One of the central missions of Rewire is to counter the vast amount of misinformation about reproductive health issues with facts and objective research. Our reader survey showed that some of the most highly regarded sections of Rewire are the Wiki sections in which we attempt to fulfill that mission. They are About the Right, Policy Watch, Issue Briefs, Reckless Rhetoric, and the Reproductive Health Glossary.

These sections of our site were launched earlier this year and up until recently the entries had been authored by Rewire staff. But they have always been publicly open to editing and new submissions. Our hope is that our very appreciated community of reproductive health professionals, activists, and informed citizens will take ownership of this content, to help us counter misinformation with a mountain of evidence-based research and facts. In order to build momentum toward this goal, we realized that we needed a core group of dedicated volunteers to get the ball rolling.

We put out the call for volunteer Wiki editors and six highly-qualified, wonderful people answered; each of whom we are proud to welcome to the Rewire team:

Cristin McArdle currently leads a research team working on an adoption study that assesses birth parent adjustment following the placement of a child for adoption. Her team also consults and publishes on other psychological related reproductive issues.

Sumita Thapar lives and works in India. She works for a non-profit media and communications research group. Her research focus has been on gender and HIV. She has a journalism background with experience as a writer and an editor.

Stacey Burns currently directs Minnesota’s Abortion Provider Expansion Project, a collaborative program jointly administered by Pro-Choice Resources and the NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota Foundation that seeks to address the significant barriers to reproductive health care access in the Midwest.

Laura Hautala is a feminist, pro-choice activist and avid blog reader. She says she is “thrilled to help counter such restrictions by editing factual, accurate Web documents on these topics.”

Masimba Biriwasha is a children's writer, poet, playwright, journalist, social activitist and publisher. He has experience working with HIV and AIDS issues in Zimbabwe and Thailand. He is currently working for Health & Development Networks, an HIV/AIDS advocacy organization based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Masimba also writes for Rewire's Global Perspectives team.

This team has hit the ground running with new and edited Wiki entries including a backgrounder in About the Right on Operation Rescue, glossary entries for Manual Vaccum Aspiration and Selective Reduction and an update to the Issue Briefs entry Access to Abortion.

If you are interested in joining this worthy effort click here to read about how easy it is to start adding and editing content. And be sure to request to join our Rewire Wiki Editors Google Group to participate in some valuable collaboration. Please contact me, brady [at] rhrealitycheck [dot] org, with any questions about our reproductive health Wiki project.