Repro Round Up 10.6.2023
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the Reproductive Equity Now team!
Here’s a run down of what’s been going on with our organization and our movement:
→ ICYMI! Repro Equity Now has officially expanded into Connecticut and New Hampshire, putting us one step closer to building a regional block for abortion access right here in New England.
This moment of crisis demands that our movement go on offense. We are working to make sure New England not only remains a place where people can come to access protected abortion care, but to build our political power by creating coalitions and movement strength across state lines. As anti-abortion extremists have worked state by state to build regional abortion deserts, wiping out access to essential health care for millions of people across the South and Midwest, we can go state by state to build regional protections for abortion care.
ACTION ITEM: Check out the press coverage on our expansion.
Connecticut Mirror: CT joins other New England states to form regional reproductive rights coalition
Connecticut Public Radio: Advocacy Group Expands into Connecticut to Bring Abortion Care to People from Restrictive States
Boston Globe, NH Edition: A Massachusetts reproductive rights organization expands into N.H.
New Hampshire Bulletin: A Massachusetts abortion rights group sets its eyes on New Hampshire
Axios: Advocates seek to build a regional New England abortion rights haven
Ms. Magazine: New England Advocates Build a Regional Model for Abortion Rights
ACTION ITEM: Share our social media posts to spread the word!
ACTION ITEM: Support our expansion by becoming a monthly sustainer.
New England Roundup
→ Reproductive, Maternal Health Advocates Rally to Expand Access to Midwives in MA
Maternal health and reproductive equity groups joined together at the Massachusetts State House Thursday to advocate for legislation to expand access to midwifery care. Midwife Advocacy Day comes after a recent Massachusetts Department of Public Health report revealed that rates of severe maternal morbidity in Massachusetts nearly doubled over a decade, disproportionately impacting Black mothers in the state. A new City of Boston report this week also revealed that the mortality rate among Black infants in Boston was three times higher than the mortality rate for white infants. These staggering data come as four maternity units and two birth centers have also closed across Massachusetts since 2020, reducing birth options and access to care. Read the full story.
→ Connecticut nonprofit daycare builds housing for teachers in New Haven to fight high housing costs
A Connecticut daycare center, Friends Center for Children, is providing rent-free housing for its teachers at different phases of their lives including multi-family housing and single-family homes. This comes as rental costs hit new highs, while the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed that the national median salary for child care workers was $28,520. This is yet another reminder that child care, fair wages, and affordable housing are all interconnected reproductive equity issues! Read more.
→Boston Globe: AG Campbell launches reproductive justice unit, appoints Sapna Khatri as director
This week, Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder had the opportunity to join Attorney General Andrea Campbell as she announced the new Director of the Reproductive Justice Unit at the Attorney General’s Office. We can’t wait to work with Sapna Khatri to ensure every person across our state knows their rights to obtain legitimate reproductive health care. This Repro Justice Unit is further proof that the Attorney General is committed to using her office to advance reproductive equity across Massachusetts! Read the full story.
National Notice
→ New Report: Effects of the Dobbs Decision on OB-GYN Residents' Practice Plans
A new paper in the journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology this week found that one in five OB-GYN residents altered their intended practice state following the Dobbs decision. According to the report, residents who before the Dobbs decision intended to practice in abortion-restrictive states were eight times more likely to change their practice plans than those who planned to practice in protected states. We knew that this decision would impact the provider workforce, and we are going to continue to see these trends of OB-GYNs leaving hostile states, impacting access to basic pregnancy and maternity care for those who need it most.
→ Rewire: Will Conservatives Use the ‘Crisis Pregnancy Center’ Playbook to Attack Trans People?
Anti-abortion and anti-trans extremists have been borrowing from each other's playbooks for decades. From disinformation campaigns to targeted harassment and deception, they'll stop at nothing to control our bodies and limit our access to health care. Garnet Henderson’s latest column takes a look at the anti-trans movement’s next front: using the “crisis pregnancy center” model to attack gender-affirming care. Read the full story.
→ New Yorker: The Next Targets for the Group That Overturned Roe
The New Yorker published a (horrifying) piece this week on the Alliance for Defending Freedom, the far-right, fascist organization that fought to overturn Roe v. Wade, and is now leading legal proceedings to withdraw FDA approval of mifepristone. The piece explores the group’s next front: overturning the constitutional right to gay marriage, creating religious exemptions to anti-discrimination laws, attacking trans rights, and banning birth control pills.
→ Abortion Every Day: The Antis are Shifting Their Language Around Abortion Bans
Jessica Valenti has been taking a hard look at the ways that anti-abortion extremists are shifting their messaging around abortion bans in the wake of the Dobbs decision. These extremists are now trying to remove the word “ban” from their vernacular, despite BANNING abortion. They know that abortion bans are extremely unpopular and so instead, are framing 15-week abortion bans as a so-called “common sense compromises.” Check out this ad from a Virginia State Senator candidate who is doing just that.
To be clear: there is nothing common sense about abortion bans. And there is absolutely zero compromising on basic health care access. A ban—at any point in pregnancy—is a BAN, plain and simple.
Get Involved!
- MASSACHUSETTS -
→ Reproductive Equity Now has announced its next leg of “Organizing for Equity: The Roe’d Show! We’ll be heading to Holyoke and Salem this fall to dig in together on the state of abortion access, how to talk about abortion like an advocate, ways to identify (& avoid) those dangerous and deceptive anti-abortion centers, and how we can build an unstoppable movement for repro equity together. We’d love for you to join us!
Holyoke | Organizing for Equity
Monday, October 23rd | 6 - 7:30PM
RSVP for Holyoke location details!
Salem | Organizing for Equity
Monday, November 13th | 6 - 7:30PM
RSVP for Salem location details!
→ It’s Voter Education Week! Check your Massachusetts voter registration, register if you have not already, and send this to three friends to make sure they do the same! Friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor: this is how we move mountains on Election Day.
- CONNECTICUT -
→ Join advocates, union members, and community members tomorrow, October 7th, for the Rally to Protect Trans Youth in New Haven! The rally will begin at 12PM at 141 Church Street, Federal Court, New Haven. Learn more!
→ It’s Voter Education Week! Check your Connecticut voter registration, register if you have not already, and send this to three friends to make sure they do the same! Friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor: this is how we move mountains on Election Day.
- NEW HAMPSHIRE -
→ The Lovering Health Center, one of New Hampshire’s two independent abortion clinics, is hosting its annual fundraiser, Cheers for Choice, in Portsmouth on October 12th! Repro Equity Now New Hampshire State Director Christina Warriner will be speaking at the event, followed by desserts and dancing (what’s better than that?!). Purchase your tickets for the fundraiser HERE.
→ Equality Health Center, New Hampshire’s other independent abortion clinic, will host its First Annual Fall Gala on October 26th in Concord. The evening of celebration will honor Dr. Patricia Glowa, who has been a provider and educator at Equality Health Center for over 20 years. Purchase your tickets for the Gala HERE.
→ It’s Voter Education Week! Check your New Hampshire voter registration, register if you have not already, and send this to three friends to make sure they do the same! Friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor: this is how we move mountains on Election Day.
Our Resources
→ Need to understand your legal rights to provide or access abortion care? Reproductive Equity Now’s Abortion Legal Hotline will help connect Massachusetts-based health care providers and helpers, as well as patients obtaining care in Massachusetts, with free legal advice and resources about abortion access.
→ Looking for an abortion provider in your area? Our New England Abortion Care Guide allows you to search by zip code for legitimate abortion clinics near you. It even flags dangerous and deceptive anti-abortion centers to avoid at all costs.
→ Do you want to help advance reproductive equity in your community? Our Win & Deliver Toolkit offers policy proposals and supporting materials to serve as a starting point for municipal leaders looking to move the needle forward on reproductive equity.
Thank you so much for powering this fight. We’re grateful to have you in the movement with us.
