Dear John,

Black History Month is a time for us to celebrate, reflect, and commit ourselves to meaningful action.

Celebrating Black History means recognizing the leadership of Black women and all people in the movement for reproductive freedom, from creating the Reproductive Justice framework, to calling for the end of the discriminatory Hyde Amendment, to sounding the alarms of the racist underpinnings of the anti-abortion movement.

Celebrating Black History also means celebrating Black Futures and lifting up the advocates who are making history right now for the generations ahead. In the last year alone, NIRH has been proud to work with SISTA Fire [[link removed]] to pass laws increasing access to doula care for Black pregnant people in Rhode Island, with Health Equity Solutions [[link removed]] to address growing racial disparities in healthcare in Connecticut, and with the YWCA of Kalamazoo [[link removed]], which established a reproductive health fund that covers doula services, gender-affirming care, and abortion care, recognizing the full spectrum of needs for Kalamazoo’s BIPOC community.

In reflection, NIRH is examining how to further align our organizational values with Reproductive Justice values. Through our ongoing internal equity process, we continue to challenge ourselves to transform our organization's policies and practices, building an organizational culture in which everyone can thrive – including making changes to our hiring and evaluation processes, reviewing and revising our HR policies with an equity lens, and conducting periodic pay equity surveys. We know this is an ongoing journey and are committed to continuing to hold ourselves accountable.

And we commit ourselves to action, this month and every month. One example is our decision to officially prioritize partnerships with Black-led organizations and to focus much of our advocacy going forward on removing barriers rooted in systemic racism in order to end racial and economic disparities in reproductive health. Our goal is to ensure just and equitable access to the full range of reproductive health care, with an emphasis on how to improve care for those most impacted by attacks and restrictions on reproductive freedom.

Together, we continue to reckon with our past as we push ourselves to imagine and create a more just, equitable present and future.



Warmly,

Andrea Miller
President, NIRH and NIRH Action Fund



National Institute for Reproductive Health
14 Wall St
Suite 3B
New York, NY 10005
United States

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