Reproductive Justice Priorities

The Black-women-led state organizations we lead our work with include:

Health Equity, Care, Access

• Invest federal and state funding in the identification and amelioration of diseases and conditions that inequitably impact Black women, including those caused by social determinants of health.
• Recruit a diverse, representative, and responsive health care workforce that hears Black women, especially in state run health care facilities, and require training on timely and appropriate treatment for all races and ethnicities.
• Expand access to mental health services through new flexibilities granted by federal law.

Maternal Health and Pregnancy Care

• Reimburse care provided by doulas and midwives, appoint doulas and midwives to Maternal Mortality Review Committees, and allow birth centers to operate under midwifery supervision.
• Implement Medicaid coverage for holistic maternity care for at least one year postpartum.
• Require comprehensive coverage for fertility care and treatment.

Abortion Access

• Eliminate all restrictions on abortion care, including waiting periods, surgical setting requirements, and parental consent or notification.
• Provide public funding for all abortion care services and invest in community-based providers.
• Protect all access to medication abortion.

Comprehensive Sexual Education & Contraceptive Equity

• Leverage federal ESSER funding to implement comprehensive sexual health education.
• Require comprehensive and medically-accurate sexual education in all public schools.
• Permit the purchase of birth control pills over-the-counter.

Voting Right

• Protect the rights of all citizens to access the ballot box, including by removing undue barriers to voting and ensuring every eligible vote is counted.

Economic Justice

• Increase the minimum wage to $15 and link future increases to the consumer price index.
• Leverage federal funding to provide free state-run childcare for working families and students.
• Implement a state-based paid leave program.

Public Health and Community Safety

• Invest public safety funding into restorative justice approaches, including emergency response services that involve community-based social workers and mental health professionals.
• Leverage the federal Sexual Assault Services Grant Program to conduct research with data disaggregated by race.

Environmental Justice

• Prioritize environmental justice, including increasing access to clean water, in implementing Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding and any future investments.

What Can You Do?

• Read more about In Our Own Voice’s state advocacy priorities for 2023 (PDF).
• Use our resources to advocate in your state.
• Meet with your members of Congress or their staff.
• Attend a public forum or town hall and ask a question. Call the district offices of your senators and representative to request a list of events near you.
• Submit an op-ed to your local paper.
• Use Facebook or Twitter to engage your members of Congress.
• Send an action alert message to your members of Congress or call your members of Congress.
• Contact our government affairs staff for advocacy strategies and useful resources.