News & Updates
Media Inquiries
If you’re a member of the media and looking to speak with an expert at Reproductive Equity Now, contact our press team at press@reproequitynow.org!
If you have a general question or comment, please email info@reproequitynow.org.
MassLive | Who is John Deaton, the long-shot Republican trying to unseat Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren?
In an April 5 letter, Rebecca Hart Holder, the president of Boston-based Reproductive Equity Now, asked Deaton to clarify his position on the critical issue, writing that his “campaign website has virtually no information about your policy platform.”
Hart Holder also wrote that she was concerned about “extreme, anti-abortion statements from your senior campaign leadership.”
Politico Massachusetts Playbook | Roe Fallout
MEANWHILE — The abortion-rights advocacy group Reproductive Equity Now is urging the most prominent of Warren’s current Republican U.S. Senate rivals, John Deaton, to clarify his stance on abortion access. The group is also calling out Deaton over anti-abortion messages that his campaign manager, Michael Gorecki, posted online years ago, according to a letter that REN President Rebecca Hart Holder sent to Deaton’s campaign on Monday that was obtained by Playbook.
NBC Boston | Trump's comments on abortion met with frustration on both sides
“It’s wrong to leave people behind. One in three women live in a state with an abortion ban and our rights are not negotiable,” said Rebecca Hart of Reproductive Equity Now.
News 12 Connecticut | CT leaders 'encouraged' after Supreme Court abortion pill hearing
In Connecticut, almost two-thirds of all abortions are induced through medicine. Liz Gustafson had one six years ago.
“Because I knew then, and I still know now, just how safe and effective medication abortion is, I made a decision that was best for my circumstances,” said Gustafson, who is now the Connecticut director for Reproductive Equity Now.
Boston Globe | Warren slams abortion pill access case as ‘partisan politics’ ahead of Supreme Court arguments
“I am not at all surprised to see that the numbers are increasing in a post-Dobbs world,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, an executive director of Reproductive Equity Now. “Now that is because women and people who can get pregnant and the providers of abortion care are resilient. We shouldn’t have to be resilient, we should not have to travel for care. We should not have to have pills mailed to our homes from states like Massachusetts.”
CT Mirror | Bill would protect those at religious hospitals who offer care info
“While providers at Catholic health institutions may be barred from providing reproductive care and gender-affirming care under the institution’s directives, they can also face employment repercussions simply for giving their patients accurate information about their health and where they can access care,” Liz Gustafson, Connecticut state director of Reproductive Equity Now said in written testimony. “The lack of any information sharing about where else a patient might be able to go to seek care can lead to devastating delays. Patients may not even be aware that a health care facility would deny them both health care services and medically accurate information regarding their health.
NBC Boston | Here's why abortion will be such a big issue for the ballot come November
Rebecca Hart Holder is with the group Reproductive Equity Now. She says the issue is galvanizing for Democrats.
“Vote. That is what we have to do, “ Hart Holder told NBC10 Boston. “We have to turn out and vote and make our voices heard.”
The Boston Globe | Abortion doulas help patients navigate the fraught landscape of a post-Dobbs world
As of 2020, the majority of counties in Rhode Island, Vermont, and New Hampshire did not have an abortion clinic, according to a report from the Guttmacher Institute, and geography can likewise be a barrier in parts of Massachusetts and Maine. According to Reproductive Equity Now, crisis pregnancy centers, antiabortion facilities that have been accused of posing as reproductive health care clinics, outnumber legitimate providers in New England.
The Connecticut Mirror | This Abortion Provider Appreciation Day, CT should do more to protect providers
As abortion providers and advocates in the Nutmeg State, we are reflecting on these big changes for Hartford GYN today and especially Sunday, March 10 — on Abortion Provider Appreciation Day. This day honors the life of Dr. David Gunn, an incredibly brave physician who provided abortion care across the deep South, and who was murdered by an anti-abortion extremist on this day in 1993. We celebrate this holiday to honor our communities’ providers, but also recognize and recommit to protecting these heroes as threats against abortion providers rise again in the post-Dobbs era.
New Hampshire Bulletin | How you can invest in compassionate reproductive health care in New Hampshire
March 10 is Abortion Provider Appreciation Day, and we encourage you to show up for your local reproductive health care providers the same way they show up for our communities each and every day. Here’s how you can do that.
WSHU Public Radio | CT lawmakers consider bill requiring insurance companies to expand IVF coverage
“Current Connecticut law only requires private insurance providers to cover fertility treatment for people who meet a limited definition of infertility that is defined in reference to heterosexual intercourse,” Gustafson said. “Because of this narrow definition, single individuals and LGBTQ+ families have been excluded from this coverage requirement.”
News 12 Connecticut | CT doctors push for expanded fertility treatment for LGBTQ+ patients
“The cost of fertility care, such as IVF, can range from $1,000 to tens of thousands of dollars,” said Liz Gustafson, Connecticut state director for Reproductive Equity Now.
CT Post | CT insurers would have to cover fertility treatments for singles and LGBTQ residents under bill
Pavalock-D'Amato asked Liz Gustafson, state director for Reproductive Equity Now, details on the Alabama court ruling. "They explained and described and defined an embryo as an extra-uterine child, which is really dangerous in paving the way for personhood laws that is not rooted in science and has been utilized by anti-abortion and anti-assisted reproduction extremists in effort to limit access to the full range of comprehensive reproductive health care," Gustafson said.
The Granite Post | NH GOP’s stance on personhood echoes Alabama IVF decision
The sentiment was echoed by Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now, whose organization has begun expanding into New Hampshire in September of last year. She said the NH GOP’s platform spoke for itself. “The Alabama IVF ruling is proof positive that banning abortion has never been the end-game for the anti-abortion movement….
Boston Globe | And now they’ve come for IVF.
“The Dobbs decision was the midpoint in the strategy, it is not the end,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, head of Reproductive Equity Now. “They want to turn back the clock by decades.”
NBC Boston | Alabama embryo ruling raises concerns for IVF availability across the country
In a statement, Rebecca Hart Holder, the president of Reproductive Equity Now, also blasted the decision.
"Not only does this ruling put IVF and family planning at risk in Alabama, but it paves the way for the far-right's use of 'fetal personhood' statutes, which can and will be used to broadly restrict access to abortion, contraception, and assisted reproduction nationwide," Hart Holder said.
MassLive.com | Company tracked visits to 600 Planned Parenthood clinics, investigation finds
“This latest report proves that Massachusetts is not immune from 21st century anti-abortion attacks — this data privacy crisis is right here in our backyard. If these extremists are able to use our location data to target abortion seekers with digital advertising, they can also use it to harass, threaten, or litigate against patients and providers in our state. Massachusetts has a responsibility to protect our location data and ensure that this personal information cannot be sold to hostile, out-of-state actors,” Hart Holder said.
Worcester Telegram and Gazette | Mass lawmakers eye full insurance coverage for pregnancy care favorably
“More than 1.7 million Massachusetts residents have opted for a low-cost/high deductible health care plan,” said Claire Teylouni, of Reproductive Equity Now, at a hearing on the bill held in May. The number of residents opting for those low-cost plans has risen from 14% to 43% of people paying for private, commercial market insurers since 2013.
Mass Live | Worcester woman’s lawsuit against Clearway Clinic can go forward, report says
Clearway Clinic has been dubbed a crisis pregnancy center and is on Reproductive Equity Now’s list of “fake women’s health centers.” Crisis pregnancy centers often set themselves up near abortion clinics and are sometimes funded by organizations “that oppose abortion in any and all circumstances,” Reproductive Equity Now’s website reads.
NBC Boston/New England Cable News | Lawsuit against Worcester pregnancy crisis center can move forward, judge rules
“The allegations are very serious,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, the president of Reproductive Equity Now, which fights to expand access to abortion. “Anti-abortion centers are dangerous to people who are seeking unbiased medically accurate information about their options when they have an unintended pregnancy.”