Water Babies: Coming to Terms with Abortion

Thursday, June 7, 2007
7 - 9:00 pm
Kearny Street Workshop
180 Capp Street #5

Screening of film trailer "Water Babies: Coming to Terms with Abortion" by Lina Hoshino
followed by Panel Discussion facilitated by Rev. Deborah Lee featuring

Lina Hoshino, filmmaker of "Water Babies: Coming to Terms with Abortion"
Maria Nakae, Alliance Building Coordinator, Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice
Talia Walsmith, Exhale

Abortion is a critical issue for API women. Thirty-five percent of pregnancies end in abortion for API women, compared to 18% for white women, representing the second highest percentage for all racial and ethnic groups. In addition, from 1994 to 2000, abortion rates fell for all groups except API women. Yet Asian perspectives - and the cultural stigma and issues particular to API communities - are rarely heard in the heated public debate on reproductive rights.

Abortion itself is both intensely personal and intensively politicized. It brings political and moral judgment to bear on painfully intimate personal choices -- judgment that can prevent women from making the best decisions for themselves and from coping with their experiences in healthy ways.

Come join us at KSW and learn about the Japanese ritual of addressing the experience of abortion, the API reproductive justice movement today, and Exhale, a Bay Area hotline and counseling service for women who have abortions.

Lina will talk about her new documentary about the Japanese "water baby" ritual of consecrating the spirit of the unformed child to the protection of a Jizo bodhisattva.

Mariawill give a brief overview of today's reproductive justice movement, which places the reproductive health and rights of women and girls within a social justice framework. She will discuss how the politicization and stigma around abortion silences the voices of women who are most impacted, and how the reproductive justice movement works to address the real needs of women and support their well-being by allowing for the complexities of people's beliefs and lived experiences around issues of abortion. Finally, she will share ACRJ's experience of working with young Asian women to explore their own values and opinions around abortion, and their efforts to fight for the self-determination of young women in their communities.

Talia will talk about Exhale, an organization whose mission is to create a social climate where each person's unique experience with abortion is supported, respected and free from stigma. Exhale operates the nation's first free, nonjudgmental after-abortion talkline which provides emotional support, resources and information to women and girls who have had abortions and to their partners, friends, allies and family members. The talkline is available in six languages, seven day a week. Talia will discuss Exhale's services and the various healing rituals and self-care options their talkline callers have found useful for post-abortion emotional health and well-being.

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Panelists Bio

Lina Hoshino Many Threads Lina Hoshino is a filmmaker and new media designer whose films, including the award winning Story of Margo, In God's House: Asian American Lesbian and Gay Families in the Church and Caught in Between: What to Call Home in Times of War screened internationally in many film festivals. As a co-founder of Many Threads and Tactile Pictures, Lina has led creative and design efforts for many community organizations. Her mother is from Taiwan and her father is from Japan. Lina was born in the U.S. grew up living in the U.S., Japan, and France. She studied painting and sculpture at Carnegie Mellon University.

Rev. Deborah Lee PANA Institute of Pacific School of Religion Deborah Lee is program director of the PANA Institute (Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific Asian North American Religion) at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley and coordinator of the Civil Liberty and Faith project. She is a minister in the United Church of Christ.

Maria Nakae Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice Maria Nakae is the Alliance Building Coordinator and a New Voices Fellow at Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice (ACRJ). Her work at ACRJ focuses on building alliances, conducting trainings, and developing tools and resources to advance the reproductive justice movement. Prior to joining ACRJ, Maria worked with community- and school-based programs to increase access to reproductive health services for youth in immigrant communities and communities of color. She holds a BA in Psychology from New York University and a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley.

Talia Walsmith Exhale Talia Walsmith started at Exhale in 2002 as a volunteer after-abortion counselor and served on Exhale's Board of Directors from 2004-2006. Currently, Talia coordinates the day-to-day operations of Exhale's programs which include the nation's first nonjudgmental post-abortion talkline, regional trainings for health care providers, and Exhale's bilingual abortion zine. Prior to joining Exhale, Talia served as administrative staff for the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network and as Associate Clinic Manager at the Women's Community Clinic in San Francisco. She is currently getting her Masters in Women's Spirituality at New College of California.