Desert Star Institute for Family Planning

The mission of Desert Star Institute for Family Planning is to create equitable access to reproductive health care for womb bearing people while centering Black and Indigenous people of color.

Community leaders, legislators, and advocates must understand that racial justice is a necessary component of reproductive justice. People have the right to bear children, or not, and to parent the children they have in sustainable communities free from violence. NIRH supported the newly formed Empower Alliance for Reproductive Justice – Arizona Birthworkers of Color (AZBOC), Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro (BLM PHX), Desert Star Family Planning Institute (DSFPI) and the Rooted Doula Collective (RDC) — to build capacity for community organizers and activists to engage in the legislative process and make information about reproductive justice issues more accessible to communities. Empower Alliance members supported the introduction of two proactive bills in Arizona and became more involved, and led, the broader reproductive rights coalition in Arizona, building power through amplifying and uplifting Black leadership. We are continuing our work with the Desert Star Family Planning Institute in 2023, building within the broad reproductive rights coalition to create a proactive campaign at the executive, state, and local levels in Arizona.