NIRH Announces Plan To Work in 20 States to Advance Reproductive Health Equity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2022
Contact: Kelly Novak, [email protected]

NEW YORK – With reproductive freedom more in danger than ever before, today the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) announced its advocacy initiatives for 2022. NIRH will support advocacy and movement-building campaigns across 20 states, partnering with more than 25 organizations on the frontlines of the fight for reproductive freedom in cities and states across the country.

“In a year that will most likely be shaped by devastating blows to abortion access, it is more important than ever that we prioritize advancing reproductive health, rights, and justice in our cities and states, where we have the opportunity and the responsibility to fight forward,” said Andrea Miller, president of NIRH. “NIRH is laser-focused on working to pass immediate protections everywhere we can, create meaningful and equitable access to care, and build the broad-based movement needed for long-term change.”

NIRH’s work in 2022 is focused on expanding access to abortion, increasing access to contraception, and working to eliminate racial and economic disparities in reproductive health care. NIRH is the only national organization in the country working with state- and local-based groups through a robust partnership model to advance reproductive health, rights, and justice policy while also building partners’ capacity.  

NIRH’s 2022 partnerships reflect the patchwork of political realities, needs, and opportunities in different communities. For example: 

• NIRH is working with advocates in Oregon to establish a robust reproductive health care infrastructure – which will be all the more necessary when access to abortion care is curtailed in neighboring states and across the country. 
• NIRH is partnering with abortion funds in Chicago and Los Angeles to secure municipal funding for abortion, including for people who will need to travel to these cities for care. 
• In Baltimore, New York City, and Washington DC, where systemic barriers disproportionately harm people of color, NIRH is partnering with Black-led organizations to increase access to quality care for Black birthing people. 
• In Michigan, Minnesota, and New Jersey, NIRH is collaborating with organizations advancing proactive policies to protect abortion access
• In Florida, Georgia, and Texas, NIRH is working with long-time partners to counter new attacks and push back with an affirmative agenda
• In Arizona, NIRH is working alongside reproductive justice advocates to challenge the entrenched conservative powers in the state and to expand access to high-quality care to Black birthing people.

See the full list of NIRH’s 2022 partnerships here. 

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. In that time, NIRH has partnered with more than 200 organizations in 80 localities and 43 states. 

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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.