Calling all chismosxs, we are building a sexual and repro health center in the south!

I often say I have been organizing for reproductive justice since the artist Left Eye, from TLC, wore a condom over her left eye. It was 1993. I was in the 11th grade at Albuquerque High School when a medical student from the University of New Mexico came to my high school Student Government class  and taught us about HIV and AIDS.  Then, he asked us if we wanted to educate  other high school students about HIV/AIDS prevention.  

At the time people were dying in masses from AIDS, and because it was seen as a “gay disease” the stigma and misinformation kept people uninformed and little to no funding for harm reduction existed.   This medical student from the University was so passionate about HIV and AIDS education that he volunteered his time to teach a small group of us high school students so we could teach our peers.  I didn’t realize it then, but that was an amazing organizing move: no budget, all volunteers, and all spreading public health information to our peers.  

That was 1993 and here we are 33 years later and our federal administration is attempting the same tired, ineffective, and harmful approaches.  We are once again witnessing the use of misinformation, shame, fear, and stigma to  keep critical public health information out of the hands of the people who need it the most.  

In New Mexico, you see a different picture.  Thanks to years of deep community organizing, advocacy work, and electoral engagement we have policies, programs, state Medicaid-funded services, and a political atmosphere that is solidly on the side of education and access to all the sexual and reproductive healthcare we may need across our lifetime.   

While the rest of the country is scrapping for basic access, we are building greater access through the Ocotillo Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Center!  Five partners, Bold Futures, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, New Mexico Doula Association, Strong Families, and University of New Mexico Health and Sciences Center, have teamed up to build the first of its kind, a community-driven sexual and reproductive healthcare center in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  

Of course the haters gonna hate. The idea of a center that meets the full sexual and reproductive healthcare needs of our communities is a real threat to anti-abortion, fear-mongering, stigma-hurling haters. 

We know how fast misinformation spreads so in response to anti-abortion efforts led by the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces trying to “stop the center”, we have, to date, organized outreach efforts and several Chisme Sessions across Doña Ana County. Our short-term education and awareness campaigns have successfully reached local Doña Ana County residents with accurate information about the Ocotillo Center and over 70 neighbors signed up to stay informed and to protect Ocotillo!

Chisme Sessions are a fun way to connect and build power in our own communities.   In the Chisme Sessions we asked participants questions to hear their perspectives, what we learned in the sessions was inspiring, so we are calling on all chismosxs to click, read, and share our report Engaging Rural Communities on Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Healthcare to learn more and help spread the chisme! 

Image of data graph taken from the Strong Families Report: Engaging Rural Communities on Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Healthcare.

We will continue spreading the good word, and all the juicy chisme.  Here is a detailed report with key findings from a second round of our Chisme Sessions.  

Your fellow chismosa,

Adriann Barboa

Strong Families