Dear Friends and Allies,

On January 20, many of us watched with great relief and joy as President Biden and Vice President Harris were sworn in. Amanda Gorman’s soaring poem inspired us and we joined the applause for Eugene Goodman, the Capitol Police officer who faced down members of the mob that breached the Capitol on January 6. We appreciated President Biden’s inaugural address promising that “the dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer” and declaring that “we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.

Dear Friends and Allies,

The Biden-Harris victory reflects massive organizing efforts and leadership, especially by Black women. The occasion also marks the election of the first — but not the last — Vice President who is a woman, Black, of South Asian descent, and the daughter of immigrants.

People who have abortions and people who give birth are often the same people, just at different points of their lives. So why are abortion services and birth services kept so separated? In a radical act of expansion, CHOICES has become the first non-profit health care provider in the county to offer both birth services and abortion care under one roof.

Dear Friends and Allies,

I learned that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died when Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum announced this loss at the end of Rosh Hashanah high holiday services at CBST. My wife and I “attended” services by zoom. Like most of you reading this email, we were devastated, not only by the loss of this extraordinary woman, but also by the new threat to the survival of our constitutional democracy now that there is the possibility of another Trump appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Picture: Lynn M. Paltrow with Ferguson Plaintiff Paula Hale
at the U.S. Supreme Court (more…)

Dear Friends and Allies,

In the coming days, the U.S. Supreme Court will announce its decision in June Medical Services v. Russo, the first abortion case since Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh became members of the Court. The Court will be ruling on the constitutionality of a Louisiana law that is identical to a Texas law struck down by the Supreme Court in the 2016 case Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt.

National Advocates for Pregnant Women mourns the death of George Floyd and the death of every Black person murdered by police forces in the United States. We recognize the systemic problem of police brutality and join the Black Lives Matter movement in calling for immediate and radical change.

The pandemic is exposing the harm done by the overregulation of certain medications people need as a matter of essential health. Join Amy J. Merrill (Digital Director at PlanC), Zachary C. Talbott (President of National Alliance for Medication Assisted Recovery) and Kendall Bentsen (Organizer at National Advocates for Pregnant Women) as they discuss how COVID-19 has highlighted barriers to accessing abortion pills for safe, self-managed abortions as well as MAT to treat substance use disorders.

NAPW recently sent a thank you letter to New York State Attorney General Letitia James to thank her for her efforts to ensure women across New York and the nation are able to access safe, legal abortions during the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health crisis as part of the multistate coalition of 21 attorneys general.

The coronavirus pandemic is revealing barriers to safe, effective, and respectful care for pregnant people, whether they are seeking to end a pregnancy or to continue a pregnancy and give birth. Join Indra Lusero Staff Attorney() and Kendall Bentsen (Organizer) from the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, as they discuss the impact COVID-19 has had on abortion access and hospital birth in the U.S.