Dear John,

It's been a truly terrible week, on top of a terrible year. Amidst the tragedy, we can't lose track of the immense injustices that are being exposed on a daily basis. Last week, we learned of detained people being subjected to forced hysterectomies at an ICE facility in Georgia.

In response, NIRH issued a statement condemning in the strongest possible terms this and all state-sanctioned violence against Black, Indigenous, and people of color. In it, we said,

"These actions are a continuation of the United States’ history of forced sterilization, reproductive coercion, and medical experimentation on Black and brown bodies, and demonstrate how this pattern of white supremacy continues in today’s institutions of medicine, policing, and detainment.

We call on the United States government to ensure that no person experiences the type of violent reproductive coercion and oppression that we have seen in this facility. We join the numerous activists from across justice spaces in their call to abolish ICE, and further urge that any federal agency that is charged with similar responsibilities ensure that all people have the ability to make their own reproductive decisions without coercion, or violence."

While we battle on so many fronts, we cannot stop fighting for accountability and justice for all who have been harmed. We're looking to the leaders in the Reproductive Justice movement who have long been urging us to make the connection between white supremacy and reproductive injustice. Join us in signing SisterSong’s petition that calls for the dismantling of ICE and the systems that perpetuate forced sterilization, reproductive coercion, and medical experimentation on Black and brown bodies, and follow Project South to stay up to date on local work happening to combat these atrocities.

In solidarity,