Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
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Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice JULY 2019 ENDORSING ORGANIZATIONS #VOTEPROCHOICE National Council of Jewish Women Abortion Care Network National Family Planning & Reproductive Advocates for Youth Health Association AIDS Alliance for Women, Infants, Children, National Health Law Program Youth & Families National Institute for Reproductive Health All-Options National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health All* Above All National LGBTQ Task Force American Atheists National Network of Abortion Funds American Jewish World Service National Organization for Women American Medical Student Association National Partnership for Women & Families American Sexual Health Association National Women’s Health Network AVAC National Women’s Law Center Black Mamas Matter Alliance New Voices for Reproductive Justice Black Women for Wellness Not Without Black Women Black Women’s Health Imperative PAI Catholics for Choice People For the American Way Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) Physicians for Reproductive Health Center for Reproductive Rights Planned Parenthood Federation of America Civil Liberties & Public Policy Program Population Connection Action Fund Equity Forward Population Council Gender Justice Population Institute Global Justice Center Positive Women’s Network-USA Guttmacher Institute Power to Decide Harambee Village Doulas Reproductive Health Access Project Healthy Teen Network Secular Coalition for America Ibis Reproductive Health Sexuality Information and Education Council If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice of the United States (SIECUS) In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Sierra Club Reproductive Justice Agenda SisterLove, Inc. International Women’s Health Coalition SisterReach Ipas Social Workers for Reproductive Justice Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health SPARK Reproductive Justice Now!, Inc. Jewish Women International Surge Reproductive Justice Maroon Calabash The Afiya Center NARAL Pro-Choice America The American Civil Liberties Union National Abortion Federation The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum UltraViolet (NAPAWF) URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity National Black Women’s HIV/AIDS Network Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health National Center for Lesbian Rights Woodhull Freedom Foundation Contents Executive Summary 02 Introduction 15 Principle 1: Ensure that Sexual and Reproductive Health Care is Accessible to All People 17 Promote Comprehensive Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services Domestically 18 Use United States Leadership to Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health Globally 24 Protect and Expand Access to Abortion Care Domestically and Globally 32 Improve and Expand Access to Pregnancy Care 40 Ensure Access to Qualified Providers 46 Principle 2: Ensure Discriminatory Barriers in Health Care are Eliminated 54 Guarantee Access to Health Care Services and Coverage for All People 55 Ensure Patients are Not Refused Health Care 62 End Barriers to Care for Young People 66 End Discriminatory Treatment of Immigrants 71 Ensure Access to Care for People in Detention Settings 77 Principle 3: Ensure that Research and Innovation Advance Sexual and Reproductive 81 Health, Rights, and Justice Now and in the Future Invest in Health System Innovation that Promotes Sexual and Reproductive Health 82 Invest in Research & Development that Promotes Sexual and Reproductive Health 88 Principle 4: Ensure Health, Rights, Justice, and Wellness for All Communities 97 Principle 5: Ensure Judges and Executive Officials Advance Sexual and Reproductive 102 Health, Rights, and Justice Appendix: Legislative and Congressional Agenda 111 Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Page 1 Executive Summary We hold true that in order for people to be free and equal they must be able to exercise complete autonomy over their bodies. That’s why we, a coalition of nearly 80 organizations, have come together to set forth a policy agenda to advance sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice for people in the U.S and around the world.1 As advocates for gender equity and advancing reproductive health, rights, and justice, we know that our reproductive and sexual autonomy are at the core of some of the most important decisions impacting our lives as individuals, families, and communities. Achieving the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health and rights is based on the fundamental human rights of all individuals to: have their bodily integrity, privacy, and personal autonomy respected; freely define their own sexuality; decide whether and when to be sexually active; choose their sexual partners; have safe and pleasurable sexual experiences; decide whether, when, and whom to marry; decide whether, when, and by what means to have a child or children, and how many children to have; and have access over their lifetimes to the information, resources, services, and support necessary to achieve all the above, free from discrimination, coercion, exploitation, and violence.2 Because sexual and reproductive health, rights, and impacted by public policy surrounding sexual and justice intersect with numerous other issues, policy reproductive health are those of us who have fewer solutions must also seek to further gender equity, resources and means to navigate systemic barriers. racial equity, economic justice, environmental It is critical that U.S. lawmakers implement policies justice, the right to community safety, immigrants’ that will help ensure all individuals – no matter who rights, indigeneous people’s rights, LGBTQ+ they are, how much money they have, or where liberation, young people’s rights, and the rights of they are from – obtain and maintain sexual and people with disabilities. Indeed, individuals most reproductive autonomy. 1 Endorsement is an indication of solidarity within our movement and a recognition of the urgency of these policies. Endorsement does not necessarily mean that organizations have expertise on or are actively working towards each priority or policy listed in the Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice 2 Starrs, A.M., Ezeh, A.C., Barker, G., Basu, A., Bertrand, J.T., Blum, R…..Popinchalk A. (2018). Accelerate progress-sexual and reproductive health and rights for all: report of the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission. The Lancet Commissions, 391, 2642-2692. Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Page 2 The Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice sets forth five key principles: PRINCIPLE 1 Ensure Sexual and Reproductive Health Care is Accessible to All People. PRINCIPLE 2: Ensure Discriminatory Barriers in Health Care are Eliminated. PRINCIPLE 3: Ensure Research and Innovation Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Now and in the Future. PRINCIPLE 4: Ensure Health, Rights, Justice, and Wellness for All Communities. PRINCIPLE 5: Ensure Judges and Executive Officials Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice. Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Page 3 PRINCIPLE 1: Ensure Sexual and Reproductive Health Care is Accessible to All People. Sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice are essential for sustainable economic development, are intrinsically linked to equity and well-being, and are critical to maternal, newborn, child, adolescent, family, and community health. Health care cannot truly be comprehensive if it does not include sexual and reproductive health. Unfortunately, restrictions and barriers to accessing access, so that more people with low incomes can sexual and reproductive health care are ever-present access the care they need. both globally and domestically. It is imperative that policymakers do everything they can to make it possible • Foreign policy must prioritize and integrate for each individual to be able to make healthy and sexual and reproductive health and rights. No informed decisions about sexuality and reproduction in plan to improve sexual and reproductive health and pursuit of comprehensive physical, mental, emotional, rights is complete if it does not include a vision for and social health and wellbeing. how U.S. foreign policy can advance the health and rights of people around the world. Congress and the Our vision for how the U.S. should guarantee all people administration can expand access and transform access to sexual and reproductive health care includes lives by fully funding international family planning the following: programs, UNFPA, and other global health and gender equality programs. The U.S. must prioritize • Comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and integrate sexual and reproductive health and care services – including abortion – must be rights in all settings: from the halls of the UN to covered at no or low cost. Meaningful access to humanitarian emergencies. Providing training to care requires affordability, provider access, and U.S. government staff serving overseas, adopting robust coverage of care. Whether someone has a shared set of definitions of key terms across private or government-funded health insurance, government, advancing free and informed choice each of us should have coverage for a full range across a full range of sexual and reproductive health of pregnancy-related care, including abortion. and rights issues, and reporting on comprehensive Individuals – not income level – should guide sexual and reproductive rights violations in annual health care decisionmaking.