Repro Roundup 06.05
Happy Pride Month! We’re thrilled to kick off the summer season with a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community and a recommitment to collective liberation, bodily autonomy, reproductive equity, and queer and trans justice.
We cannot separate the fights for reproductive equity and queer and trans liberation. The providers who support patients seeking abortion care often also provide gender-affirming care. Queer and trans abortion seekers face the most hurdles to abortion access. The attacks on our reproductive futures and queer bodies come from the same sources. That’s why, as organizers for abortion access and reproductive equity, we must show up for our LGBTQ+ friends and neighbors. We are all in this fight together – and we’re stronger when we link arms.
You can find Repro Equity Now at Pride events across New England this summer! Come say hi, help us hand out Plan B and information about abortion care access, and celebrate the resilience of the LGBTQ+ community in our region. We invite you to reach out if you’re interested in volunteering with us at a Pride event!
On to this week’s headlines –
News from New England
→ New Hampshire Joint Session Recap
Yesterday was a whirlwind as both the New Hampshire House and Senate voted on crucial bills and budgetary items impacting reproductive equity. We wanted to send you a quick update on what happened:
✅ Confidential Birth Control Access for Teens
Great news - the House and Senate did not move forward with banning access to confidential birth control for teens! Thanks to your advocacy, our legislators heard us loud and clear - no restrictions on birth control!
✅ Momnibus 2.0
More great news - the Senate passed their version of the budget and it includes key pieces of Momnibus 2.0, which will improve maternal mental health, expand family supports, and support moms across New Hampshire!
🆗 NH Family Planning Program
While the House’s budget eliminated the New Hampshire Family Planning Program, the Senate passed a budget proposal that restores partial funding for the Program. However, the funding allocated is insufficient to support the whole program, and we will once again have to ask our providers to do more with less.
❌ Access to Health Care for Trans Youth
We are deeply disappointed that the Senate passed two bills that ban access to health care for transgender youth. These bills ban all gender-affirming surgeries and the administration of puberty blockers or hormone therapy for all transgender young people under the age of 18, regardless of parental consent and consultations with medical professionals.
While yesterday brought us some big wins and some heartbreaking losses, we are buoyed by the strength of our collective advocacy and heartened by your unwavering commitment to advocating for reproductive equity for all Granite Staters. We’ll check back in soon with next steps.
→ Connecticut Session 2025 Concludes
The Connecticut Session came to a close and we were thrilled to see critical legislation to protect minors’ access to birth control and pregnancy-related care and to improve maternal health outcomes get over the finish line. Stay tuned for more information coming soon about how our priorities ended up!
→ NBC 10: Lawmakers consider further protections for abortion rights in Massachusetts
Our Senior Director of Policy and Programs, Claire, joined NBC10 last Friday to discuss what actions Massachusetts can take to further expand and secure abortion care access. As Claire pointed out, we have already seen threats to abortion access from the Trump Administration, from the rollback of EMTALA protections, to the defunding of Planned Parenthood, to the loss of access to abortion care for active-duty military, to the commitment to “review” the approval of mifepristone. We know that the Trump Administration and its allies will continue to attack abortion access and abortion providers – which is why our state leaders must meet this moment and ensure our rights are protected so that Massachusetts can remain a beacon for abortion access.
→ Providers in New Hampshire Say: Hands Off Birth Control for Teens
Over 200 medical providers in New Hampshire signed on to our petition, leading to the legislature halting their efforts to restrict confidential access to birth control for Granite State teens. We’re proud to have partnered with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and the New Hampshire Reproductive Rights Coalition to launch this petition, and are deeply grateful to the providers who have raised their voices in support of birth control access and bodily autonomy for Granite Staters of all ages. Confidential access to birth control ensures that teenagers in New Hampshire can get the health care they need. Granite State teens need our trust and support – and access to comprehensive health care.
→ The Real Story: Access to Birth Control for Minors in Connecticut
Speaking of protecting birth control access for minors across New England, our Connecticut State Director, Liz, joined our friend Gretchen from Planned Parenthood Connecticut Votes! on Fox 61’s the Real Story to discuss the passage of HB 7123, legislation that protects access to birth control and pregnancy care for minors in the Nutmeg State. This legislation clarifies what is already best practice in Connecticut, which is that teenagers can consent to birth control care and the full spectrum of pregnancy care without parental notification. We’re excited to see this legislation move to the Governor’s desk for a signature!
→ Christina on One Quick Thing Podcast
We were honored to have Christina, our New Hampshire State Director, join the up and coming New Hampshire-based podcast One Quick Thing to break down the state of play with New Hampshire Family Planning Program funding, confidential access to birth control, and how Reproductive Equity Now is fighting back against anti-abortion extremism in the Granite State. You can find the episode wherever you normally stream your podcasts, or watch a video of the recording here on YouTube!
→ Advocacy Briefing for Legislators on the Location Shield Act!
Claire joined fellow advocates at the State House earlier this week to give legislators a briefing on the Location Shield Act, a priority bill for us this session that would crack down on unregulated data brokers and protect the location data of anyone in the Bay State. As the Trump Administration ramps up attacks on abortion providers and patients and anti-abortion states increase their surveillance of residents seeking abortion care, it is crucial that Massachusetts steps up and expands its protections of the location data of everyone in the Bay State.
→ LTE: Remember who voted to defund Family Planning
It is critical that we hold New Hampshire House members accountable for their efforts to defund the Family Planning Program. We’re grateful to Kyle from Raymond, NH for writing this Letter to the Editor, specifically calling out Representatives Cindy Bennett, Mike Drago and Brian Nadeau, who represent Raymond, home to Lamprey Health, a federally qualified health center and participant in the New Hampshire Family Planning Program, which will lose funding if the program is cut from the budget.
Are you interested in writing an LTE in your local publication calling out your reps for defunding the Family Planning Program? Reach out to us! We can support your writing with templates and submission guidance.
→ Working to Expand Massachusetts’ Shield Law
Our Sr. Director of Policy & Programs, Claire, also testified in front of the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee on a proposed expansion of the state's “shield law,” which enables providers in the Bay State to use telemedicine to provide abortion care nationwide, regardless of the location of the patient. This proposed expansion will strengthen the existing shield law by allowing providers not to be listed as the prescriber on a bottle of medication abortion. A telemedicine abortion provider in New York is currently facing civil and criminal charges in Louisiana and Texas for providing medication abortion care to patients in both states, where there are strict abortion bans. These cases show that the threat to telemedicine providers is real and rising – and we need to ensure providers’ identities are protected so they can keep providing this life-affirming medical care.
National Notice
→ Trump Administration Rolls Back EMTALA Guidance on Abortion Care, Allowing Anti-Abortion States to Deny Life-Saving Medical Care to Pregnant People
This week, the Trump Administration rescinded federal guidance requiring hospitals to provide life-saving emergency abortion care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, otherwise known as EMTALA. What does this mean? Bottom line: More pregnant people will be left to suffer and die in hospital parking lots after being denied emergency abortion care. Here in New England, we’re not immune. This revocation of policy creates dangerous gray areas that could ultimately delay or deny life-saving care if we do not move to protect emergency abortion at the state level. Read our statement on how we’re taking action.
→ FDA Chief Moves to “Review” Mifepristone
Trump-appointed Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Martin Mackary, has committed to reviewing the safety of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in the gold-standard protocol for medication abortion, in a letter to Sen. Josh Hawley this past week. Sen. Hawley, the husband of the lead lawyer for the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, who sued the FDA to have mifepristone taken off the market last year, has been advocating for the FDA to limit access to mifepristone on the basis of a pseudo-scientific study, despite mifepristone’s decades-long record of safety and efficacy.
However, in a spot of good news – and a reminder of the importance of state-based leadership – we are grateful to see Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell join attorneys general from New York, New Jersey, and California in filing a citizens petition to the FDA requesting that restrictions on mifepristone be lifted. The FDA is required to respond to this petition within 180 days, after which point petitioners have the option to appeal and take the issue to court. We are grateful to Attorney General Campbell for her leadership.
→ National Health Law Program: Celebrating the Anniversary of Griswold and Contraception Autonomy
Tomorrow, June 7th, marks 60 years since Griswold v. Connecticut, the landmark Supreme Court decision that first recognized the constitutional right to contraception for married couples. Our friends at the National Health Law Program remind us of the importance of Griswold, and that contraception is both essential health care and one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. Contraception:
✅ improves physical health and lowers maternal and infant mortality
✅ supports higher education, workforce participation, and economic mobility
✅ helps reduce childhood and generational poverty.
Get Involved!
📍ANYWHERE! Join the Abortion Access Advocates!
Abortion Access Advocates is a regional network of abortion advocates who are learning and growing together in their advocacy. Join us for our June meeting of AAA, where we will have a conversation to examine and understand the relationship between LGBTQ+ justice and reproductive equity. Register here to join us on Monday, June 9th, from 7:00pm to 7:45pm!
📍NEW HAMPSHIRE and CONNECTICUT! Say hi 👋at PRIDE!!
We’ll be handing out emergency contraception, stickers, and information about accessing abortion care across New England at various Pride festivals. We can’t wait to see you! Find us at:
📍LITTLETON, NH @ North Country Pride! June 21st at the Riverfront Commons
📍WEST HARTFORD, CT @ West Hartford Pride! June 21st at the West Hartford Town Hall
📍NORTH CONWAY, NH @ White Mountains Pride Festival! June 28th at North Conway Community Center Park
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 and Connecticut-based health care providers and helpers, as well as patients obtaining care in Connecticut or Massachusetts, with free legal advice and resources about abortion access. This resource is now available in Spanish.
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. This resource is now available in Spanish.
Want to learn more about how to combat anti-abortion centers in your community? Check out Reproductive Equity Now’s guidebook on anti-abortion centers to understand how anti-abortion centers often use deceptive practices to target patients seeking abortion care, and get the tools you need to avoid them.
Thank you so much for powering this fight. We’re grateful to have you in the movement with us.
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