Widening our base, incorporating future leaders.

PERCEPTION AND UNDERSTANDING OF abortion rights as it relates to human rights have been distorted by the far right. The message of the prochoice movement is stale and simply outdated--leaving room for one of the most callous antichoice debates of our time. To fuel the prochoice movement we need a message that embodies the spirit of every woman and girl.

In the late 1960s prochoice to many meant pro-abortion. In 2004 prochoice means choosing whether or not to have sex; and having access to safe, affordable and equitable healthcare and health education. The definition of being prochoice has broadened and new voices are emerging. In Georgia, an entire generation of young movers and shakers have adopted the premise of Roe and re-dedicated themselves to preserving the right to safe, legal and affordable abortion.

For many women, abortion is not the pivotal reproductive health issue. We need more than the formal legal right to an abortion: women and girls must have access to and information about the full range of contraceptive options (before even considering sex) to better prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. We need access to affordable--or free--prenatal care and we must begin to address the cultural and linguistic barriers that face many women in the US.

The prochoice movement must do everything possible to make this a reality. In the south, particularly here in Georgia, we are on the frontlines of making that change. Through a coalition of nearly 35 local and statewide prochoice organizations we are making huge strides in expanding the message to reflect the needs of all women with a particular focus on poor women.

In June 1999, the NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia Foundation established the Women of Color Leadership Program (WOCLP) to recruit minority women to effectively reposition and lead the prochoice movement. We found promoting an agenda that reflects the needs and concerns of all women regardless of age, race, ethnicity or economic status makes the prochoice message compelling to many who normally would not identify with being prochoice.

True reproductive freedom can only be achieved through the actions of an informed and diverse people. On a national level, the prochoice community has the ability to construct a social agenda that reflects the needs of all women in the US and move prochoice arguments to the winning side of the debate. We have the ability to engage people who do not traditionally identify with the mainstream prochoice message by reframing "reproductive rights" as "human rights," a message that clearly encompasses all communities in the fight for reproductive freedom.

Working with organizations or individuals that work against all oppression creates a larger impact for change. Using national and local initiatives like the New Voices for Reproductive Justice and the Women of Color Leader ship Program, the prochoice movement will serve as a training ground for many of America's leading advocates. Programs like these work to encourage women from marginalized communities to speak out against injustice in women's reproductive health in their own communities.

We owe it to women everywhere to expand our base and constantly include new communities in our work to protect the basic human rights that we have fought for over the past 150 years--creating a more just and safer society for women and girls nationwide.

EBONY BARLEY is the director of Communications and Community Relations at NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia. In 2002, she was honored by the Active Element Foundation as one of the "Top 25 Under 30" activists in the country. An alumnus of Howard University, she is co-Chair of Georgians for Choice Religious Coalition Committee. www.garal.org