Call for Submissions: Bicycling and reproductive rights

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Ever since the original Our Bodies, Our Bikes zine came out, I knew that any future edition would need to talk about reproductive rights. In the past year, the connection has been very much on my mind, as the women’s bicycling movement has taken off in a positive direction at the same time as women’s rights have taken hit after hit nationally.

The culmination of this came when I spent five hours watching the live cam on Wendy Davis’s filibuster in favor of the right to abortion access in Texas and the subsequent procedural mayhem; the next day I googled her and found that she not only rides a bike but has been a vocal supporter of bicycle access during her time in office. What better inspiration than this?

Now that I’m planning a book-length version of that pocket-sized compilation, it’s on. In fact, I’ve just received a grant from the Abortion Conversation Project to help further this discussion.

The micro-grant will allow me to pay someone a (relatively) competitive rate to research and write an essay about the intersection of bicycling and abortion. Possible essay topics might include, but are hardly limited to: A personal story; a reported political essay comparing bicycling and reproductive rights debates; a geographical perspective on transportation issues inherent in laws that govern women’s choice. There is quite a bit of latitude for the essay’s specifics, style, and word count, but it should generally align with the grant’s requirements:

The ACP funds “projects in keeping with ACP’s mission to challenge the polarization that characterizes abortion conversation, lessen the stigmatization of abortion, and promote speaking and listening with empathy, dignity, and resilience about even the most difficult aspects of abortion.”

I’m also soliciting (though may or may not be able to pay for) personal stories about bicycling and abortion specifically or reproductive choice and experience generally to excerpt or print entirely in this section of the book.

If you or someone you know are inspired to contribute to this (or any other) portion of the Our Bodies, Our Bikes book, please get in touch and we can talk more about specifics. The soft deadline for pitching elements of the book is December 15th, 2013. The deadline for final content is January 15th, 2014. (See the call for submissions here.)