CHICAGO METRO HISTORY FAIR 2013 SUMMARY STATEMENT FORM

Please TYPE on sheet or use word processing ALL PROJECTS: Attach an annotated bibliography. Please divide primary and secondary sources from each other. Two copies of SSF & Annotated Bibliography are required for competitions. .

Title : The Health Evaluation and Referral Service (HERS) Student name(s) Aneta Przywara Project Category: Group Individual Exhibit
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Check if applicable (and respond to the 3 question): This project uses the 2013 National History Day theme, Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events

1. THESIS STATEMENT Present the projects argument or interpretation in two sentences. If you are using the NHD theme, you might want to make it evident in your thesis statement. During the Chicago Womens Liberation Union, healthcare was a big focus, and in 1973, after Roe vs. Wade, there was an ongoing of abortion clinics forming. In that year, the Health Evaluation and Referral Service was founded and it dealt with assisting women, in Chicago, by providing them with dependable physicians and giving them the rights and safety that women fought for which created a turning point for womens rights and their empowerment.

2. SUMMARY OF PROJECT Briefly explain your project and its conclusion. Include: How and why did change happen and what was the impact? Why is it historically significant? What historical meaning or importance can we learn from your findings? I started out with researching about The Chicago Womens Liberation Union (1969-1977) which was founded by women from the Civil Rights movement to provide women with services. Abortion was a big part of the CWLU and before it was legalized, in 1973, there were a lot of illegal and unsafe abortions that were being committed to pregnant women who didnt have the right to choose what to do with their own body. Roe vs. Wade was the legalization of abortion. Abortion was ruled legal by the Supreme Court in 1973. There was, and still currently is, controversy on anti-choice and pro-choice. Afterwards, the Hyde amendment was passed which blocked Medicaid from covering abortion expenses for women unless they were a victim of rape, incest, of the mothers life was at risk.

The Health Evaluation & Referral Service was a clinic that helped provide women for safe abortions. It was founded in 1973 by a group of women activists. HERS wanted to help women receive safe abortions from reliable physicians despite their income or age. They expanded womens knowledge of their own body and about abortions. Change came immediately for women when abortion became legalized. Women could safely receive abortions instead of doing it illegally. In 1976, the Hyde Amendment was passed which forbid government funding of terminating pregnancies which highly affected poor women. HERS helped women find physicians and give them safe abortions despite their age and income. HERS is historically significant because it empowered womens rights and it helped inform women in Chicago about their bodies and how they should take charge no matter what others believe. To this day there are still debates on whether abortion should remain legalized, but for now women remain to keep their rights. 3. Required for projects using the National History Day theme only. Explain how this project integrates the NHD theme Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events into its argument. Abortion created a huge turning point in womens freedom and rights, as did HERS, because it changed womens view on abortions. HERS showed women that abortions can be safely done and that women do have the right to choose what to do with their own body despite the expenses and their age. With keeping women in Chicago protected from bad referrals and unsafe abortions, HERS created a turning point in the pro-choice movement because it let women make the decision they felt was best despite their ages and financial status. Legalizing abortion, on the other hand, created an even bigger turning point because women now have the right to choose. The Hyde Amendment, in a minor way, took that choice away from poor women because of the financial incapability to afford an abortion; however, clinics helped women still have that choice by helping with the funding.

4. PROCESS A. What historical question did you start off withand how did it change once you began doing your research? I started with researching the basic goals that the Health Evaluation and Referral service had and how they achieved their missions. Their goals were simple. They wanted to help women make the right choices when it came to abortions and they wanted to give women a safe option for abortions no matter their ability to pay. They also wanted to expand their list or reliable physicians and educate women about abortions and their bodies. HERS missions were achieved in two major ways. First was the information and services that HERS referred women to. These services helped women become advocated for themselves and their families. The second way of meeting their goals was that HERS promoted greater health advocacy which led to reforms. The reforms led to awareness of women issues and health care institutions. As I researched more, I found out that HERS had impacted women in a much bigger sense. They gave women the right to choose what they want to do with their body and not let the government make decisions for them because of the lack of financial support.

B. What kinds of sources did you use as evidence to develop your argument (for example, letters, photographs, government documents, interviews, etc.)? Primary documents from HERS led me to historical background information on the referral service. Also, there were documents with former HERS members which were useful for interviews. There were numerous articles from the Chicago Reporter as well as graphs and charts containing data on abortion rates during different time periods. There were graphs that displayed abortion rates throughout the years for women of different age groups. I found photographs from the internet that signified women fighting for their rights and people going against abortions.

C. Select one piece of evidence that you used and explain how it influenced your argument. One piece of evidence that helped me influence my argument was a primary document containing information of the goals that HERS strived to achieve and the ways that HERS evaluated different physicians. This document showed me, in great detail, how much safety mattered to HERS and how much they valued the law of having abortion legal. The Service took different steps when evaluating doctors and ensured that all their patients are happy with the referrals given.

D. List libraries (other than school), museums, and other institutions that you visited to do your research. Harold Washington Library Sulzer Regional Library UIC Special Collections Chicago History Museum Special Collections