Health Services
The Health Evaluation and Referral Service, “HERS”, was a group within CWLU that supplied referrals to women in need of healthcare and supervised healthcare professionals and clinics. They believed that there was an “unmet need for information on safe, reliable clinics”, which led them to visit many “Chicago area clinics as their project for the Program. During these onsite inspections they inquired about fees, anesthesia, number of procedures performed per week, availability of counseling and aftercare, and other pertinent details.” They used the CWLU to circulate the information they gained. “The number of volunteers expanded as women from the Abortion Task Force and others interested in women's health joined”. “HERS” members created a “feedback form” for women when they started calling in to CWLU for details. Members and non-members agreed to complete these forms after attending a clinic. “The volunteers answering calls were then able to share the reactions of many women who had actually used the clinics, as well as information obtained from the on-site visits.” As the clinic visits continued, “HERS” volunteers “found that although several clinics provided safe, compassionate care, some facilities clearly did not”. Based on these qualms, an incident where three “’HERS’ volunteers who only the day before were certified as non-pregnant by a local gynecological clinic” tested as pregnancy positive when acting as patients at another clinic. “They then took their findings to the press and to court, and the clinic was subsequently closed.” This led to callers to ask for recommendations on personal physicians. In result, “HERS” began gathering information on personal doctors. Then, “in the late 70's, ‘HERS’ was awarded a two-year contract from the Illinois Family Planning Council”. This enabled them “to work on such projects as the ‘HERS’ Healthy Kit” which “was a packet of information on several issues such as childbirth, abortion, nutrition, and environmental health”. “By 1981 HERS had served over 20,000 callers and had sold over 3,000 copies of the Healthy Kit”. They were “one of the few work groups of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union to survive the umbrella organization” because “it provided education and services” while it “achieved a track record of providing reputable counseling and referrals.” “HERS” granted many benefits to women in the 60’s and 70’s.