Past Events

If you would like us to hold a workshop or training on any of the below topics, please feel free to Contact Us! 

  • April 20, 2013: Cicada Collective was founded in Denton, TX!
  • May 23, 2013: we hosted a workshop (Providing Support to LGBTQ Populations for Birth Workers) addressing how to support and care for LGBTQ pregnant populations through their pregnancy and birth journeys, with the aim of providing attendees (midwives, childbirth educators, doulas, reproductive health care providers, LGBTQ allies, birth advocates, reproductive justice organizers) the resources and skills necessary to work towards inclusive care within their practice.
  • In the first two weeks of July, we were present at and participated in the capitol protests against HB2 / SB5 in Austin, Texas, an event that has shaped the course of reproductive justice organizing  in our state ever since.
  • August 31st and September 1st, 2013: we hosted the first open abortion doula training in the state of Texas.  This event provided participants with a red state and reproductive justice focused abortion doula training with an emphasis on supporting queer and trans* / gender and sexual minority populations.
  • October 5, 2013: Noreen co-facilitated a cervix self-exam and uterine health knowledge share in Austin, TX with Hojas de Servicio and La Loba Loca.
  • October 6th, 2013: our volunteers hosted a movie screening and reception in Denton, TX for Texas Equal Access Fund’s bowl-a-thon fundraiser to raise money for abortion access (all proceeds went towards helping low-income North Texas clients needing financial assistance to obtain abortion care).
  • October 18th-21st, 2013: Yucca was featured on a panel titled Body & Land: Intersecting Environmental and Reproductive Justice at Power Shift 2013 in Pittsburgh, PA
  • November 10th – 13th, 2013: we attended the New Leadership Networking Initiative‘s convening of many diverse groups of people engaged in reproductive rights work from a variety of organizations in Austin, TX.
  • December 2013 – we began accepting clients seeking practical abortion support such as lodging, transportation to and from appointments or airports, and doula services.
  • January 29th – February 2nd, 2014: we attended the 26th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change in Houston, TX and hosted a workshop:
    • Queering Reproductive Justice: This interactive workshop will help attendees become familiar with the reproductive justice framework and articulate various ways in which queer people are included and excluded from conversations related to reproductive health. With a special emphasis on organizing in red states, this session will help participants become more comfortable advocating for queer people’s reproductive needs in traditionally hostile cultural and legislative environments.
  • In February 2014, Yucca and Noreen were both accepted as CoreAlign Generative Fellows. We attended the 2014 Fellowship Retreat in California on February 7th – 9th, where we worked to develop projects and collaborate with others in the reproductive justice movement.
  • February 21st and 22nd: we attended and presented at Take Root‘s 5th annual Red State Perspectives on Reproductive Justice conference in Norman, Oklahoma. Over the course of the conference, we presented the following:
    • Queering Reproductive Justice (Katherine Cross, Ricky Hill, Noreen Khimji, Melissa Moore, Coya Whitehat-Artichoker): Queer and trans* organizers from across the country share stories from their work and how we can work toward a collaborative coast-to-coast (and everywhere in between!) movement.
    • Visions for Our Movement: Service Provision and Practical Support in Red States, Pt. 1 (Katie Knutter, Gina Gordon, Poonam Dreyfus-Pai, Laurie Bertram Roberts, Meg Stern, K.C. Vick, Yucca Bianca Westrup): This roundtable features service providers and practical support providers from Kentucky, California, Indiana, Texas, Kansas, and Mississippi sharing their struggles and successes.
    • Mapping Our Vision: Service Provision and Practical Support in Red States, Pt. 2 (Facilitators: Sujatha Jesudason, Yucca Bianca Westrup) Speakers and participants come together in a facilitated brainstorm session to continue discussion from part one and consider the possibilities of collaboration in our movement
    • “Flyover” No More: Visions for Our Reproductive Justice Movement (Sandra Criswell, Shailey Guptka-Brietzke, Noreen Khimji, Cherisse Scott, Monica Rae Simpson, Coya Whitehat-Artichoker): A roundtable of reproductive justice organizers from Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, and Minnesota, talking about their visions for a cross-country reproductive justice movement.
    • Cross-Movement Collaborations: Environmental and Reproductive Justice (Casey Camp-Horinek, Yucca Westrup) Movements are often strengthened by learning from eachother’s successes, failures, and frameworks.  Where is the intersection of Environmental Justice and Reproductive Justice and how can we grow together?
  • April 11th, 2013: we attended NLNI‘s 15th Anniversary Spring Meeting in Amherst, Massachussetts, and spoke on a panel about our work alongside fellow new NLNI members  Bamby Salcedo, Monica Rae Simpson, and Sandra Criswell.
  • April 11th – 13th, 2014: we attended and presented at Civil Liberties and Public Policy‘s 28th Annual Conference for Student and Community Activists; From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom. Noreen spoke at the opening plenary about Cicada Collective’s work, and we also participated in the following panels:
    • Full Spectrum Doula 101: Starting a Doula Organization or Collective (Kate, Chicago Doula Circle, IL; Poonam Dreyfus-Pai, Bay Area Doula Project, CA; Noreen Khimji, Cicada Collective, TX; Lauren Mitchell, The Doula Project, NY): Full-spectrum and radical doula organizations around the country serve the needs of many communities. Though each group believes in support for all pregnant people and pregnancy outcomes, they boast different structures, resources, and missions. This strategic action session focuses on building the capacity of existing and future full-spectrum and radicaldoula groups, with personal stories, practical information, and breakout sessions. Join us to share visions, create plans, collaborate and support one another around building a national network of full-spectrum doula projects.
    • Taking Root in Flyover Country: Building Networks for Reproductive Justice (Sandra Criswell, Ricky Hill, Noreen Khimji, Bianca Yucca Westrup): Between hostile cultural climates and legislation targeted at the most marginalized, one of a red state organizer’s most pronounced barriers is isolation. Using examples of our own collaboration with each other, other red state organizers, the Take Root conference, and even coastal collaborations, we will facilitate a conversation about the importance of growing networks for red state reproductive justice and best practices for overcoming organizer isolation and nurturing relationships.
  • may - ntx-asn training 1
  • june - atx abortion doula training 
  • june - ntx-asn training