Programs: Bay Area Commmunity Organizing Project

Founded in 2001, the Bay Area Community Organizing Project works to preserve and advance access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare in the San Francisco Bay Area—and, increasingly, throughout California—by organizing and mobilizing the local medical community. As home to one of the largest concentrations of PRCH physician members, California is a nexus of our grassroots organizing efforts.

Advocacy

Despite California’s reputation as a politically progressive state, its size and cultural prominence will always make it a key target for the national anti-choice movement. In 2005 and 2006, PRCH members in California played a key role in defeating statewide parental notification ballot measures. The Bay Area Project hosted media training sessions for physicians, arranged for PRCH members to speak with the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle, and organized a petition opposing the measure that garnered 200 signatures from physicians and medical organizations.

In Sacramento, Tabetha Harken, MD; Justin Diedrich, MD; and William Leininger, MD, talk with Richard Figeuroa, Deputy Cabinet Secretary, Health and Human Services.

At annual advocacy days, Bay Area PRCH members meet with lawmakers to discuss pending reproductive health legislation. In May 2008, 11 of our doctors and a UCLA medical student met with 15 senators and assembly members or their staff, as well as the Governor’s Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Health and Human Services, to discuss the impending parental notification initiative campaign and request their formal opposition.

The Bay Area office also gives physicians an opportunity to be heard on national issues. In April 2007, our members in California spoke out on the federal abortion ban decision, with articles appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, and Contra-Costa Times, as well as broadcast segments on KPIX-TV, KRON-TV, and NPR.

Education

California is home to many of the country’s most distinguished medical schools and teaching hospitals. The Bay Area Project works to improve Californians’ access to health services by educating doctors about the ever-changing field of reproductive health and advocating for its inclusion in current institutional curricula. PRCH's Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health Education Project (ARSHEP) has a strong presence in California, with four local faculty members who travel throughout the state to train physicians on the best practices of adolescent reproductive healthcare. To date, our physician trainers have conducted sessions at Stanford University, UC Davis, UCLA, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ National Conference in San Francisco.

Coalition-Building

The Bay Area Project partners with women’s health and reproductive rights organizations to see that public policies support access to high quality, comprehensive reproductive healthcare. Recently, the Bay Area Project convened the Sexual and Reproductive Health Medical Coalition, a group of state and regional medical associations that includes the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) District IX, the California Academy of Family Physicians, and the Northern and Southern California chapters of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, among others. The Coalition’s mission is to provide and preserve comprehensive, evidence-based reproductive healthcare for all Californians through education, advocacy, and statewide coordination.

To learn more about the Coalition, contact Libby Benedict.