The National Women’s Law Center Launches Initiative to Protect Abortion Rights

(Washington, D.C.) Today, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) launched the Abortion Rights Project to respond to the unprecedented assault on abortion rights in this country. A major focus of the initiative will be supporting state and local groups working on the frontlines of the fight to protect the right to abortion and expand abortion access. The Abortion Rights Project is providing an initial investment of $350,000 to 11 groups across the country doing critical work to keep clinics open, help people access abortion care, drive public education and narrative change on abortion, engage in grassroots organizing especially among communities of color, challenge abortion restrictions, and strengthen abortion rights. It will also provide these organizations delivering vital services with legal and technical assistance, as well as research, analysis, and grassroots media and visibility efforts.

“Our country is engaged in one of the greatest gender justice fights of our time,” said Fatima Goss Graves, President & CEO of NWLC. “Anti-abortion politicians are banning abortion, shutting down clinics, criminalizing providers, and shaming women who seek an abortion. Make no mistake: an abortion ban in Georgia is the same as the attempt to shut down an abortion clinic in Arkansas, and these are the same as the next attack in the next state. This is a coordinated effort to end abortion at any cost, and to strip away our rights to safety, dignity, and equality.”

As part of the Abortion Rights Project, a national public education campaign will engage and mobilize the public, strengthened by local and state efforts led by our partner groups. The campaign will work to achieve a national landscape where all of us, no matter our race, income, zip code, immigration status, or gender, can safely access abortion with dignity.

The Abortion Rights Project’s inaugural launch partners include:

“The National Women’s Law Center’s Abortion Rights Project will be incredibly helpful in supporting our ability to fight harmful legislation passed in Arkansas.” – Lori Williams, MSN/APN, Little Rock Family Planning Clinic

“With the new threats increasing, seemingly every day, against abortion access, it’s important now more than ever to dismantle the stigma around abortion while laying the foundation to push what’s possible for reproductive and sexual healthcare. Blending pop culture, advocacy, and political education, Black Women for Wellness is doing just that, by tackling abortion access through an intersectional multifactor lens with the goal of creating change at the micro, meso and macro levels” – Nourbese Flint, Policy Director, Black Women for Wellness

“The National Women’s Law Center’s Abortion Rights Project will support organizing and advocacy efforts that will shift culture, build a larger movement, and challenge the systems that stifle reproductive freedom.” – DC Abortion Fund

“Progress Florida Education Institute envisions a future where every Floridian has access to abortion care that is affordable and convenient, with support and dignity. The National Women’s Law Center’s Abortion Rights Project will help us achieve this vision.” – Amy Weintraub, Reproductive Rights Program Director, Progress Florida Education Institute

“We are grateful to the National Women’s Law Center’s Abortion Rights Project and their support of our outreach, education, and advocacy work to achieve reproductive justice in Georgia.” – Kwajelyn Jackson, Executive Director, Feminist Women’s Health Center

“EverThrive Illinois appreciates the National Women’s Law Center’s Abortion Rights Project to continue advocating for abortion access in Illinois and nationally.” – Aisha Chaudhri, Reproductive Justice Manager, EverThrive Illinois

“The National Women’s Law Center’s Abortion Rights Project provides an opportunity to conduct focus groups to better understand how we can talk to Louisianans in different communities in a way that galvanizes them to act to protect abortion in our state.” – Michelle Erenberg, Executive Director, Lift Louisiana

“The National Women’s Law Center’s Abortion Rights Project will have a major impact on our continued ability to keep our doors open and provide safe, compassionate abortion care.” – Andrea Irwin, Executive Director, Mabel Wadsworth Center

“We are so honored to be a grantee of the Abortion Rights Project. We will be using this grant to support our direct service work of making abortion access a reality for Southerners through abortion funding and logistical support.  -Quita Tinsley, Deputy Director, ARC Southeast

“We’ve been on the ground in Pennsylvania representing abortion providers since 1974. We all know we’re at a crossroads. People are already suffering. It’s more important than ever to not only keep abortion providers open but to proactively expand and do everything possible to protect abortion rights in the states. We’re grateful to National Women’s Law Center’s Abortion Rights Project for supporting our day-to-day representation as well as our litigation, such as our current challenge to Pennsylvania’s ban on Medicaid funding of abortion.” – Susan J. Frietsche, senior staff attorney, Women’s Law Project

For more information on NWLC’s Abortion Rights Project, including donation information, please visit: www.nwlc.org/abortionrightsproject.

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For immediate release: July 16, 2019
Contact: LySaundra Campbell ([email protected])