Latina Week of Action for Reproductive Justice : Action Alert

It wouldn’t be a week of action if all we did was blog and ask you to read.

One of the actions that the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health is asking peeps to participate in is signing onto a petition demanding affordable and accessible birth control for Latinas.

Often the issue of reproductive rights is seen strictly as an abortion access issue, when for so many mujeres in our comunidades, the issue comes way before there is a pregnancy. Choice needs to be framed into real options over how Latinas prevent pregnancy. This means dealing with economic barriers as well as barriers put into place because it is assumed that Latinas are not smart enough to make decisions about their own bodies. Just think about the current debate regarding immigrant women. Latina fertility is seen as dangerous and threatening, so it makes sense that the next step would be control Latina fertility.

All women need affordable access to birth control services, supplies and visits. However, barriers to low-cost or no-cost contraception are still an unjust reality. This results in many Latinas having to struggle to afford birth control or expensive insurance copayments for birth control.

Urge your representative to ask the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support comprehensive family planning services that include contraception as a key women’s health service under the Women’s Health Amendment.

Take Action here