Media Instruction Manual from 'Women Speak for Themselves' Now Available

No matter what decision any politician makes, 

we will never end the cycle of abortion unless 

women reconnect sex with marriage and children in our culture.

We need to do this work: to spread the truth in love,

and take appropriate action.

WSFT Gatherings

Women Speak For Themselves is a national grassroots movement empowering women to speak in media, local communities and online, about how women are disadvantaged respecting dating and marriage, especially because of contraception and abortion, and about how to reconnect sex with marriage and children for the good of all people.

Last month, WSFT held our third annual training, where 25 women from across the US were selected to learn how to “speak for themselves” in the media. Trainees spent two days learning the ins-and-outs of radio and television interviews, public speaking, social media and getting published as a journalist.

As promised, WSFT is making the materials from our 2017 media training accessible to you. 

Here they are!

We hope you will use these materials to speak for yourself in your own community. We need you to raise your voice to reconnect sex with marriage and kids for the good of women, children and everybody. 

Media is moving faster than ever, and pro-life, sexually-sane women must join the conversation. There are so many people who would not hear this message...but for you.  Now that you have the tools, what is stopping you? 

Website: womenspeakforthemselves.com

Now Accepting Applications for WSFT Spokeswomen!‏

from Helen Alvare
Women Speak for Themselves

Last year WSFT hosted our first Spokeswoman training, and it was a HUGE success. To get a flavor of the “who” and the “why” of our training, take a look at our cool new video below!

The weekend empowered these women to speak more courageously and confidently about issues affecting women and our religious freedom. With assistance from WSFT staff, they have been able to speak, write, and organize more effectively for local rallies and news sources.

Does this sound like something you have been wanting to do? You’re in luck! WSFT is taking applications for our second year!

I’m looking for 20 women,

- distributed across the nation
- of various faith backgrounds
- of any political party or none
- of different ages and backgrounds (described more below)

Who are willing to spend time with me and a few other experienced speakers and writers for about 2 days this Winter, to take up the work of being trained to be more media-effective WOMEN WHO SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. We’re gathering funders now to pay for this training, so you won’t have to.

The following topics are the type of content we are looking for this year, if you fall into any of these categories please fill out our application by clicking on the button below.

• Non-profit executives or employees who object to the government reaching into their non-profit and telling them to cover conscience-violating services.
• Employees of religious employers - who can speak to their employers’ good treatment of women.
• Employees of religious employers, who can speak to the good their employer does in society or what their community would look like without the religious provider.
• Women who used birth control or potential abortifacients like the IUD or morning-after drugs, and became seriously ill.
• Women medical professionals, who have treated women who have suffered medically from birth control or potential abortifacients like the IUD or morning-after drugs.
• Women with no moral objection to contraception, but who rejected it because it affected their relationships badly.
• Women who reject artificial birth control—who can speak to how this has improved their marriage, or other areas of life.
• Woman who can speak to why she did not participate in the “birth control and non-marital sex will make you free” lifestyle.
• Women who have no moral difficulty with use of contraception but don’t see why religious entities should have to provide it. They like the leaven religious entities bring to society.
• Women who are just sick of the government focus on birth control and abortion to the exclusion of other important issues affecting women, e.g. the ability to afford to have and educate children, preserving marriage, maternity leave policies, and others you care about.
• Women who see religious voices and movements and services as a beautiful contribution to the common good/human rights.
• Woman economists or sociologists who can speak on interaction of birth control and data on women’s well being.

I can’t promise we can train everyone who might be interested. But there’s no doubt we need at least a few dozen women, willing to work on this steadily over the next year to convey the truth of the matter that THE CURRENT SO-CALLED REPRESENTATIVES OF WOMEN DO NOT SPEAK FOR ALL OF US.

Time To Speak For Ourselves

 From Helen Alvare
Women Speak for Themselves

Yesterday, Planned Parenthood tweeted a video of their president Cecile Richards, highlighting what they think #WhatWomenNeed for Valentine's Day. As you can see from the screen shot included here, Planned Parenthood continues to claim to speak for all women. And unsurprisingly, they continue to think women need more abortion and more birth control.

 

One of our WSFT members emailed me (THANKS so much, Mary!), suggesting that we respond to Cecile with pictures of ourselves saying what women REALLY need. So, let's speak for ourselves....as pro-life, pro-religious liberty women...how about it?! 

 

Here's the plan:

 

1) Take a picture of yourself holding a sign that says:
 

#WhatWomenNeed Fill in the blank

 

Ideas include i.e Love; Commitment; Meaningful relationships, not just empty sex; Better maternity benefits; Less interference with how they raise their children; Religious Freedom, etc. 

 

2) Send us a copy of your picture Helen@chiaroscuroInstitute.org or to our Facebook Page.

 

3) We'll post the picture on our Facebook page, and we encourage you to post your picture on your page, too! Also, if you tweet your photo out, please add us to your tweet @womenspeak2012

 

 Let's show social media the beautiful faces of pro-life women!! 

Meet The Little Sisters Of The Poor - This is What Sexual Expressionism Wants to Squash!

From Helen Alvare

I don’t want you to watch this video just because it will make both of us cry.

 I want you to watch it because it sums up visually we’ve been saying with words for months – that it’s beyond ridiculous for any government to believe that women care more about free birth control than they care about upholding the very meaning of life: to serve one another in love, in everything we do, at work and at home.

Here in this video are WOMEN religious, the Little Sisters of the Poor, doing incredible work for the elderly and poor … providing a loving presence, health care, even “home”… up to the moment their earthly lives end.  “In this home, nobody dies alone,” says the director of nursing.  We give the “look of love” to every single person, says the director, Sister Mary Bernard.

      

And this, THIS is what sexual expressionism wants to squash?

The Little Sisters of the Poor do not meet the Obama Administration’s criteria for a “religious institution.” So the sisters have a choice—go against their beliefs and obey the Mandate, or pay fines which would put them out of business. The HHS mandate, billed as a boon for women, would crush the work of these WOMEN, who are caring mostly for other women (given women’s longevity), as well as men.  Crush it why?  So Sandra Fluke and other women nowhere near the poverty line can get birth control for 20-50 dollars less per month than they’re paying now? (For poor women, the government provides free birth control via myriad programs. See this excerpt of a law article I wrote.)

What about the right to die with dignity? To be given the “look of love” to the very end?

Thankfully, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sued on behalf of the Little Sisters of the Poor. And it’s looking likely that the Supreme Court will soon take up the constitutional and statutory religious freedom claims raised by the mandate.

Last week, the Obama Administration asked the Supreme Court to review the 10^th Circuit’s injunction granted to Hobby Lobby, freeing them from any responsibility to comply with the Mandate. Separately, the Alliance Defending Freedom asked the Supreme Court to review a 3^rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision which ruled against Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Mennonite owned company in Pennsylvania. The conflict between Circuits regarding the religious freedom of for-profit companies makes it likely SCOTUS will take up one or both of the cases. Arguments would be heard during this next SCOTUS session and a ruling would be handed-down by late June 2014.

Remember in the meantime, when you have a chance before the Jan. 1, 2014 implementation date for the Mandate, Please:

1.  Contact your federal representatives about voting for H.R. 940; S. 1204. It’s a long shot, but if we expect our representatives to stick our necks out for us, we have to continue helping them too.

 Use this link to contact your federal representatives http://www.usa.gov

2. Send this video around to as many friends as you can;  and tell people that THIS is what’s at stake with the Mandate: free birth control versus the freedom to love and serve elderly and sick WOMEN and men the way religious social services do all over the United States. Tell them that WOMEN care more about the lives who have been entrusted to us, than we care about “free” birth control.

I know it’s been a long haul. Thanks for whatever you can do.

 The Little Sisters of the Poor are an international Roman Catholic Congregation of women Religious founded in 1839 by St. Jeanne Jugan. They operate homes in 31 countries, where they provide loving care for over 13,000 needy elderly persons.

Although the Little Sisters' homes perform a religious ministry of caring for the elderly poor, they do not fall within the government's narrow exemption for "religious employers." Accordingly, beginning on January 1, the Little Sisters will face IRS fines unless they violate their religion by hiring an insurer to provide their employees with contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs.


 For more information, visit http://www.becketfund.org/littlesisters/

Please contact your federal representatives and ask them to support  H.R. 940 and S. 1204.   Do it today and ask your family and friends to do the same.

AUGUST 1....A SMALL BUT SIGNIFICANT DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE MANDATE

From Helen M. Alvaré JD
Associate Professor of Law
George Mason University (VA)*

It’s time to make some intelligent noise here in DC, across the street from the White House.

Women Speak for Themselves has obtained a permit to occupy the famous Lafayette Park, August 1 (yes, in three weeks…), in order to speak out against the HHS Mandate imposing contraception and early abortion insurance upon religious institutions and individuals.

 I know the deadline for the mandate has been extended to January 1, 2014. But it’s Summertime, and many of us have the flexibility to spend a day (the former deadline day) here in DC at a brief (one hour) rally, from 11:30-12:30 pm.

We will do several things:

1. Carry signs and hear a series of brief (2 minute) speeches against the Mandate. I assume these will have two themes, corresponding to the different women we have in our group: a) that women care for religious freedom…its loss will have real consequences for us! And b) that many women are uncomfortable or worse with government pushing the simplistic and often harmful agenda that contraception is the pinnacle of women’s freedom and equality.

2. TELL THE PRESS IN ADVANCE TO COME SEE THAT MANY WOMEN CONTEST THE CLAIM OF SOME WOMEN (Rep. Pelosi, Secretary Sebelius) TO SPEAK FOR ALL WOMEN.

3. Speak to any members of the public/DC tourists who walk by and give them our letter.

4. Walk a contingent over to HHS and/or V.P. Biden’s (America’s most highly placed Catholic!!) office (I’m trying to secure appointments with both offices), and deliver our nearly 41,000 signatures.

So usually I am asking you to do LOCAL stuff.  This time, I want you to come to D.C. if you can.

I only need about 150-200 women, because that’s what I told the Park Service.

But I REALLY need you!

I also need:
          
 1. Hand-made signs (We will have some printed in advance,…but we need more). Nothing on sticks; it's forbidden.  I will send suggested messages if you want to use them,  later in July.

2. I NEED A NURSE WHO CAN DO FIRST AID AT THE RALLY (Park Service requires)

3. I need about 15 women to give two-minute testimonies re either topic pertaining to the mandate. Email me if you would like to. I would need to see them in advance please!

4. A volunteer to video so we can put on our website.

 5.  Women ready to chat with any reporters in advance or during.

 6.  Five women who will “marshall,” i.e. help keep crowd orderly and know what to do in case of quick evacuation.

I’m trying to keep this “simple” but effective, intelligent, FEMALE and press-worthy.
Will you help?
 
For more information on this group, follow one of the links listed below.

http://womenspeakforthemselves.com/

https://www.facebook.com/WomenSpeakForThemselves

https://twitter.com/womenspeak2012

Women Speak for Themselves Talking Points for June 13, 2013

The Government proposed two so-called“ compromises,” but neither one gave adequate religious freedom protection.

• The first “compromise” merely extended the date of enforcement for religious organizations. In effect, religious organizations were given one year to figure out how they were going to violate their consciences.

• The second “compromise” very narrowly expanded the definition of a religious organization, but is nearly coextensive with the first regulation. Religious organizations which exist to spread the faith (i.e. Churches)--when they also do things like serve the poor or educate kids in a religious school--may have the exemption for those ministries as well as the Church itself. Religious institutions who are considered as not being primarily in the business of spreading the faith--likely hospitals, schools, charities, etc.--can have an exemption after a complicated "self-certification" procedure, but their employees, the employees’ daughters (including minors), and students, will get free contraception and “education”-- under separate policies issued directly by the insurance company with whom the employer contracts. 

continue reading here


 Helen Alvaré is a co-author of the open letter Women Speak For Themselves. She is an Associate Professor of Law at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia, where she teaches and writes in the areas of family law and law and religion. She is a consultor to Pope Benedict XVI’s Pontifical Council for the Laity, a consultant for ABCNews, and the Chair of the Conscience Protection Task Force at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. She co-authored and edited the book, Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak For Themselves, to be released September 20, 2012. Professor Alvaré received her law degree from Cornell University and her master’s in systematic theology from the Catholic University of America. 

Kim Daniels is a co-author of the open letter Women Speak For Themselves. She is the coordinator for Catholic Voices USA, a lay effort to increase the presence of well-catechized Catholics in the public square. She is an attorney whose practice has focused on religious liberty issues, particularly rights of conscience in health care. She is also a co-author of Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak For Themselves. Kim and her husband have six school-age children and are active members of their parish in Bethesda, Maryland. She is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Chicago Law School.

 Use this link for more info on this group