West Fund

The West Fund West Fund works to make abortions accessible and affordable to people in west Texas.

NIRH began working with the West Fund in 2017, along with Lilith Fund, Avow, and the Texas Equal Access (TEA) Fund to implement a coordinated, multi-city strategy to advance abortion access and build grassroots power on the local level. They expanded their #ReproPowerTX Campaign, which puts forth local proactive policy agendas for reproductive freedom grounded in research and community input, by launching a policy agenda in El Paso and hosted Local Repro Days of Action in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, and Houston to center the stories of people who have had abortions.

With support from NIRH in 2018, West Fund cultivated the next generation of reproductive justice advocates to pass a comprehensive sexuality education policy in school districts in El Paso County. They engaged school districts and school health advisory committees (SHACs) to promote sexual health education policies that were evidence-based, medically accurate, and supportive and inclusive of all young people, including LGBTQIA students.

In 2019, NIRH worked with West Fund to build on those efforts by educating and empowering young people to lead the charge for comprehensive sexual health education in their schools. West Fund’s continued investment in young people is rooted in their work as an abortion fund that advocates for reproductive justice while centering historically underrepresented and marginalized people and communities.

NIRH currently works with the West Fund as part of a cohort of organizations in Texas on a long-term proactive abortion policy and culture shift project to develop and advance an abortion rights vision, engage a new and broad base of supporters, and reduce shame and stigma by publicly promoting the affirmative value of abortion.