Just last year, a phone call from a local politician's wife over her concern with the erosion of women's rights issues in healthcare became a conversation in a local yoga class that birthed the idea of a local women's rights group that could work in response to the rolling back of women's rights that came with the reversal of Roe v. Wade last summer.
Then "The New Suffragettes" launched with a first meeting of a small group at "Your Local Seitanist" vegan restaurant.
As word got out about The New Suffragettes, the group began to grow in numbers and opportunities to get involved in creative action with regular women's rights marches, including participating in Planned Parenthood's initial "Bans Off Our Bodies" march in July 2022 and then organizing the Women's March Chattanooga in October 2022, Car Rallies during the recent election season where members got together decorating cars and driving around honking and sharing messages of women's rights and supporting political candidates who support women's rights, Voter Registration Drives at Farmers Markets and other community events, a Parade Float at Mainx24 to help raise awareness, a new drop-in "Yoga + Activism" Class on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. at Sacred Roots Wholistic Wellness located at (6215 Lee Highway, Suite G, Chattanooga, TN 37421 next door to Plant Power Cafe vegan restaurant), and most recently a Delegation to the State Capitol in Nashville to meet with legislators and discuss better legislation, better laws, and better health for women in Tennessee and beyond.
On opening day of the 2023 Session, the delegation of New Suffragettes met with State Rep. Yusuf Hakeem and State Senator Heidi Campbell to discuss current legislative changes that would take into consideration exceptions regarding specific pregnancy scenarios that are no longer protected under the women's health legislation passed by the Tennessee State Legislature and signed into effect by Governor Bill Lee in 2022. This new legislation has been passed with few people, average citizens and healthcare professionals alike, knowing or understanding the full extent of the implications and has left pregnant women's lives in danger in situations including ectopic pregnancies, rape, incest, and underage victims.
Legislators like State Rep. Hakeem and Senator Campbell are actively working on legislative changes that will put women's health and safety back at the forefront in women's health legislation in Tennessee. The New Suffragettes were honored to have the opportunity to meet with these women's health champions and look forward to working on ways to better educate Tennessee citizens and support more open dialogue about women's rights and health and to help create change.
The New Suffragettes is a local women's rights group based in Chattanooga, and they have been actively working on both local and national issues since launching and their main focus has been on voter registration and education, while helping raise awareness, share helpful information and resources, and build a community that actively supports women and women's rights.
Melissa Turner