Reproductive Health and Voter Registration in Hazard

While our Economic Justice committee and state wide members were raising their voices (and yard sale prices!) for fairer taxes and a balanced budget at the Capitol today, high schoolers in Hazard were learning and talking about their reproductive health, most for the very first time.  While attending the first ever East Kentucky Reproductive Health Fair, over half a dozen 17 and 18 year olds registered to vote at our Perry County KFTC booth, taking the first step in adding their voices to our region, state and country's future.  One Hazard High School 16 year old even volunteered to help register others this summer, since she could not register herself! 

Keeping with the theme of the fair, we distributed almost 50 fact sheets on the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining and talked with folks about the recent health studies examining increased birth defects and cancers in our region. 

The health fair was sponsored collaboratively by the East Kentucky Reproductive Health Project (EKRHP) and the HCTC Diversity Club.  Perry Chapter member and HCTC professor, Jenny Williams helped to navigate the students through the fair and breakout sessions and welcomed them to explore, share, and learn.   

Issues of reproductive health don't exactly frequent the classrooms of public schools in east Kentucky and elsewhere, so today's discussions, whether assisting a power point or just between friends, were steps in the right direction.  One breakout session with EKRHP screened a film by the Appalachian Media Institute, Every Six Days, exploring teen pregnancy and the incidence of teens becoming pregnant in Letcher County.  Another session by the Kentucky Health Justice Network described reproductive life planning and Planned Parenthood distributed over 500 condoms by the end of the day.   Among several others, our friends at the Kentucky Environmental Foundation were also there with information about water and air quality, as well as the health impacts of various energy production methods and toxins from products we use everyday.