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5 Ensuring Access to Comprehensive Reproductive Health Information and Services When the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation began to make grants in this field in 1983, the Reagan Administration had started to enact policies aimed at limiting women's access to family planning services. These actions represented a sharp and sudden departure from the policies of the past. In the early 1970's, different branches of government had taken a variety of steps to ensure that women had the ability to control their reproductive lives. Most important among these initiatives was the enactment in 1970 of Title X of the Public Health Service Act, which made funds available for poor women to obtain family planning services. Then in 1973, in Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme Court recognized that the act of making childbearing choices is protected against government interference by the Fourteenth Amendment's privacy protections. Therefore, most statutes criminalizing abortion were invalidated. Together, these historic events formed the basis for the development of programs that gave women of all income levels the ability to decide when and whether to have children. In 1983, the political winds shifted. Programs were curtailed, the reproductive health care delivery system began to unravel, the Executive Branch implemented regulations that made service delivery more difficult, and pressure was successfully applied to members of Congress by right-wing advocates to reduce funding for Title X. More importantly, between 1985 and 1992, opponents of family planning services and abortion began to contest the legitimacy of such services in the courts. A number of cases, including Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, Rust v. Sullivan, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, were argued before a Supreme Court that had become increasingly conservative. The decisions rendered in these cases undermined statutory and constitutional guarantees that were thought to have been established, and signaled the Court's willingness to permit the states to limit women's access to comprehensive reproductive health services. Since the Casey decision was rendered in 1992, there has been no further erosion of rights at the Supreme Court level. However, pro-life activists, frustrated by their inability to achieve an outright ban on abortion, have brought hundreds of cases at the state and local levels, further burdening a woman's right to choose abortion. In addition, extremists have brought increasing pressure on doctors, clinics, and insurers to drastically reduce, if not eliminate, the availability of the service. The objective of the Foundation's work in this area is to promote the development of laws, policies and practices that protect women's access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including sexuality education, contraception and abortion. The strategies employed by the Foundation's grantees to achieve this objective include the following:
6 • Evaluating and publicizing the impact of federal regulatory actions, legislative initiatives and legal decisions that have any relationship to the provision of reproductive health services; • Evaluating the impact of restrictive legislative or legal initiatives at the state level; • Forging new alliances among decision makers, service providers, and advocates around the issue of reproductive health; " Developing strategies to ensure the inclusion of reproductive health within state-level health care reform plans; " Litigating in support of policies and programs that protect reproductive rights; * Promoting the development and implementation of comprehensive sexuality education programs in the public schools; " Developing legislative initiatives, at the request of Congressional committees, designed to halt clinic harassment and violence; and • Conducting research on organizations opposed to contraception, abortion and sexuality education in order to develop strategies for combating their initiatives. The Foundation will continue to support litigation, research, policy analysis, public education and grassroots organizing to promote this agenda and ensure that women have access to comprehensive reproductive health information and services. Funds will be made available to national organizations working in these areas as well as organizations working with coalitions in individual states. In the sections that follow, grants appropriated during 1996 are described by program category. It is our expectation that within each of these fields, the collective efforts of our grantees will bring us closer to achieving the goals set forth above. April 20, 1997 Margaret C. Ayers Executive Director
Page 1 and 2: m I- Anna Rpm
Page 3 and 4: 2 Report of the Executive Director
Page 5: 4 Strengthening Cultural Institutio
Page 9 and 10: 8 Improving the Performance of Publ
Page 11 and 12: 10 Children's Rights, Inc. $80,000
Page 13 and 14: 12 City Limits $35,000 New York, Ne
Page 15 and 16: 14 Environmental Advocates $40,000
Page 17 and 18: 16 Low Income Housing Fund $40,000
Page 19 and 20: 18 New York Public Interest Researc
Page 21 and 22: 20 State Communities Aid Associatio
Page 23 and 24: 22 Strengthening Cultural Instituti
Page 25 and 26: 24 American Craft Museum New York,
Page 27 and 28: 26 City Center $50,000 New York, Ne
Page 29 and 30: 28 Early Music Foundation $30,000 N
Page 31 and 32: 30 Irish Repertory Theater $15,000
Page 33 and 34: 32 New York Shakespeare Festival/Pu
Page 35 and 36: 34 Riverside Symphony $15,000 New Y
Page 37 and 38: 36 Grants in Support of Arts Advoca
Page 39 and 40: 38 People For the American Way $80,
Page 41 and 42: 40 Center for Reproductive Law and
Page 43 and 44: 42 National Abortion Federation Was
Page 45 and 46: 44 Planned Parenthood of Central an
Page 47 and 48: 46 Religious Coalition for Reproduc
Page 49 and 50: 48 Women's Legal Defense Fund Washi
Page 51 and 52: Financial Information
Page 53 and 54: 53 Robert Sterling Clark Foundation
Page 55 and 56: 55 Robert Sterling Clark Foundation
Page 57 and 58:
57 Note 4. Fixed Assets Property an
Page 59 and 60:
59 Elders Share the Arts ..........
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