[rural NOW chapters Women in small towns across…]

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rural NOW chapters Women in small towns across the United States have been successful in setting up chapters of the National Organization for Women (NOW). One newly formed chapter is in Lancaster, a town of 30,000 people in Eastern Ohio.

Socialist Action interviewed two members of the NOW chapter in Lancaster. Vivian Dean is chapter president. Her daughter, Melissa Dean, is vice president and "founding mother" of the chapter. Excerpts from the interview conducted on Aug. 24, 1990, by Shirley Pasholk and Daniel Webern follow below.

Socialist Action: What type of community is this?

Melissa Dean: It's a conservative area. The chapter leader of the local John Birch Society is city council president. During the election campaign, the paper did profiles of each candidate. He was quite proud to say hed been involved in John Birch and Operation Rescue.

Vivian Dean: The Fairfield Family Association is a coalition of Christian fundamentalists that influences politics around here a great deal.

SA: What led you to start a NOW chapter in Lancaster?

Melissa: I became interested in NOW during the pro-choice mega-march toward the end of 1989. I realized that a lot of talk had gone on that there should be a NOW chapter here, but nobody had done anything about it. So I decided to inquire with State NOW on what needed to be done.

SA: What kind of help did you get from National NOW to start the chapter?

Melissa: They gave us financial support. We got $100 in seed money. They gave us moral support. Several state officers came to our first meeting.

Vivian: The Columbus Chapter has given us the finest example of how to help another chapter. Columbus NOW adopted us as sisters. They've offered their support in any actions we decide to take.

SA: Did you run into any problems during these early meetings?

Melissa: When I posted notices about the first meeting around the Lancaster Branch Campus of Ohio University, a lot of them were taken down. An anti-abortion person went to the student services office and demanded to know how such a group could meet at the University.

At the February meeting, we had a period of time when we went around and introduced ourselves and told why we were interested in starting a NOW chapter. A young man said he was there to represent all the babies that were murdered by abortion. He harassed the meeting and wanted to talk about abortion when we had organizational tasks to do. Unfortunately, a couple of people got so discouraged that they left.

Vivian: At the second meeting, the chair of Right to Life came. At the sign-in time she didn't give her right name. She didn't know that we knew who she was.

Melissa: She happens to be the wife of our councilman, so I knew exactly who she was. She never caused trouble like the young man at the first meeting. She was more undercover.

SA: Have you had occasion to participate in clinic defense?

Melissa: We don't have any clinics in this area. The local Planned Parenthood is basically just a dispenser of information. They do gynecological exams and they dispense birth control, but that's about it.

Vivian: Melissa went to help during the worst time OR was working in the Columbus area. We're active, but we don't have any direct controntation in Lancaster.

Melissa: We were alerted to the fact that we have a couple of fake clinics in our area operated by the anti-abortion people.

Vivian: These fake clinics bring in young teenagers who don't know they're going there to be harassed, and they get a lot of anti-abortion information rather than information about all the options. So, it's the unsophisticated and naive that are the worste victims. That's frightening.

SA: How do you see the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the Ohio parental notification affecting young women in this area?

Melissa: Ohio's current law is that you have to notify one parent or go through bypass—which is such an intimidating procedure. I see it affecting the girls in our area so they will be forced to carry on the pregnancy or they will resort to illegal methods.

Vivian: It's another harassment. It says that women can't make their own decisions, whatever age they are. It says we have to have gray suits make our decisions for us.

SA: What steps can we take to defend reproductive freedom-to win back the rights that have been taken away, defend the ones we still have, and advance further?

Melissa: Lobby like hell.

Vivian: There has to be a lot of education.

Melissa: I have a personal goal for our chapter to have some sort of rally next year on women's equality day. We have to project more education, make ourselves more visible, and help promote the idea that reproductive choice isn't a minority fringe. It's the other way around.

SA: What are some of the issues which particularly concern you?

Vivian: One of the issues concerning reproductive rights is forced sterilization. Having a Native American heritage a couple of generations back, I've become more aware of that.

I've discovered that the government has been enforcing sterilization for any Native American women going into the hospital for surgery. About 80 percent of Northern Cheyenne women of child-bearing age are sterile.

It's not just Native Americans that are being sterilized. It's women of other minorities too. It's an effective way to do away with minority people who are considered a problem.

SA: What other issues has your chapter been involved with?

Melissa: We continue to work with Light House, the battered women's shelter.

Vivian: We're trying to make donations of food and items for the shelter itself and have volunteers.

Melissa: We're trying to address issues as they come up. For example, we're involved in defending a victim of sexual harassment on the job.

Vivian: We lobbied our councilmen not to pass a resolution calling for a "Respect for Life Week." It's been passed every year and it's come to be an accepted thing in the community-and this year was one of the first years it wasn't passed.

SA: What is your goal for the future?

Vivian: I guess we have to continue to grow first, but not remain inactive waiting for growth. I think activity promotes growth. So, we want to let people know we're here. We want to do some positive SOCIALIST AC