Late yesterday afternoon, Senator Bright shocked the South Carolina Senate by proposing an amendment to the budget that removed rights to comprehensive healthcare services for victims of rape and incest.

Luckily, 18 Senators stopped this harmful amendment.

Please thank these 18 Senators and encourage them to continue to stand up for victims’ rights.

We believe this issue will come up again – show you support victims’ rights to healthcare by sending your email now.

Send a message to those Senators who stood up for victims and thank them for their efforts

Access to healthcare is one thing, but what happens when you can’t even get to the store??

Many college students are bombarded with many different responsibilities on campus such as constantly making superior grades, maintaining leadership positions, and surviving on a college student’s simple lack of financial means. It is often spoken for students not to work while in college, however many students spend precious study time working tiring jobs, because they have to purchase applications, books, rent, tuition, food, etc.

So, how do we access the things we need at an affordable price and within a reasonable amount of time?   Yes, a school nurse is available to students, but life on a private school campus has its limitations.  We cannot be given condoms or any other form of contraception by school staff members.  Emergency Contraception is therefore completely out of the question. 

There are local pharmacies that some students have access to, but for students like me driving is impossible and walking is dangerous.  We need contraceptives on campus.  Students need a safe and reliable place to obtain preventative and emergency contraceptives.  If I ever need either, I’d have no way to get it!! There is a timeframe of 72 hours for optimal use of emergency contraception.  I do not own a car, the local bus system does not come to my school, and there’s no way I’m walking- at least not without someone walking with me.  I still have classes, school work, and an overflowing list of responsibilities I have to complete, or I jeopardized my standing in school and my extracurricular activities.  Obtaining contraceptives should not be difficult.  I shouldn’t have to sacrifice my responsibilities to go long distances just to take care of my basic needs. 

Limited access to contraceptives by policies specifically restricting distributions has placed students in burdensome and hazardous for situations.  I attend a school that cares too much for its students to continue to enforce such senseless regulations.  This is something we need to change together (students, staff, and clergy) so that no student in the future is put in the reckless situation of not having unadulterated access to contraceptives.

Whoever said there was only one way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases??? A game of conventional dodge ball allowed me to teach college students about STDs, contraceptives, and the affects access to birth control can have on a population.

Oversized fishing nets and toy shields were used to represent contraceptives, and the balls represented various sexually transmitted infections. The teams of course threw the balls at each other…, but the teammates that carried protection were able to avoid being hit.  If students didn’t hold nets to catch the balls or shields to block them, they were left vulnerable.

We discussed a concept that was fairly new to me: “Access to Contraceptives.”  We laid out the parameters of the dodge ball playing area.  We set up about a dozen shields and nets in clusters to represent the locations that provide contraceptives and the limited access to them.  That meant that only players that started the game off closest to the piles were capable of accessing the hypothetical contraceptives.  Like the limited supply of shields and nets provided during the game, actual contraceptive access is limited to proximity and availability.  The next game we played we removed two of the piles.  This represented the reduction of access outside of business hours.

Contraceptive access is an ongoing issue that has to be dealt with, but it will not happen overnight.  Contraceptives are more readily available in areas where there are high densities of people.  We have to figure a way out to make them more accessible to rural areas.  We have to make sure that pharmacists can’t deny the sale of contraceptives to people who wish to buy them- which they can and do do! 

The lack of access to healthcare and scientifically accurate information is a prime reason many are deprived of accurate information.  We have to find more ways to reach all South Carolinians, as well as continue to increase involvement and education in the urban areas.

For Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. founder’s week we collaborated with Tell Them and SWARM to conduct a sexual health awareness game to further educate college students of the importance of access and education on sexual health issues. Pretty much all of the students proved interested and even signed up to receive notifications and help with upcoming events.

This high energy and impact game allowed students to learn and work up a sweat. We had a great time, and I definitely plan to organize this game again!

Students will be able to schedule their work for SWARM around their personal and educational schedules.  Listed on the application are required meetings that every council member must attend.

Council members should anticipate at least 2 hours per week, but if the council member sets large goals, many more hours could be necessary.

By Emily Rogers, a member of the SWARM Youth Council and student at the College of Charleston

My liberal (arts) college allows us to distribute condoms out in the open in the center of campus or anywhere really. But, there’s finesse to how to do give them away. In a school of 10,000 undergraduates you’d think they’d get picked up by the handful regardless of the situation. But I’ve learned it’s not always so easy.  Why don’t some college students take FREE condoms!?

Shame. Embarrassment. Apathy. Misinformation. All of the above?

I’ve gone out a few times to hand condoms out somewhere where I’ve set up a table.  I’ve even dressed up and in costumes to make people less weary.  But some students walk past me without making eye contact.  I’ve been told: “my girlfriend is on the pill, so we don’t have to worry,” and some tell me their boyfriends take care of that.

My response to those students and all young people…. there is no shame in safe sex, it never hurts to be doubly careful, and ladies take your health in your own hands! Carry condoms– especially if they’re free.

But a little advice I do have is to be bold while handing condoms out.  The night I wore a kitty costume was a pretty big success.  The other time when I went to the Colbert Rally (Yeah, that was here.) I got a complete stranger to hold a huge foam board with the phrase “FREE CONDOMS” on one side and “SC NEEDS REAL SEX-ED” on the other.  People flocked to me.  I gave out 500+ condoms in just a matter of an hour or two.  Ha. As the band walked by about half of them came over and snagged a couple.

So, it’s good to have them readily available in your living space where your guests can just take one or two, but if you make it a “BIG TO-DO,” it’ll take on a life of its own.  You’ll be out of stock before you can say: “Great American Condom Campaign!!!”

Since this bipartisan legislation first passed in 1994, it’s been reauthorized twice without a hitch. And it’s been tremendously successful in helping to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Send an email urging your Senators to support the Violence Against Women Act.

Since this law passed, it has helped reduce the annual rate of domestic violence by an astounding 53 percent. The rate of women killed by an intimate partner has dropped 34 percent. Its programs, including violence prevention programs, shelters and rape crisis centers, and funding for the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes have made a world of difference in giving victims of violence a safe place to turn.

It has without a doubt saved thousands of lives.

Send an email urging your Senators to support the Violence Against Women Act.

Denim Day began in the 1990s, after a young woman was blamed for being raped.  In 1992, an 18-year-old girl in Italy was raped by her driving instructor. She pressed charges and won.  The instructor appealed to the Italian High Court.  In 1999, the court overturned the conviction, stating that since the victim was wearing jeans, the instructor could not have removed them himself, therefore the victim must have participated. Women of the Italian legislature protested the decision by wearing jeans.  As the news of the decision spread, so did the protest. In April 1999, the first Denim Day was established in the United States.

Today, nearly one in five women and one in 71 men have been raped in their lifetime. And a sexual assault is committed every two minutes in the United States.  Often, victims are further traumatized by the blame and criticism they receive from friends, family, and systems. This blame not only puts victims in further danger, it allows perpetrators to escape accountability, thereby furthering the prevalence of sexual assault.

Together, we can support victims, hold perpetrators accountable, and end sexual violence in South Carolina.

This event will bring together people from across the state to celebrate the power of women. According to Unitewomen.org, this is the first time in American history that a simultaneous rally will be happenings in all 50 states!

Join us on Saturday, April 28th, from 11am-1pm at the South Carolina Statehouse

By Brittany Pack, member of the SWARM youth council and Senior at Converse College

Recently, I went to speak with my representative about reproductive health education, and I was very disappointed with his response.  At first it seemed promising. I told him how abstinence-only education fails communities, gave him a packet of cited information that backed everything I was saying, and explained to him that just because he supports people being abstinent until marriage does not mean that he should be to force-feeding it to everyone. 

He asked if he could ask me a question…  I was excited, because I thought he was going to attempt to have an educated conversation with me.  I started answering some of his questions and it quickly became clear that we were not on the same page.  He told me that he was glad I was so passionate about a cause; however, I picked the wrong cause to be passionate about.

He said abstinence was the only way to prevent teen pregnancy and STIs. Yes, if everyone in the entire world practiced abstinence then the rates would be lower, but that is simply impossible. He asked me what the only 100% effective way to prevent pregnancy.  He said abstinence. 

I do not agree, sir.  South Carolina as a state has attempted abstinence-only since for decades, but it yet to work!  Crazy can be defined as attempting to do something over and over again and failing, but continuing to do the same thing expecting a different result.  You know it’s not going to work, but you continue to attempt it without changing anything.  Sirs, this is a message of all South Carolinian legislators, to continue to teach abstinence-only sex education is crazy.  We’ve tried over and over again, year after year, for the past three decades, and we’re getting the same results— uneducated people getting pregnant outside the “fortified walls of marriage” or marriage couples that have a child or three and then get divorced.  Poorly educated people cannot make healthy choices without knowing how to be healthy.  Ignoring an entire biological system simply won’t stop young people from getting pregnant.  You give them some scientific knowledge, teach them a thing or two about self-respect, and teach them to “Draw the Line and Respect the Line,” and you will see our $200,000,000 a year loss to teen pregnancy do down. 

Brittany meeting with Representative Chumley during Bee Day 2012

I think abstinence is a wonderful thing.  It’s something I shared with the legislator that I practice, but it is a personal choice. I tried to explain to the representative that educating the youth with a comprehensive education is better than leaving out all the key parts of information.  When we teach history, we don’t leave out the parts about one man killing another because we’re afraid that the children are going to go out into the hall and start shooting up the place.  We don’t leave out information about how racism used to be, and arguably still is, a big problem in the State cause we’re afraid they youth are going to start race riots.  We educate them.  We encourage discovery amongst themselves so that they can see where they have the option to make the mistakes of the past generations, but they have been given the wonderful tool of knowledge and can therefore protect themselves and their community from such assaults happening again.  Depriving the youth information about a topic that is life-changing, no strike that, life-creating is irresponsible and as has been seen in our state for pretty much its entire history.  If South Carolina is going to ever leave the list of the top states with high pregnancy rates, high STI/HIV rates, high poverty, high crime, high dropout rates, high levels of families on assisted income, etcetera, we’ve got to let go of some of our flawed misconceptions.  We have to learn a thing or two from our flawed past.  We can’t attempt to change the future by only trying things from the past that haven’t failed.  That would be crazy.

Humans are predictably unpredictable.  If you can plan for the unpredictability, say by educating about contraceptives, you give people the tools they need to survive their most unpredictable years of their lives.

By Sarah DuRussel-Weston, a member of the SWARM Youth Council for Policy Change and graduate student at the University of South Carolina

I’m not sure if you’ve heard the buzz about bees at USC… (Sorry, I just CANNOT ignore a pun when I see one!). Students With A Responsible Message (S.W.A.R.M) have established a presence on campus, and we’ve been awfully busy making a name for ourselves. Since we began meeting in January of 2012, we’ve had 7 meetings already, and we will have 3 more before the semester is through.

As mentioned in a previous blog, we had a Film Screening where students from all sorts of majors and walks of life came to watch “Let’s Talk About Sex.”  SWARM USC met up with the rest of the SWARM Council at Bee Day where we talked to our legislators about the common sense about teaching Comprehensive Sex Education- which we commanded the attention of senators and representatives. We recently met up at Walk-A-Mile In Her Shoes which rose awareness for Sexual Assault and Rape Prevention. We represented the necessity for Comprehensive Sex Education in South Carolina Public Schools at Project Condom USC. We participated and helped out our council members from Clemson and Converse at Project Condom Upstate. The list goes on and on. I’m telling you: this campus organization is already getting a life of its own. 

The officials have been selected for next (though we’ll let them introduce themselves in a future blog.). The Buzz is growing. Students at USC are joining the conversation to only fund Comprehensive Sex Education in South Carolina with the 11,000+ Tell Them members and the other SWARM groups sprouting out all across the state.

We may have a road ahead of us to complete this necessary milestone in South Carolina, but we’re not backing down. Make note of SWARM. You’re going to be seeing a lot more of us.  We’ve only gotten started.”

By Emily Rogers, a member of the SWARM Youth Council and student at the College of Charleston

Dear 15-year-old Emily,

First of all, kudos for you for getting the HPV vaccine (and kudos to your mom for being so awesome by supporting it)! It’s all about preventative care. About now you are finishing your freshman year of high school and, wow, has it been intense.

Your best friend will reveal to you that she had decided to have sex with her boyfriend who’s also a freshman. At this point the only sex education either of you have had was in middle school and that was just anatomy. You’ll have to wait until next year to learn about condoms, STIs, and to watch an awkward breast self-examination video. Your friend’s chosen method of birth control is called the “pull-out” method? (Um… FYI it’s completely unreliable at best.) She doesn’t know about anything else. I’m not gonna tell you if she gets pregnant or an STI.  You’ll just have to educate yourself the best ways you can figure out and do your best to explain to your friends that they need to too. Forget the whole thing about young people giving “bad” information. You’re probably the best source of education most of those girls will ever have.

You are a lucky girl; your parents are all about education. They will answer any questions you have (and your dad will make it uncomfortable, but he can’t help it). You are in the minority of teens whose parents are open about sexual health. You lucked out.

My advice to you would be to share that knowledge with your peers: those who are not able to speak with their parents about sex and those who are at risk for teen pregnancy, or STIs, and not to mention the emotions that go along with sex. You should start practicing now, because you’ll be a part of SWARM in college. There you’ll continue to educate your peers and convince them the “pull-out” method ain’t got nothing on condoms! But you’re gonna do even better than that… you’re going to change things. You’re going to be one of thousands of sparks to ignite a change where you live. You’re going to help make sure that no 9th grader ever uses the “pull-out” method without knowing that she should be using a condom.

Keep your head high. There’s a lot more going on than sex, though that seems to be what everyone’s doing and talking about. Your history test, for instance, next week is going to get you grounded unless you actually sit down and read the chapter!

Oh, one last thing—You’re awesome in every way.

With love, 21-year-old Emily