Rights video segment of Episode 3: Reproductive Rights, expected late June 2022, covers the 200+ year historical overview of women’s fight for reproductive freedom, and what’s at risk today. Thanks to your support, this segment is fully funded.

Now, we are beginning our campaign to raise funds for Stand UP, Speak OUT – Episode 4: To Marry Whom We Love, or, Not At All (working title). This episode tells the story of how women of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, with newfound legal and social equity, broke barriers in their partnering and life choices. They had the power to positively choose to remain single; marry across class, religious, ethnic, gender, and racial lines; and divorce without shame or stigma.

Photo credit: Ricardo Alcaraz

Full cost $80,000
$10,000 to start development – scriptwriting and archival research

Please consider a donation to ensure that older people remember and younger people understand the history of achieving basic rights for women, and the unthinkable consequences of losing them. Your contribution will make it possible to produce SUSO Episode 4: To Marry Whom You Love, or, Not At All by Spring 2023.

We hope that you and others will listen to women’s stories about their reproductive choices in SUSO Episode 3: Reproductive Rights, and be inspired to continue the ongoing fight for a woman’s right to control her body, her health, and her life.

Warmly,

The BC Voices Team

Katherine J. Brewster, President
Lee Canossa, Financial Officer
Kathy Galvin
Ruth M. Louie
Susan Shapiro Metz
Rhonda Nunn
Carol Santaniello Spencer
Rabbi Cheryl Weiner

Watch our Stand UP, Speak OUT DocuSeries to learn more about women’s history and hear from women who experienced its impact on their lives.

The Year We Saw Everything, a collage of artistic responses to the many issues of 2020

Conversations in America: 2020 Vision – The Year We Saw Everything, a compilation of short plays, films, monologues, songs, and more, by and about women, presented on 3/19/2022. BC Voices participated with Stand UP, Speak OUT – Episode 1: Know Your Rights – Equal Pay. Presented by: THE WOMEN IN THE ARTS AND MEDIA COALITION

Nonbinary lawyer Pauli Murray was a staunch human rights activist, feminist, legal scholar, author, and the first Black person perceived as a woman to become an Episcopal priest. Considered one of the most important social justice advocates of the 20th century, Murray was heavily involved in the civil rights movement and advocated for equal rights for all women. Much of our modern legal discourse and feminist thought can be attributed to Pauli Murray.

Rosalind Rosenberg, author of Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray, and Professor Emerita of History at Barnard College, is a member of the Humanities Advisory Team for our Stand UP, Speak OUT Docuseries.