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  • Bearing Witness to Birth
  • Byllye Avery (bio)

Spring comes early in Gainesville, and 1979 was no exception. The city was awash with a riot of brightly colored azaleas, redbud, and dogwood trees. The ligustrum hedges around many homes filled the air with the fragrance of spring. It was a beautiful day: perfect Florida weather. As I pulled into the parking lot at Birthplace, I thought about how time flies. It was just five months ago that we opened a birthing center.

Soon after the civil rights movement ended, the women’s movement and the women’s health movement began. The rejection of second-class citizenship by blacks made white women aware of their position in society and they started examining their lives through the lens of feminism, questioning authority, and making decisions about their lives. The women’s health movement was fueled by women’s demands to control their reproduction and by an inability to secure safe abortions or explore childbirth options. Women wanted to learn about their bodies, and after the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973 led to the opening of health clinics and birth centers, the success of civil rights activism gave hope to women and set in motion a sea change that transformed society and health care delivery.

In May 1974, a group of us opened the Gainesville Women’s Health Center (GWHC), providing first-trimester abortions and well-woman gynecological services. It was the beginning of the women’s health movement, when women opened clinics providing reproductive health services, including abortions, for well women. Judy, a real smart child psychologist, who was fearless when it came to revolutionary change, led our efforts to open the center. Margaret, whose razor-sharp mind retains almost everything she has ever read, served on the board working on legal issues, fund-raising, and anything else that was needed. I was interested in educational services and workshops on birth control, menstruation, and sexuality. I was committed to making sure our services met the needs and were known to African American women; I did not [End Page 221] want the center to be seen as a place just for white women. Early on we met Betsy Randall-David, who was getting a master’s degree from the University of Florida’s School of Nursing. All kinds of people identified positively with the center and were grateful that we were there.

We noticed that women were raising concerns about their pregnancy and birthing experiences. They were dissatisfied with the attitudes and practices of most obstetricians-gynecologists. One woman was told by a physician that “her pregnancy was none of her business, it was his business.” Women wanted to be an active participant in their care, to know what was happening to their bodies, to have access to their medical records, and to participate in medical decision making. As a result of their dissatisfaction they started having their babies at home, with the services of midwives, birth attendants, or both. And if they or their babies needed health care, they came to us at GWHC. We knew we had to do something.

On a hot August evening in 1978, GWHC called a meeting, by word of mouth, of people interested in establishing a birthing center. We were overwhelmed by the numbers of people whose cars lined both sides of the duck pond in northeast Gainesville. They let us know that they wanted a birth center and would support our efforts. We went to work immediately, Randi came up with the name Birthplace, I started thinking about services, and others looked for the perfect house. A beautiful two-story brick Georgian mansion that previously served as a Methodist parsonage became Birthplace. It stood, stately, on Northeast First Street among large live oak trees with moss trailing unevenly from their branches. We immediately checked with Dr. Mahan, a supportive obstetrician, to determine if the building’s location would allow us to make a timely emergency transfer to Shands Teaching Hospital, if needed. We went to work raising money; hiring staff; furnishing the house; and, oh, yes, developing medical protocols. Judy led our efforts, relishing the idea of confronting the medical community, as she had...

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