FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2019
Contact: Julien Martinez, [email protected], 347-229-2517
Statement from the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) Action Fund
NEW YORK – Andrea Miller, President of the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) Action Fund, released the following statement tonight commending the Democratic presidential candidates for committing to protecting abortion rights, promising to codify Roe v. Wade and explaining the links between a person’s reproductive and economic freedoms. Notably, this debate took place in Atlanta – a vital access point for reproductive health care within the state of Georgia, which earlier this year passed an unconstitutional six-week abortion ban. NIRH and Atlanta advocates and lawmakers joined forces in October to launch the Local Reproductive Freedom Index, which looks at how U.S. cities can advance reproductive freedom, and announced plans to create an official Atlanta Reproductive Justice Task Force – a Task Force that the Atlanta City Council voted to create just this week.
“There is no better city than Atlanta for the presidential candidates to boldly state their commitment and plans to protect and expand reproductive freedom,” said Andrea Miller, president of the NIRH Action Fund. “While the Trump administration continues to wage war on abortion access and reproductive freedom nationwide, cities like Atlanta are fighting back with real policy change at the local level, fueled by grassroots activism. As the NIRH Action Fund continues to work with advocates and communities from coast to coast, we thank the candidates and all-women panel of moderators for calling out Donald Trump’s promise to ‘punish’ women who have abortions, for addressing how bans on abortion access fall hardest on people of color and the poor, and for highlighting the widespread and nationwide support for abortion access advancing reproductive health, rights, and justice all across the country. Tonight, we have once again shown we will have a Democratic nominee who will ensure that the right to make decisions about your body and future remains in your control.”
For more than a decade, NIRH has been a leader in the fight to advance reproductive freedom across the country. Recently, NIRH launched the Local Reproductive Freedom Index, a report and a roadmap that evaluates the reproductive health, rights, and justice policies of cities across the United States, and offers suggestions for how any can become a more equitable community in which all people have the freedom to control their reproductive and sexual lives, the ability to choose whether and when to become parents, and the support they need to raise their families.
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The NIRH Action Fund conducts nonpartisan advocacy and electoral engagement to advance reproductive freedom in states and cities across the country.
Using a partnership model, NIRH provides state and local advocates with strategic guidance, hands-on support, and funding to create national change from the ground up. We form strategic partnerships with a wide range of organizations to directly impact the reproductive health and lives of women across the country. Each year, NIRH works in at least 20 states and more than a dozen localities; to date, NIRH has partnered with more than 170 reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations in 43 states and 64 localities across the country.