Carla's rant

[Guest guest]

Carla,

My heart goes out to you. I don't blame you for ranting. We should all

remember that you are doing a fantastic job for us under almost impossible

conditions. It has reminded me to make another donation to NUFF, it is a

while since I did. It is not much to offer, I know, except it might keep

the NUFF phone and fax in action for a day.

As far as the women's health organisations go, I have had exactly the same

experiences with them here in Germany. It is not that abortion is their

hobby horse here, it is just that fibroids definitely are not. And

additionally they feel very threatened by someone like me who they perceive

as " trying to get on their patch " , especially someone who can read research

in English and is as well informed as I am (thanks in most part to you,

Leonie, Pat and many others on this group). I had two discussions with

members of a government funded group that are supposed to " faciliate " the

work of people like me. Both were female gynaecologists, one just shrugged

her shoulders at the mention of unecessary hysterectomies, one said " oh but

my fibroid patients don't have any problems " and " all my patients who have

had hysterectomies say it was the best thing they ever did " .

In Barbara Seamans book about hormones, she talks about an incident at the

pill hearings where some young women protested and were hauled from the

room (in front of cameras etc), one was pregnant. She said that every

movement needs their " radicals " , to get public attention. Thent the

" moderates " move in. I don't know how we are going to do this for fibroids.

Get people to bleed all over the seats somewhere, expose their grotesquely

misshapen fibroid stomachs? They'd probably just get hauled off to the

nearest psychiatric unit.

Keep going Carla, we need you. It seems hard right now, but we will get

there in the end.

Love from

At 01:18 30.10.03 +0000, you wrote:

>National Organization of Women. Why is it that their position on female

>reproductive issues begins and ends with abortion? I've tried to have

>conversations with a number of key figures within NOW on this matter and

>have been put off, time and again. I sincerely wish they'd back up and

>view the big picture here -- a picture which includes the financial,

>medical, and patriarchal abuses of surgically removing literally

>millions of women's uteri every year in this nation unnecessarily.

>Often, without appropriate informed consent on ALL the currently

>available treatment options. And now I see NOW involved in the issue of

>silicone breast implants and am wondering where in this line do women

>with reproductive disease fall? Or, were we ever in line for

>recognition at all?