Pastor Wilhemena Baxter

Pastor Wilhemena Baxter is a political activist and renowned quilter in Darren. Pastor Baxter, along with Wendy Muholland, has been organizing the Alice Disaster Quilting society workshops for many years. In addition to providing artististic workshops these classes double as political activism training for people in support of women's reproductive rights.

Personal life
Pastor Baxter was born in Darren but in the small town of Bliperny. She married at a young age to a Samuel Yeol. Samuel Yeol became an alcoholic, abusive husband and father. Wilhemena's pastor, Leonard Smoth, surprisingly advised her to leave her husband and take her two children, away from the abusive situation. It took a religious leader advising her to leave to make Pastor Baxter realize it was not God's will for her and her children to remain in such a dangerous situation. Pastor Wilhemena became a single mother and raised her children by herself. She later became pastor in the Presbyterian Church of Darren. She was the first woman pastor of this church.

Pastor Baxter recently remarried, at the age of 62 to Tom Baxter. Tom Baxter is supportive of Pastor Baxter's activism.

Political Background and Activity
Wilhemena Baxter, worked as a nurse in the emergency room of a hospital from 1970 - 1995. There she and Wendy Mulholland saw many women arriving to the hospital with botched abortions. They witnessed many deaths and injuries It was this experience that caused her to start her political activism. She has been instrumental in getting laws passed that protect abused wives, girlfriends and children, force government to pay for all contraceptives, and remove from felony status the laws against abortion.

Wilhemena is well respected in the field of public health. Her grandmotherly appearance is very deceiving to some of the male conservatives who have debated with her about women's reproductive rights. She is a superb debater and usually makes her opponents look foolish.

Le grève du sexe
Pastor Baxter and Wendy Mulholland were the initiators of the reproductive rights Le grève du sexe. Their first strike was to promote government coverage of all contraceptives. Since 2000 all contraceptives in Darren are free of charge. This actually reduced the abortion rate in the country from 25% to 10%. They were supported in this venture by Marcella Rousseau, wife of the present Prince of Darren, much to the chagrin of her husband Reny Rousseau. In addition to providing monetary support Marcella also appeared in clandestine 'advertisements' about the strike. Madame Rousseau has continued to support all of Wilhemena Baxter's strikes and programs since then.