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Ask Emma! Answers-Emma Goldman Clinic | |
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Any health information contained in this service is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Nothing contained should be used for medical diagnosis or treatment. If you have an urgent medical problem call 911 or contact your health care provider.
Who founded the Emma Goldman Clinic, and why is it in Iowa? Well, the reason that the Emma Goldman Clinic is in Iowa City is because that's where all of the founding mothers lived at the time. in 1971 several women who had met at the University of Iowa started an abortion referral service. They would help women find legal abortion in New York or California, the only places in the United States where abortion was legal at the time. They would also occasionally find women places they could be seen outside of the country, or to underground abortion providers. On September 1, 1973, less than 9 months after the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, they opened the Emma Goldman Clinic here in Iowa City. In 1974 the Emma Goldman Clinic started a stipend position for women who wanted to open clinics in other parts of the country. That lead to the opening of abortion clinics in Cedar Rapids and Ames, Iowa.
Right now the only places that you can get
any of our publications is at the clinic or here on our website.
Follow this link, which will take you to the "Emma Store".
There you can buy the "Celebrating Thirty Years" booklet for $5 as well
as our other products no matter where you live.
In the early 1970's there was a group of women in Iowa City who ran an abortion referral service. In a time when abortion was still illegal, they would help women find places where they could get abortions, and help them raise funds to get the procedure done. They mostly referred to places in New York and California, who legalized abortion before the rest of the United States, but they also sometimes referred women out of the country. Very soon after the Roe vs. Wade decision was made on January 23, 1973 those women started working to set up an abortion clinic here in Iowa City. The Emma Goldman Clinic opened on September 1, 1973, less than 9 months after abortion became legal. It was the first women owned and operated health care center in the Midwest and the first out-patient abortion clinic in Iowa. The clinic was named for Emma Goldman, a nurse, anarchist, and cultural lecturer. Emma Goldman spoke on many social causes including women's rights and the rights to birth control and abortion. The women who founded the clinic also thought it was cool that J. Edgar Hoover (who ran the FBI in the 1970's) once called Emma Goldman "the most dangerous woman in America" because of her speeches and political leanings.
Emma Goldman died in 1940, so she was not
a part of the founding of the Emma Goldman Clinic, but in recognition of
her challenging spirit, the clinic was named after her.
"Is there anything like the Emma Goldman Clinic in Washington state?"
The Emma Goldman Clinic is an independent
clinic, with no other branches. If you are looking for an abortion
providers in your area, a great reference is the website for the
National Abortion Federation,
www.prochoice.org. (Click on the "Are you pregnant?" link at the top
of the page, then the next place you are taken to has a link titled "how
can I find a provider near me?".) Many of these clinics also have
gynecological services.
I think, technically speaking, we don't as
much get our books "published" as "printed". When we have something we
need printed, we just send it to a local printer. When we get them
printed, we then do the publicizing for it, and distribute it ourselves.
(Real "publishing" usually involves having a publishing house take your
book, then they do all the printing, publicizing, and
selling/distributing.) If you're looking to go more our route for
getting your book published, you should talk with local printers on the
cost for producing your book. (I imagine that you would probably get a
better deal with a local printer, than if you tried to get our printer
here in Iowa City to print it and then mail it to you.) I know in our
experience, that you get a better deal if you format the book into its
final form yourself, using computer programs like InDesign or Pagemaker
for instance, rather than handing them a manuscript. If you have them do
the formatting, they will charge you extra for that. Good Luck
"Do I have to get a physical exam before I get any form of birth control? If you would like to go on hormonal birth control (pill, patch, ring, Depo, and the hormonal IUD), you do have to have an annual exam. Along with a pap smear, a pelvic exam, and often a breast exam and urinalysis, this is most women's physical for the year so they often will check blood pressure and your breathing and heart rate. If you choose to have the copper IUD, it is generally recommended that you go in for an annual exam, because besides checking in on the other factors, they want to make sure the IUD is still placed correctly. If you want to get a diaphragm or cervical cap, you have to go to a physician to get fitted for those. They come in varying sizes, and for maximum effectiveness, you need one that fits you properly. It is generally recommended that you get annual exams with those methods as well, and bringing it in with you, so they can make sure it still fits properly. If you choose to use over-the-counter contraceptives such as condoms, spermicides, or the sponge, you technically don't have to get an annual exam, since you don't need a prescription for those birth control methods. However, it is a good idea to get annual exams every year, because the pap smear can be a life saving cancer screening. It's also good to check in with a physician on a regular basis, just to make sure you're doing ok.
At the Emma Goldman Clinic, our fees are
on a sliding scale for all of our services. We also have some special
rates for teens and full-time students. We accept insurance, and we are
a preferred provider with Blue Cross/Wellmark. If you would like to make
an appointment with us, or have any questions about our fees or services
call us at 319-337-2111 or toll-free at 1800-848-7684.
"Do you perform
blood tests at the clinic?"
Yes. We have a wide range of tests that we
can do. Call the clinic if you have a specific test you are asking
about. Our phone number is 319-337-2111 or toll-free 1800-848-7684.
"How old are you?"
The Emma Goldman Clinic was founded in
1973, only 9 months after the Roe vs. Wade decision. In 2003 we had a
big 30th anniversary celebration, with a performance by Margaret Cho,
and a birthday party bringing together current and former staff.
"How much does an abortion cost?"
Of course, every clinic will have
different pricing. At the Emma Goldman Clinic we have a sliding scale
for abortion fees (and gynecology too). It depends on the length of the
pregnancy (which is determined by the first day of your last menstrual
period, so make sure you have that info when you call), your annual
household income, and your access to insurance and Medicaid/Title XIX.
To determine what fee you would have coming in, call the clinic and they
can go over all this with you. The phone number at the Emma Goldman
Clinic is 319-337-2111 or toll-free at 1800-848-7684.
"Do you give out free
birth control?
When women are seen here for an exam or an
abortion we can usually give out some samples of birth control. We only
have samples of what the drug companies give us, so we don't have every
kind of birth control out there. We can also usually give a handful of
condoms to clients as well. (We also have the best deal on condoms in
town at 8 for $1.) Hormonal birth control is a prescription medication,
so we cannot give free samples to anyone who hasn't been seen at the
clinic.
"Hi, I want to ask you something for my
school paper. Did Emma ever get a statue? When, and where is it?"
As far as any staff here knows, there are
no statues of Emma Goldman anywhere. A good place to go for anything
about Emma Goldman is
the Emma Goldman Papers. This
website has an amazing amount of history on Emma. You can also try the
website for
the PBS show American Experience.
Last year they did an episode about Emma Goldman. I don't know if they'd
have anything about any statues, but it has a lot of good information.
The Emma Goldman Clinic is a unique place.
We are an independent clinic with only our Iowa City location. What
other options you have in the Cedar Rapids area would depend on what
services you are looking for. I think your best resource is your local
yellow pages. You could find other clinics listed under, for instance,
"gynecology", "abortion", and sometimes there's a "birth control"
listing. You can also call the clinic and we have lists of some other
clinics in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area.
"What process would I have to go
through to get birth control from your clinic"
For our practitioners to give you a
prescription for birth control you will have to get a yearly exam, which
includes a pap smear. We have a sliding scale to determine the price of
all of our services, and to determine what you would have to pay you
need to call the clinic at 319-337-2111 or 1800-848-7684. During that
exam we will go over your medical history to make sure you don't have
any condition that would prevent you from being on birth control. After
the exam we can write you a prescription for the birth control that you
can take to any pharmacy. Sometimes we are able to give out samples, but
that depends on what we have available. Since we do not have a
pharmacist here at the clinic we cannot sell prescriptions. At the time
of your exam we give you a prescription for 2 months of birth control.
After 2 months you return so we can check your blood pressure, and if
it's normal, we can give you the prescription for the rest of the year.
"What made you start to give speeches?" The Emma Goldman Clinic has had an active speakers bureau for its whole existence. Even before the clinic opened the founding mothers would give presentations on cervical self-exams, breast self-exams, and birth control counseling. Some of the money needed to open the clinic in 1973 came from fees from speaking engagements.
We continue our speakers bureau, because
part of our mission is to educate and empower people.
If you
would like to read more about our speakers bureau, or see a sample list
of possible topics click here.
"How far along do you have to be to have a surgical abortion?"
At the Emma Goldman Clinic (and of course,
this could be different at other clinics) a woman has to be at least 3
weeks from the first day of her last menstrual period, which would be
about 1 week since she became pregnant. She also has to have a positive
pregnancy test. At the Emma Goldman Clinic, 52% of abortions in 2004
took place between 3 and 5 weeks from the last period.
"Who were the people who spoke negatively about you? What did they say?"
Due to the controversy surrounding
abortion in this country, we can always count on people occasionally
having negative things to say about the Emma Goldman Clinic and our
services. The most common negative feedback that we receive is from
anti-choice individuals who do not believe that women should have access
to abortion services.
Without other information, it would not be prudent to guess a
diagnosis. I would suggest you ask this question of the Emma Goldman
Papers, an archive of her life and writings housed at the University of
California at Berkley. They can be reached at:
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/ or emma(AT)berkeley.edu
(510) 642-4708
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