“Working for Our Lives:” How One Colorado Women’s Clinic Redefined Healthcare Amid Conservative Backlash.

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In 2022 the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, putting safe and legal abortion on the chopping block around the country. The current administration cut most of the CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health and laid off the entirety of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System team.^[1] Women’s health care is under attack, but “women’s health care” doesn’t just mean abortions or fertility treatments. It also involves supporting women’s mental/physical health, providing education, and fostering a sense of community beyond straight women.

One clinic in Colorado made women’s healthcare their priority, from abortions to counseling services. The Colorado Springs Women’s Health Service Clinic (WHSC) operated for almost a decade, from 1975 to 1984, and dedicated itself to fostering a sense of community for Colorado women. During this time, the women’s clinic collective performed abortions, held support groups, and offered numerous opportunities to educate women about physical and mental health. The history of the WHSC offers a model for women’s clinics today by showing how significant a community-based health clinic is for women during a time of conservative government and backlash politics.

“Women’s Clinic Isn’t Just Another Doctor’s Office”

In June of 1981, Colorado-based feminist publication Double Standard reported that a local women’s clinic wasn’t “just another doctor’s office.”^[2] The article, written by Double Standard staff writers Jane Hoback and Patricia Johnson, discussed the steadily growing WHSC in Colorado Springs. Although Hoback and Johnson published this article in 1981, the clinic had been open since 1975. Throughout the early 1970s, the women who would go on to open the clinic were busy visiting other feminist clinics, like the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Los Angeles, California, or writing their own eponymous medical journal.

Through their travels and community research, these women dedicated themselves to learning about women’s self-health and developing a concept they called “well-woman.” A well-woman was a woman who took control of her own physical health and worked to “gain knowledge and confidence about [her] body and reduce [her] ignorance and fears about common concerns.”^[3] The Colorado Springs WHSC was the first women’s health clinic to be fully operated by women staff, including clinicians, nurses, and receptionists. The WHSC gave Colorado women educational opportunities so they could become well-women on their own terms.

“A Denver Area Guide to Abortion”

In order to publicize and draw attention to the efforts of the clinic, local publications like Big Mama Rag (BMR) or Double Standard regularly mentioned the Colorado Springs WHSC. Throughout the 1970s, many WHSC members wrote articles in BMR and later in the 1980s provided in-depth interviews to Double Standard writers. In 1976, BMR featured the clinic in “A Denver Area Guide to Abortion,” advertising it as providing “excellent health care from a woman oriented perspective.”^[4]

The clinic offered sliding scale payment, so the cost of medical procedures did not financially burden women. A 1980 BMR article compared the prices of several state clinics and Planned Parenthood. The Colorado Springs WHSC often had the lowest cost for medical procedures, specifically abortion. The WHSC even offered medical abortions after twelve weeks, a procedure that not many clinics practiced at the time.^[5] A 1981 interview with two of the WHSC workers, Marcial and Rose Kotlar, revealed the importance of women’s clinics. Marcial told the Double Standard writer that, “Yesterday we did 30 abortions. Today we have to talk about how to keep abortions legal.”^[6] WHSC workers grew increasingly concerned with the risks posed to women’s health and medical care. Clinics like WHSC were not just medical providers but also often nonprofit organizations that advocated for women and making all forms of health services accessible, including abortion.

Over the course of the 1970s, the Republican Party grew increasingly focused on anti-abortion politics. In 1976, the Republican Party claimed anti-abortion as an official party stance. Anti-abortion sentiment spread across the country through attacks on women’s health clinics by the evangelical right. Women’s clinics like WHSC were often under the threat of legal and actual fire. A 1978 BMR article titled “Arson, the Law and a Right to Life” examined the many arsons and bombing attempts at women’s health clinics across the country. Although these acts of domestic terrorism did not directly affect Colorado businesses, the ubiquitous threat of anti-abortion violence impacted all women health workers. However, since these women were often community mobilizers and active feminists, there was no time for fear or hesitation. Colorado women health workers continued to fight for abortion rights and advocated on behalf of their many patients, whether these women sought abortions or other types of healthcare.^[7]

“Take Control of Our Bodies, Take Control of Our Lives”

The words “women’s health clinic” often make people think of abortions, reproductive care, and gynecology. While these were all important features of the Colorado Springs WHSC, the WHSC did more than just abortions and medical care. The Colorado Springs WHSC worked in tandem with many other feminist organizations like the BMR collective or the Denver-based Woman to Woman bookcenter.^[8] A 1976 issue of BMR reflected on an International Women’s Day Festival sponsored by BMR and Woman to Woman that included a variety of events, such as “poetry, a belly dancing performance, a karate demonstration, a body movement workshop, a potluck dinner with free beer, [and] free pelvic exams by women from the Women’s Health Service Clinic.”^[9] Colorado women knew the WHSC for these self-exams and educational encouragement. As one of the founders and WHSC collective member Vicki Ziegler (now Vicki Noble) put it, “We firmly believe that knowledge is power; that taking control of our bodies is the first step toward taking control of our lives.”^[10]

Truly, the Colorado Springs clinic was putting women in control. An all-women staff supported the clinic, and these same women joined the feminist community at various protests, parties, and potlucks to foster women’s community. In 1981, the clinic formed seven new mental health/support groups to create an inclusive women’s community. The support groups included, but were not limited to, a menopause group, fertility awareness meeting, support groups for older women living alone, a herpes support group, and a pre-orgasmic group for “women who have difficulty experiencing orgasm.”^[11]

The WHSC continued to pop up across Colorado publications throughout the 1970s and 1980s, showing that the WHSC was making waves for their work outside of the clinic. The WHSC members spoke at the Colorado Lesbians Conference, sold t-shirts at the Fifth Annual Colorado Women’s Festival, and even held feminist meetings at the clinic after hours.^[12] In 1979, the ecofeminist group Colorado Women Against Nukes started holding their monthly meetings at WHSC, as advertised in the BMR monthly calendar. A common feature of the Colorado feminist community, many feminist businesses partnered with various women’s organizations to host events, sponsor benefits, or simply to provide a space for Colorado women to form a connection with other like-minded women. While the WHSC proved a successful venture that remained open and focused on women’s healthcare for over a decade, not all feminist clinics and businesses were quite as lucky. Many organizations and groups split or shut down due to lack of funds and community support. WHSC had built up a loyal support system with local feminist networks through festivals, seminars, and community outreach around the Denver-Boulder areas.

“Feminist Clinic: Working for Our Lives”

Community support in a world after the 1973 Supreme Court decision meant more than simply showing up physically for patients; instead, women showed up as investors, activists, and volunteers to bolster the community. Like the WHSC t-shirt sale at the 1977 women’s festival, many ways of generating money existed outside of healthcare. Lack of funding caused many of Colorado’s feminist businesses to close, including Boulder’s feminist bookstore, Lilith, or Denver’s women’s clinic, Womanwise. However, the WHSC in Colorado Springs seamlessly placed themselves into Colorado’s women’s culture with regular pieces published in BMR and clinic members speaking at popular local marches or protests.^[13]

In May of 1981, the WHSC published the article “Feminist Clinic: Working for Our Lives” in BMR. The article detailed the importance of women’s self-health and the growing significance of fertility awareness. Many feminists and women health workers were worried over the conservative politics in the late 1970s through the 1980s, particularly due to the Reagan administration.^[14] In 1976, the Hyde Amendment, named after anti-abortion proponent Representative Henry Hyde of Illinois, placed measures that restricted women’s abortion access. Women could no longer use federal funds for abortion services, except in cases that involved incest, rape, or a life-threatening risk.^[15] The Hyde Amendment persisted until 2021 when Biden excluded it from his presidential budget, but this was not the only healthcare restriction women faced. President Reagan introduced the global gag rule in 1984 that prevented US foreign aid recipients from providing patients with information and access to abortions. Although this order affected nations outside of the US, it was an indicator of the larger anti-abortion movement sparking across the US.^[16]

Historically, women have combatted reproductive health restrictions and worked as midwives, wetnurses, and female physicians, secretly performing abortions from their own homes. To take back reproductive power, women must understand their physical health. WHSC is not a rare example; women’s health clinics have existed for years and will continue to exist, no matter what happens under the current administration. However, these businesses need support, funding, and community volunteers.

Moving into the 1980s, the women staff at WHSC worried over their near political future. Speaking on the rise of conservatism, the clinic staff wrote that the “women’s health movement has made many advances but all of us must remain alert to the political factors which are attempting to limit our choices.”^[17] The fight for reproductive control and women’s wellness is not over. Women today need to support their local clinics, educate themselves on their own bodies, and refuse to leave women’s health vulnerable to government control. Community support is essential to becoming a “well-woman.” Women must be knowledgeable about their bodies and their health, and show up as a support system to other women around them. The threat of conservative politics looms over women’s healthcare, and we need our community now more than ever.

Notes

1. Lorena O’Neil, “How Trump’s CDC Purge Will Affect Reproductive Health: ‘Women Will Die,’” Rolling Stone, April 5, 2025. ↑
2. Patricia Johnston and Jane Hoback, “Women’s Clinic Isn’t Just Another Doctor’s Office,” Double Standard, June 1981, 4, Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
3. Carol Lease, “Feminist Health Service in Colorado Springs,” Big Mama Rag 3, no. 5 (1974): 7, Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
4. “A Denver Area Guide to Abortion,” Big Mama Rag 4, no. 10 (1976): 3, Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
5. “Below Is a Comparison of the Fees, for a Few of the Services, Charged by 5 Women’s Clinics,” Big Mama Rag 8, no. 6 (1980), Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
6. Johnston and Hoback, “Women’s Clinic.” ↑
7. Lynn, “Arson, the Law and a Right to Life,” Big Mama Rag 6, no. 8 (1978): 3, Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
8. The Woman to Woman bookcenter was consistently referred to as a center, not a store, in their monthly advertisements in BMR, and in articles written by the center’s own collective. This was most likely a nod to their anticapitalist ideology. ↑
9. “BMR: Where We’re At,” Big Mama Rag 4, no. 4 (1976): 4, Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
10. Vicki Ziegler and Flo Kennedy, “Take Control of Our Bodies, Take Control of Our Lives,” Big Mama Rag 3-A, no. 9 (1975): 1, Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
11. “Clinic to Form New Groups,” Double Standard (December 1981): 2, Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
12. Peg Hickox and Vicki Piotter, “Notes from the Third Year,” Big Mama Rag 5, no. 3 (1977): 8, Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
13. “Celebration: Taking Back Our Day,” Big Mama Rag 5, no. 3 (1977), Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
14. “Feminist Clinic: Working for Our Lives,” Big Mama Rag 9, no. 5 (1981): 19, Gale Primary Sources, Archives of Sexuality and Gender. ↑
15. Planned Parenthood, “Historical Abortion Law Timeline: 1850 to Today,” https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/abortion-central-history-reproductive-health-care-america/historical-abortion-law-timeline-1850-today. ↑
16. Planned Parenthood, “What Is the Global Gag Rule?” Planned Parenthood Action Fund. https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/communities/planned-parenthood-global/end-global-gag-rule. ↑
17. “Feminist Clinic,” Big Mama Rag, 1981. ↑

 

Feature Image Caption: A gynecological exam. (Courtesy of the Lesbian Herstory Archive, public domain)