CLPP 2011: Dr. Sylvia “Guy” Estrada Claudio

This guest post is part of Feministing’s collaboration with the 2011 Civil Liberties and Public Policy Conference, From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom. The conference is this weekend and Jos and Lori will be there representing Feministing and posting about the conference. Stay tuned for more!

With activists around the country focused on recent attacks on reproductive rights, more than 1,000 community activists, students and national and international leaders will gather in one week to build new strategies for reproductive justice and social change.  Join us at CLPP’s 30^th Anniversary conference, From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom, on April 8-10, 2011 in Amherst, MA.  You can register now!

One of the international leaders joining us at the conference is Dr. Sylvia “Guy” Estrada Claudio. For decades, Sylvia has been working to stop dangerous population control policies and sterilization abuses while simultaneously working to secure full access to reproductive and sexual health and rights in the Philippines and globally.

Her local work has culminated in a recent statement to the Congress of the Philippines – a statement of support for HB 4244, ““An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health, and Population and Development, and for Other Purposes”.

Over 200 faculty from Ateneo de Manilla University and the University of the Philippines have signed.  Dr. Sylvia Estrada Claudio of UP adds:

“signatures have come in even after the release of our statement. Colleagues from other universities and colleges are also saying we should not have confined ourselves to UP and Ateneo.  So, we are planning to collect more signatures in the coming weeks. We will send copies to our pro-RH legislators as our statement is in support of their efforts.”

This statement affirms that HB 4244 is not a population control bill, and “in fact promotes the sexual and reproductive rights, the right to health, and the right to informed decision making of all Filipinos but especially the poor, in fulfillment of the provisions of our Constitution and our obligations under international covenants”.

At the conference this weekend, Sylvia will join Rishita Nandagiri of Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights, Rebecca Gomperts of Women on Waves and Women on Web, and CLPP’s Adjunct faculty Cora Fernandez Anderson in a workshop on Abortion Access Internationally.   All are activists working globally, some in countries where abortion is criminalized.  These creative and courageous activists will discuss how to provide access and advocate for abortion as a human right.

Sylvia is one of fifteen activists and performers opening the conference in the Saturday morning plenary, Speaking Out for Reproductive Freedom, and she will speak in the closing plenary, Bringing the Revolution Home.  All are invited to join in this discussion on how we can wage peace at home and work across movements to rebuild community and realign national priorities. Together we will build a vision for the future of our movements, and map out how we can work together to achieve reproductive justice in our own communities.

Register here for the conference!

Written by the CLPP Conference Organizers