National Women's Health Network Records

Flyer "American Foot Binding - Stamp Out High Heels," Rochester Women Against Violence Against Women, n.d.

The National Women's Health Network is a non-profit women's health advocacy organization. It's goals include creating a health care public policy that reflects and responds to the diversity of women's experiences; advocating women's self-determination in all aspects of their reproductive and sexual health; establishing universal health care that meets the needs of diverse women; monitoring the actions of federal regulatory and funding agencies, industry, and health care professions; providing women with objective health information from a feminist viewpoint; and supporting grassroots action.

Created at the height of second wave feminism, the National Women's Health Network was an outgrowth of informal groups of women sharing their experiences. It was founded in 1975 by Barbara Seamon, Alice Wolfson, Belita Cowan, Mary Howell, and Phyllis Chesler as a lobby group for women's health advocacy and quickly expanded to become a clearinghouse for women's health information. It began as the Women's Health Lobby, later called the National Women's Health Lobby Network, and finally the National Women's Health Network. Since its beginnings, the Network has waged numerous legal battles and organized public education campaigns to increase women's input into the U.S. health care system. These include the first Diethylstilbestrol (DES) class action lawsuit on behalf of DES daughters, class action lawsuits against A.H. Robbins manufacturer of the contraceptive intrauterine device, Dalkon Shield, and against the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company on the use of the contraceptive Depo-Provera. In addition the Network organized a Citizen's Petition to the FDA requesting that the Dalkon Shield be declared a banned product. The Network successfully persuaded the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to require studies on the safety of breast implants and to establish mandatory standards on absorbency labeling for tampons to reduce preventable cases of toxic shock syndrome. It also exposed the scientific inadequacies in the clinical trials of tamoxifen. Its information packets and publications provide information to millions of women on a wide range of topics. The Black Women's Health Project (now the Black Women's Health Imperative) was originally a project of the NWHN. It also continues to assist and support local activists in their efforts to expose environmental and occupational health problems, support reproductive rights for all and the health needs of midlife and elderly women.

Currently, the Network is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with affiliates in New Mexico and New Jersey. It has 11,000 (as of December 2011) individual members.

Additional information can be found on the organization's website: http://nwhn.org/