Guard Us All? Immigrant Women & the HPV Vaccine

April 15, 2009

March 24, 2009 – “Guard Us All? Immigrant Women and the HPV Vaccine” is a new radio program that explores the intersections of reproductive justice and immigrant human rights. On this edition of Making Contact, we partner with organizations in the reproductive justice movement to explore an HPV vaccination that’s at the center of these issues.

Gardasil is a controversial vaccine that is at the intersection of immigrant rights and reproductive justice organizing. Following FDA approval, controversy has surrounded the vaccine. Its safety and effectiveness have been questioned, and the requirement that immigrant women take the vaccine has come to the forefront of both immigrant rights and reproductive justice organizing. Advocacy groups have also put this new vaccination requirement into a historical context. They argue that this vaccine is a new chapter in a history of reproductive oppression that targets women of color and immigrant women.

In this half-hour program, we hear the first-person stories of women who have been affected by this vaccination requirement and histories of sterilization. And we hear from activists, doctors, and attorneys about their opinion of the vaccine and the requirement on immigrant women. The program was officially released on April 1, 2009.

Making Contact, produced by the National Radio Project, is broadcast on over 200 radio stations around the country. Over 1500 people subscribe to our weekly podcast. To listen to “Guard Us All? Immigrant Women and the HPV Vaccine” go to our website www.radioproject.org or tune in on your local radio station. Check our Making Contact program archives for other programs in our reproductive justice series at www.radioproject.org/archive.

In conjunction with the National Week of Action for Reproductive Justice (April 16th-23rd), we encourage using this program as an educational tool.

This free program is available at www.radioproject.org/archive/2009/1309.html

CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Elena Botkin-Levy
Making Contact, a production
of the National Radio Project
215-518-0744
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www.radioproject.org