Women's Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM!) was an American

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

organization based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, established in 1989 in response to the U.S.

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

ruling in '' Webster v. Reproductive Health Services'' that states may bar the use of public money and public facilities for

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

s. WHAM! started as the direct action committee of the Reproductive Rights Coalition, but soon broke away to form its own organization. WHAM! used

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

tactics such as draping the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...

with two protest banners and disrupting the confirmation hearings of

Supreme Court Justice The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of ...

David Souter David Hackett Souter ( ; September 17, 1939 – May 8, 2025) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1990 until his retirement in 2009. Appointed by President George H ...

. The first banner on the statue's crown said "No Choice, No Liberty" and the second banner hanging from the pedestal said "Abortion is Healthcare, Healthcare is a right." In 1989 members of WHAM! and

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

took part in a controversial action at Saint Patrick's Cathedral to protest the church's position on

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

, safe-sex education and the use of

condoms A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condoms, also called male condoms, and internal (female) ...

. WHAM! helped to form two additional activist groups, the New York Clinic Defense Task Force and the

Church Ladies for Choice Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

. The organization disbanded between 1994 and 1995.

Archives and history

As of 2007 there were approximately 40 boxes of WHAM! materials, categorized but not indexed, at the Tamiment Library, one of the special collections at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. In addition, interviews of past WHAM! participants were conducted in 2005 by Tamar W. Carroll, a doctoral candidate in History at the University of Michigan, for a dissertation concerning WHAM!,

, The

National Congress of Neighborhood Women National Congress of Neighborhood Women is a support group for grassroots women's organizations and community leaders involved in providing voices for poor and working-class women. History In 1969 Jan Peterson moved to New York City and joined ...

, and Mobilization For Youth. The resulting dissertation was titled "Grassroots Feminism: Direct Action Organizing and Coalition Building in New York City, 1955–1995". As part of her oral history research a forum on WHAM! was held at the Tamiment Library on October 15, 2005, with panel members, and most of the audience, consisting of former WHAM! activists. The forum was videotaped, and a recording of the forum is in the WHAM! collection at Tamiment, along with materials from the interviews conducted by Carroll. A photograph of the protest banners on the Statue of Liberty was taken by Meryl Levin.

References

External links

WHAM! (Women's Health Action and Mobilization) Records
Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at

Tamar Carroll Oral Histories on Women's Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM!)
Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at

Feminism and health Abortion-rights organizations in the United States Feminism in New York City {{abortion-stub