New Orleans Black

We've Lost a Friend: Terri Bartlett

Section: Community

We've Lost a Friend: Terri Bartlett
11/8/2008
Led Louisiana Planned Parenthood and promoted
women's rights

Terri Bartlett is one of those people who changed my life. She
and a small group of women, including attorney Leslie Gerwin,
organizer Madalyn Schenk, activists Julie Schwam Harris, Pat Evans
and Allyn Goff, invited me to help them push back one of the
most outrageous bans on women's access to reproductive health
services in the late 1980s. I had never really worked on anything
so political and so overwhelming in my life...and we won...
only to see our hard-earned veto by Governor Buddy Roemer
eventually lead to his political downfall, as well
as watch each successive administration push through one more
aggressive bill after another, until Governor Kathleen Blanco signed
the bill we so fought against in 1989. Terri died yesterday. She had
continued to work for women around the world, and to fight for reproductive
health as well as prevent the spread of HIV. A giving soul, someone
who would have a drink with anyone, and could convince the most
conservative person with her smile that they should at least listen to
her arguments...well, she was just one of those bigger than life people
who made my world brighter, as she did so many others. She will be missed.
A memorial service will be held in New Orleans. I will keep you informed.

We've Lost a Friend: Terri Bartlett

Section: Community

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