WOMEN'S HEALTHCARE, CENSORSHIP, AND THE LIBRARY: PROBLEMS, ISSUES, QUESTIONS

Abstract

Censorship of information dealing with women's reproductive health, birth control, abortion, and other family planning issues is widespread in the U.S. and abroad. Even in highly industrialized nations where women seemingly have access to a range of healthcare choices, subtle censorship of information regarding birth control, abortion, sexuality, and other issues prevent women from accessing thorough, current, accurate, and unbiased information about these subject areas. In many parts of the world, censorship is overt and woman and girls lack access to even basic information about their bodies, sexuality, and family planning. This paper will explore various contemporary and historical examples of the censorship of information about reproductive heath and family planning. Such examples include, but are not limited to, the following: the censorship of Margaret Sanger and other pioneers of women's healthcare and birth control; the challenges faced by women attempting to produce culture- or nation-specific editions of books like Our Bodies, Ourselves (published in the U.S. by the Boston Women's Health Book Collective); the misinformation and propaganda surrounding the FDA approval of RU 486, the so-called abortion pill; and the global gag rule whereby U.S. family planning assistance is denied to international organizations that provide information about abortion services or perform abortions (even if they are funded by other, non-US sources). The role of libraries in providing access to information about family planning, women's health, and related issues is somewhat unclear at this time. Though libraries in the United States and abroad are often advocates for free access to information of all kinds, the political and social implications of women's reproductive health issues can make such advocacy difficult if not impossible. Because family planning and reproductive health issues are influenced by social, cultural, political, and religious factors, libraries, which hope to provide access to information in these areas will face significant challenges and risks. This paper will consider the extent to which libraries are meeting women's information needs in these areas. The essay will examine possible roles libraries can and should play in the fight to provide healthcare information to women and girls all over the world. A commitment to providing access to controversial information is not without consequence (consider, in the U.S., the threat to cut federal funding to libraries that do not use Internet filters -most of which prevent access to information about birth control, abortion, and related topics). Family Planning, Censorship, and the Library will explore the risks libraries and librarians face in providing women with access to controversial information. Finally, the paper will also discuss the part library associations, such as IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) and ALA (American Library Association), might play in providing women world-wide with much-needed information and in combating all kinds of censorship in these subject areas.