John,

Like the NIRH team, you may be isolating and worrying about what the future may hold -- while continuously washing your hands. Today we’re thinking about you, our community. We’re thinking about those who have gotten sick or are caring for sick loved ones. We’re thinking of the health care workers on the frontlines. We’re thinking about the pregnant people who will be giving birth during a health care crisis, and about those in need of abortion care, who may be unsure of when and how they can access they care they need. Reproductive health care cannot be put on hold in times of crisis. And it should not be subject to further attack by those who are exploiting the pandemic to further their opposition to abortion care.

Now is the time to draw closer together and to support one another through education and advocacy. NIRH will be launching a periodic roundup of some of the most important issues we are working on and tracking related to reproductive health care amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHAT WE’RE DOING

• Creating resources to secure access to abortion care: Say it with us now -- abortion is essential. As states started to evaluate whether to close down “non-essential” services, we disseminated suggestions for state and local advocates to ensure that abortion care and other forms of time-sensitive reproductive health care remain secure in the coming days, weeks, and months. And, as always, our team is available to assist partners to help make that happen.
• Supporting our partners in cities and states across the country: We’ve checked in with the reproductive health, rights, and justice groups with which we partner in half the states in the country. They are on the frontlines -- working with state officials and hospital systems to ensure access, learning how to do advocacy and organizing remotely, and joining fights for telemedicine, paid sick and family leave, and economic justice to help their communities make it through this time.
• Helping clinics combat intense protest activity: We helped the Louisville Safety Zone Committee, which is fighting for a clinic protection law around the only independent abortion clinic in Kentucky, to create an emergency outreach strategy to notify the authorities about crowds of anti-abortion protestors endangering the health of patients and clinic staff.

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING

• Status of abortion provision in the states: Rewire news has analyzed the status of abortion provisions in each state -- showing which states have classified abortion as an essential service and which have moved to restrict access. We're grateful to so many of our partners who are fighting hard to keep clinics open, wherever and however possible. While we don’t know what the next few weeks and months will bring, we know that staying safe is a community endeavor.
• Local action: The National League of Cities and Bloomberg Philanthropies have teamed up to create a Local Action Tracker, collecting and sharing actions taken by local leaders in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Because as NIRH always says, where the federal government fails us, it’s up to state and local governments to lead the way.
• Focus on telemedicine: As clinics come under threat and states issue shelter-in-place advisories, the spread of the Coronavirus is making the case for abortion via telemedicine. As the Guttmacher Institute reports, telehealth can improve care to underserved communities.
• New wave of attacks on abortion care: Anti-abortion activists and politicians have exploited the crisis to push abortion out of reach by classifying it as a non-essential service, petitioning for clinics to be shut down, and continuing to protest en masse at clinics while jeopardizing patients’ safety. Thankfully, just last night, federal judges blocked unjustified COVID-19-related bans on abortion care in Alabama, Ohio, and Texas.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Stay safe, stay informed: Please continue to stop the spread of the virus by following all necessary guidelines from the CDC and your local authorities.
• Make sure you’re counted: Take a moment to fill out the Census.
• Spread necessary information: Share the New York Times editorial making the case that in a time like this, we need to make abortion more available, not less.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold, we will continue to share updates like this with you all. In the meantime, please keep washing those hands, stay home if you can, practice social distancing, and take care of yourself.

Thank you, again, for being a part of our community.