In the first 24 hours, we sent over 2,500 emails and reached nearly every legislator in South Carolina. Tell Themmarchers have made a huge statement by speaking up about the need for responsible reproductive health policies.

For those of us who watched these incredible numbers come in over the past 2 days, we were struck by the incredible connection most marchers had with this issue, and how happy they were to finally have a voice and an outlet through which to communicate with policy makers.

Nearly 500 former residents of South Carolina and others who feel invested in our mission took action in the past 2 days. They sent almost 1,000 emails to Congressmen Clyburn and Spratt in Washington. Due to either the media coverage of the Virtual March, or because you were so effective in getting your friends and family to join up, over 160 new people join Tell Themsince the march began. Marchers called and emailed the office throughout the march, just to check in and see if there was anything else they could do. Facebook and Twitter were going crazy with all the comments and retweets. It’s been a very exciting few days!

Congratulations to Amy Holleman of Columbia for winning the Slane & Slane Jewelry giveaway. More than 200 references came in since we started the giveaway, and we thank every person who took it upon themselves to recruit their friends, family, coworkers… the numbers just poured in! Amy has been a long-time Tell Them member and active advocate. She hosted Kelly and I at Columbia’s Drinking Liberally a week before the march, and even sent me emails early in the morning to confirm that all her referees had singed up. We were so happy when we pulled her name out of our “Queen Bee Bag.” Congratulations Amy, and thank you for everything you’ve done for us.

Our network is now stronger than ever, and we are ready to move forward in this legislative session and make some positive change. The full results from the Virtual March aren’t in yet because Marchers are STILL taking action! When we have final numbers, we’ll be sure to share them. For now, we say thank you for all your efforts and hard work.

We thank each and every marcher who has joined the Tell Them network. In the days, weeks and months to come, we will keep a vigilant eye on policy issues and will keep you informed of developments. As legislation warrants, we will issue email action alerts that let you know it’s time to let your lawmakers know how you stand on a particular issue.

March 23, 2010: a historic day for all of us who have come together to change the future for so many in South Carolina. We thank you for your important role in it.

But I am here to tell you that to the contrary, this type of legislative policy was not even on my radar screen. You see, from the time my daughter showed the slightest interest in learning about it, sexuality has been an open forum subject in our house. We have talked frankly, and often, about the physical, emotional and intellectual aspects of sex. So what was “legislated” was of little importance to me.

Then I began to learn about the issue. While researching a writing assignment, I read about thousands of girls in our state who navigate their teen years without a single conversation with their mother—or aunt or grandmother or any responsible female adult—about sex. These young women rely on community clinics, or our public school system, for any medically accurate information they get.

What happens when the curriculum is Abstinence-Only Until Marriage? That is to say, what happens when the state legislates that schools cannot include birth control or safe sex practices as a part of a sex education program?

We know the answer. Studies show teens in abstinence-only, or “promise” programs, have the very same rates of sexual activity as other young people. And they have sex with NO information about birth control or sexually transmitted disease prevention unless a parent, or some other knowledgeable adult, provides it.

No wonder the rate of teen pregnancy is on the rise in South Carolina. (Three in ten girls will become pregnant at least once before the age of 20.) No wonder nearly half of new STIs and STD cases in SC are among young people 15-24. No wonder one in five new HIV cases in our state strikes a someone under the age of 25.

I pray that I have taught my teenager enough about the facts to make good, responsible decisions about her own sexual health. And I pray, too, for all those young girls across our state who don’t have a female role model to guide them. I believe each of them deserves a future filled with every option, and every opportunity, available to my daughter.

And so for them, I will be a part of the Virtual March on March 23. I want my legislators to know that I, Cathy Monetti of Lexington, House District 87 and Senate District 18, stand with the thousands of South Carolinians who believe age-appropriate, reproductive health education, and access to birth control and counseling services, should be the right of every young woman in South Carolina. Count me in.

I’m not the only young person who encounters a political issue and thinks, “I’ll do it later.” We figure we’ll worry about government policies when we’re older, when we have families and finances to worry about. That’s how I felt, anyways, until Tell Them opened my eyes.

The day I was introduced to Tell Them, I was shocked by the facts: Three out of 10 young women will become pregnant at least once before the age of 20; births to young mothers cost South Carolina taxpayers $156 million annually; only 27 states mandate full insurance coverage of FDA-approved birth control. I had no idea things were so bad. Then I learned about a small minority voicing loud support on banning things like birth control and comprehensive sex education. That’s when I realized: I need to get involved now, because later will be too late.

Men don’t often worry about these policies. But we, women of all ages, care about birth control; we are concerned with protecting our younger counterparts from teen pregnancy; we cherish the freedom of family planning. So it’s up to us, the women of South Carolina, to change reproductive health policy.

Making our involvement even more crucial is the fact that women are embarrassingly underrepresented in our legislature. There are actually ZERO women in our Senate (ouch) and South Carolina is ranked 50^th in the nation for women in office. To compensate for the gender imbalance in our government, we must be a strong female voice and bring these issues to the attentions of our male legislators. These men need to know the majority of South Carolinians support comprehensive reproductive health policies.

Many young women are like me. We pay little attention to the political landscape. We simply don’t realize how significantly government policies affect us–and how easily we can affect government policies. But the Virtual March has the potential to change things. (It’s already changed me–I’m going to vote this year.) I now realize the greater number of women we engage in the issues, the more female voices we’ll have influencing–and authoring–our policies.

It’s time to get some estrogen in the state house. March with me on March 23.

And issue avoidance? It takes a lot of cheek-turning to get your state to the bottom of the heap in virtually every health, education and economic indicator.

But here’s something I’d like to talk about. Now.

Did you know that 3 out of 10 girls in South Carolina will become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20?

Oh, I know, that won’t be our daughters. We talk to them. We’re enlightened.

But what about all those other girls out there who don’t live with mama and daddy in a nice home with nice friends and go to a nice school? It’s not so pretty for them. Maybe there’s no one who cares enough to take the time to talk to them about the consequences of irresponsible sexual behavior. How if they get pregnant, they’ll probably never finish high school, never get a decent job, never be independent. Never be young again.

I believe every little girl deserves the chance to grow into a productive young woman. But there are things she just has to know in this day and age to help her get there. Like understanding the concept of birth control, and how to get it.

Please help make sure the girls in South Carolina who are most at risk get the information they need to make responsible decisions. Join me in the state’s first-ever Virtual March at http://tellthemsc.org/virtualmarch/ to let our legislators know we’re in favor of reproductive health policies that make it easier for these girls to get the information and access to prevention they need. (Note that this year, they have already cut all funding to teen pregnancy prevention programs).

Let’s do what we can to stand up for these girls. All it takes is an email.

To accomplish our goals, we need to get as many people involved with the march as possible.

On Thursday, we announced our new Tell-A-Friend Giveaway. We want to reward our hard-working volunteers and advocates for bringing their friends to a party, or sending our information on the march to their contacts. Beginning last Thursday, for every friend that you get to sign up for the march, you will get one entry towards winning an $1,800 diamond and gold Slane & Slane necklace from Sylvan’s.

It’s really simple to get your entries to count.

Refer your friends to the website, and when they sign up on our new, faster form, they simply enter YOUR name in the “How did you hear about us” field. Every time your name is entered, you get another entry.

We really want to reward Tell Them members and marchers for all their hard work during the march. Please, keep emailing this out to your friends and get them to sign up. We already have one person with 27 entries!! Think you can top that?

 Now that we’re in the final stretch of the Virtual March, we really need YOUR help. Call, email or forward information to your friends, coworkers, family- anyone who you think cares about these issues. We have over 2,500 voices ready to go next week, and want to make sure that every person has a chance to speak.

7 days left- let’s get more marchers and get ready for next week!

On this International Women’s Day, we now have one more reason to celebrate. Again, a woman has crashed through that “glass ceiling” and made things possible for women across the globe. This year’s theme, “Equal rights, equal opportunity: Progress for all,” has a new meaning this morning, as a woman has overcome history to receive the recognition she so rightfully deserved.

International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the artistic, economic, political, and social achievements of women. Occurring during Women’s History Month, today is a national holiday in some countries, where men and children give gifts to the women in their lives.

In this moment of celebration, we take pause to recognize those women across the globe and right here in our own communities, who are still being oppressed. In South Carolina, women’s healthcare and rights are being trampled on and destroyed by our lawmakers.

The women of South Carolina can change this. We can come together, and with a unified voice, illustrate that we deserve to be celebrated, that we should be respected, and compel policymakers to pass responsible reproductive health policies. Join the Virtual March, and together we can keep the moment of history changing in our favor.

“If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!” ~ Sojourner Truth

This week FLEW by. We were so busy, and have racked up the numbers to prove it!

First, I want to say a huge thank you to Tiphany Davis and the ladies of Allen University’s Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. They attended the 2010 Harambee Festival held by Benedict College last Saturday and told people about the Virtual March. Not only did they create a ton of buzz, they signed up over 300 marchers! WAY TO GO LADIES!

On Tuesday, Kelly and I split up- she went to Florence and presented the Virtual March at the National Women’s & Girl’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day at Francis Marion University. The event was very successful and all the participants left seeming really excited and eager to start spreading the buzz.

While Kelly was in Florence, I went to USC for Project Condom- Season 3. As the Daily Gamecock reported, “The goal of Project Condom is to promote safe sexual activity on campus. According to a recent University of South Carolina survey, 74 percent of University students reported they were sexually active last year, but only half of them reported using condoms when engaging in sexual activity.”

This was such a great night- it highlighted the importance of condom use in a fun, creative way. Tell Them was on hand to talk about the Virtual March, as well as sign up marchers.. Thanks to our AMAZING volunteers (Katie MacMillen, Caroline Atwood, Kate Jaffe, Kathleen Kemp, Lauren Wilson), we added nearly 200 marchers to our ranks. Thank you ladies! And congratulations to Ryan Wilson and everyone at USC- the show was great!

On Thursday, it was up to Lake Wylie, where Kelly met with Kathy Cantrell and Safe Passages where she presented the Virtual March. Kelly also met with the Teen Health Center in York where they are making an incredible difference in the community.

All in all, we have not only reached our weekly goal of 2,000 Virtual Marchers, but have surpassed it by a few hundred. We’re so energized by the excitement and support we’re getting- and things are going to get even more interesting. Keep checking back- we’ve got some great surprises coming your way in the next few weeks!

With our numbers growning, Kelly and I are planning an extensive final push throughout the state over the next few weeks. We’ll be all over- Florence, York, Cherokee, Charleston, Columbia- and would LOVE to meet up with Tell Themmembers and talk about reproductive health issues. We’ll try and tweet out where we’re going to be, but if you want to schedule something, email us (info@tellthemsc.org), and we’ll make it happen!

I’m also loving the articles and videos that Tell Them members have been sending my way. They’re fantastic! If you’ve seen a video or read an article that you think should be posted on Tell Them, send them to me. I’ll read everything, and some of them may get posted.

For example, here’s a great video one of our members sent us. It’s from an article posted on Huffington Post (Click here to read the article), and is an interview with a teen mom from North Carolina.  Watch the video below:

Don’t forget, anything we post on the website can be forwarded to your friends. Just find the “Share” button on the page, and type in email addresses.

That’s all for now. Exciting things are happening here, and I hope you’re feeling the energy. Have a great weekend and keep sending us marchers!

Tell Them is pleased and very proud to present Kay Chitty of Mt. Pleasant. Kay, a retired nurse, is a native South Carolinian, and recieved her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Nursing degrees from Emory University and her doctorate from the University of Tennessee. Kay is a former Dean of the Univeristy of Tennessee at Chattanooga Schoolof Nursing, and as authored numerous articles and chapters for professional journals and books in addition to a best selling nursing textbook, Professional Nursing: Concepts and Challenges, now in its 6^th edition. She was named one of “the fifty most influential people in Chattanooga during the 20^th Century.”  Kay is a member of the Medical University of South Carolina Foundation Board, and is married to her college sweetheart and they have two adult children and three grandchildren.

One of Kay’s favorite quotes is from Margaret Mead:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Watch Kay as she speaks about the importance of speaking to young people about their options and how to protect themselves, and then join other committed, thoughtful citizens of South Carolina in the Virtual March.