The California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom (CCRF) is wrapping up Reproductive Freedom Week, a statewide celebration and action event designed to bring awareness to the reproductive freedoms afforded to Californians and advocate for policies that continue to push the reproductive freedom agenda forward.
During this annual event, our coalition urges organizations and key individuals to support access to reproductive rights and resist the challenges imposed on those rights. This year, we are leading the charge to promote local legislative visits and also hosting a Twitter chat to raise awareness and get activists involved.
CCRF focused our advocacy efforts on three particular bills: AB 569, the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act, protects employees and their families from discrimination or retaliation based on their private decisions about whether, when, and how to start a family and what the size of their family should be. SB 320, the College Student Right to Access Act, would require university and college student health centers to provide medication abortion services. SB 743, Freedom of Choice in Family Planning, would codify into state law the federal “freedom of choice” in family planning providers’ provision for Medi-Cal managed care enrollees. Although CCRF is not a lobbying organization and does not take its own position on legislation, CCRF member organizations and their constituents are encouraged to participate by advocating for these critical reproductive health, rights and justice bills.
This year has already demonstrated the need for reproductive justice champions in our state: the ban on abortion access, the outright attack on trans people in our communities, the threat of defunding Planned Parenthood and the attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act are only a few examples of issues impacting reproductive freedom in California and across the country.
Now is the time where we must unify. Made up of 40 members across the state, our coalition is invested in intersectional approaches to liberation –not solely focusing on reproductive justice, but looking at the ways in which reproductive rights are immigrant rights, are trans and queer rights, and the ways in which we can support each other.
To join local visits in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Central Valley, email RFW@reproductivefreedomca.org. And if you’re on Twitter, join the April 13 chat about #ReproJustice for #RFW2017 and #ReproFreedom2017!
