In July 2020, NAPW joined numerous allies including Ancient Song Doula Services and Black Mammas Matter in signing an open letter that served as a national call for birth justice and accountability. NAPW knows that just as police misuse their authority against Black, Brown, and Indigenous people on the streets, they also do so in hospitals and delivery rooms and with the assistance of health care professionals.
A National Call for Birth Justice and Accountability. How many Black, Brown, and Indigenous people have to die giving birth?
Purdue Pharma Debtors’ Emergency Fund Expenditures – Proposed Guidelines
Having already written a statement challenging false and stigmatizing medical misinformation advanced in the context of the nationwide litigation seeking to hold pharmaceutical companies liable for the over- prescription of opioids in the U.S., NAPW followed up with a letter regarding distribution of funds from Perdue’s bankruptcy settlement related to claims about its role in the national opioid addiction and overdose crisis.
Open letter to Oklahoma Carter County District Attorney Craig Ladd
After learning that Oklahoma Carter County District Attorney Craig Ladd is continuing to misuse his office to prosecute women who are pregnant and alleged to have used controlled substances, NAPW engaged local and national experts to call on district attorney Ladd to drop the charges.
Thank you New York State Attorney General Letitia James
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.
Reproductive Justice and Anti Violence Statement Challenging False Claims Linking Laws Criminalizing Abortion and Related Feticide Laws with Protection of Women from Violence
Some reports following New York’s passage of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) asserted that the RHA somehow increases the risk of gender violence. NAPW and Professor Julie Goldscheid (CUNY Law School) authored a statement challenging those claims, and other false claims linking laws criminalizing abortion and related feticide laws with protection of women from violence.
NAPW Open Letters in the case of Ms. Roberta J. Baker in St. Francois County, Missouri
In February 2018, Ms Roberta Baker, a mother in St. Francois County, Missouri who lost her baby around 24 hours after giving birth, was charged with felony child abuse and neglect. Ms. Baker did not receive health care during her pregnancy and birth because she did not have a health care provider she could access or trust.
National Advocates for Pregnant Women and If/When/How Letter to FDA Opposing Restrictions on Abortion Medication
National Advocates for Pregnant Women and If/When/How wrote and organized a letter sent to the FDA, signed by organizations and experts in reproductive health and rights, public health, harm reduction, and HIV/AIDS. The letter opposes the recent warning letters targeting mifepristone and misoprostol as dangerous, and urges the FDA to remove the REMS for mife.
Violence Against Women in the Medical Setting: An Examination of the U.S. Foster System
On May 31, 2019, National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW), along with Movement for Family Power and 20 non-governmental organizations, activists, public defense offices, academics, and others who work every day to advance the human rights of pregnant and parenting people submitted a set of recommendations to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women regarding the United States child protection and foster system.
A Letter in opposition to HB 481
NAPW Open Letter to Oklahoma DA opposing targeted prosecutions of pregnant people (Sept. 2018)
Oklahoma District Attorney Craig Ladd publicly announced [in December 2017] that he is calling for the increased prosecution of women who are pregnant and alleged to have used controlled substances, despite his knowledge that such prosecutions are not legally supported.