In late 1994 Sunny Chapman’s boyfriend learned that the skin cancer he’d had years before had now spread to his brain, lungs, and bones. Though he had a bevy of symptoms, the extent of his illness went undiagnosed for months because he had no health insurance. As she searched for competent and cheap doctors to care for her boyfriend, Chapman wondered why they were so hard to find. Angry and frustrated, she decided to compile her own guide to low-cost and free health care in Chicago.
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The result is To Your Health, a self-published free handout that lists public and private clinics and cross-references services according to specialty–like reproductive health, AIDS, rape, drug treatment, and psychiatry. Chapman also offers tips on how to get treated.
As one of the founding members of the Chicago chapter of the Women’s Action Coalition, Chapman has masterminded many of the group’s prochoice activities, spending most Saturdays for two years guarding the American Women’s Health Center at Western and Diversey. She plans to write another pamphlet denouncing one of the antiabortionists’ most egregious claims, linking abortion to breast cancer. “It’s just not true at all. It’s a scare tactic and plays on the emotions of women seeking abortions,” she says. “Women need to know what gives them breast cancer, like smoking and eating animal products.”
At least one reader has benefited by Kirtz’s tough talk, reports Chapman. A Streetwise vendor was having trouble with a man she lived with at an SRO; he was hitting her and bringing home other women. After hearing her story, Chapman’s daughter, Emily, stuffed a complimentary copy of I Hate You into the woman’s hands and told her to read Kirtz’s article. Chapman says the woman was so inspired she finally gave the guy an ultimatum.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Nathan Mandell.
