NIRH Announces Advocacy Initiatives for 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2021
Contact: Kelly Novak, [email protected]

National Institute for Reproductive Health To Prioritize Abortion, Contraception, Maternal Health Through Partnerships with Advocacy Organizations in 24 States, Including 15 Localities

NEW YORK – Today the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) announced its advocacy initiatives for 2021. Taking a two-pronged approach to advancing reproductive freedom, NIRH will fight for equitable access to abortion and contraception, while eliminating disparities in maternal health. NIRH is partnering with state and local organizations that span 24 states, including 15 localities, and is directing the majority of its partnership resources toward working with groups that are led by Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).

“NIRH believes that in order to meet the unparalleled challenges before us and to build the broad-based movements that create lasting change, we need to continue to secure wins for reproductive health, rights, and justice at the state and local levels,” said Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health. “We are proud and honored to do this work in partnership with local and state leaders on the ground, especially Black, Indigenous, and people of color whose communities have borne the brunt of the of COVID-19 pandemic and the egregious policies of the Trump-Pence administration.”

Together with its advocacy partners, NIRH will work towards securing rights, safeguarding access, and expanding coverage for abortion care (Arizona; California – LA County; Colorado; Florida; Georgia; Illinois – Chicago/Cook County; Kentucky – Louisville; Michigan – Kalamazoo; Minnesota; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; Ohio; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Texas; and Virginia), while enhancing the availability of contraception in ways that center and honor patient autonomy and decision-making (Massachusetts; Mississippi; Pennsylvania; Wisconsin).

Working to eliminate disparities in maternal health as part of the organization’s commitment to remove barriers rooted in systemic racism for those who have been disenfranchised and oppressed, NIRH and partner organizations will also address racial injustice and health disparities in institutions such as the medical establishment and the carceral system (California; Connecticut; Maryland; New York; Rhode Island; and Tennessee).

NIRH has been providing state and local advocates with strategic guidance, hands-on support, and funding to create national change from the ground up for more than a decade. NIRH has partnered with more than 180 organizations in 77 localities and 42 states. Learn about their past and present partnership work here.

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The National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) works to protect and advance just and equitable access to reproductive health care. Our strategy is to go on the offensive to pass laws that safeguard reproductive freedom. NIRH builds coalitions, launches campaigns, and successfully advocates for policy change in partnership with state and local reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations and allied groups. We work together so that the fabric of reproductive freedom is harder to tear apart.