Population Institute annual report shows reproductive health and rights at a turning point: US gets an “F”
WASHINGTON, March 2, 2021 / PRNewswire / – Today the nonprofit Population Institute has its 50 State Certificate of Reproductive Health and Rights. It is the most comprehensive assessment of its kind and tracks several indicators of reproductive health and rights, including access to family planning, sex education, and abortion services in each state annually.
The new testimony shows a wide gap between states that prioritize reproductive health and rights and access to reproductive health services and states that try to limit them. Five states got an “A”, 23 states failed and for the second year in a row the USA failed as a whole.
The Biden-Harris government will work to improve reproductive health and rights at the federal level. But the transformation of federal justice by the Trump-Pence administration and ongoing hostility to family planning in Republican-controlled state governments will undermine reproductive health, rights, and justice of Americans for decades to come.
“We are at a turning point,” said Jennie Weather, the Public Policy Director of the Population Institute. “The Biden-Harris administration faces an uphill battle to reverse the sharp decline in reproductive health and rights over the past four years.”
Amid the pandemic, “anti-choice” proponents tried to restrict access to reproductive health care. In several states, they denied access to abortion services by classifying them as non-essential health care, while the Trump administration tried to see a personal doctor first for people seeking drug abortion, putting their health unnecessarily at risk.
While courts have blocked many attacks in recent years, Wetter said, “Anti-choice advocates will continue to try to restrict access to reproductive health services. The Biden-Harris administration is very busy. Not everything will be fixed easily or quickly. “.”
Taking advantage of the new composition of the Supreme Court, anti-election lawyers are expected to file legal challenges against any new law or regulation changes. “If they’re successful,” warned Wetter, “the populations most affected will be underserved populations, including low-income people, blacks, other colored communities, young people and the LGBTQ + community The fight for affordable access to sexual and reproductive health care is far from over. “
Source: Population Institute https://www.populationinstitute.org/
Contact: Stephen Kent, [email protected] 914-589-5988
SOURCE Population Institute
