rePROs Fight Back

Doulas, a non-medical birth professional, provide emotional, physical and social support and guidance through different aspects of sexual and reproductive health-- including labor and delivery, the prenatal and postpartum period, and during abortion care, miscarriage, or stillbirth. Amy Chen, Senior Attorney at the National Health Law Program, sits down to talk with us about the importance and benefits of doulas, Medicaid coverage of this care, and the challenges the U.S. faces in getting clo...

Across the spectrum, there are escalating attacks on women’s rights and freedoms, including attacks on the abortion pill, birth control, women’s suffrage, no fault divorce, higher education, and more. Courtney Hagle, Research Director at Media Matters for America, sits down to talk with us about the not new, but increasingly violent, rhetoric against women. Attacks on abortion, birth control, sex education, and the LGBTQI+ community—both rhetorically and politically—have been increasing drast...

After the Dobbs case (which overturned Roe v. Wade) was decided, several grassroots activists in various states appealed to the ballot constitutional amendment to protect reproductive freedom in their state constitutions. Brigitte Amiri, Deputy Director at the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, sits down to talk with us about recent reproductive freedom amendments, equal rights amendments, and current litigation around the U.S. By getting measures on the ballot, collecting signatures,...

Approximately 10 million students per year are attending community colleges in the U.S., and many students are balancing multiple responsibilities while they study. Yet, most community colleges do not offer robust health care services, like contraception, STI testing and treatment, and pregnancy testing. Dr. Martinique Free, Director of Connect for Success at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, talks to us about the state of limited access to sexual and reproductive health services and...

Fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) are different approaches to tracking fertility and identifying which days someone is most likely to conceive if they are having sex without contraception. These include features such as tracking one’s menstrual cycle, basal body temperature, and cervical mucus, among others. Chelsea Polis, Principal Research Scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, sits down to talk with us about different FABMs, their effectiveness, advantages, and disadvantages, and w...

A humanitarian crisis-- where life has been upset by natural disaster, conflict, or forced displacement-- can disproportionately impact women and girls. Women and girls, at disproportionate risk for gender-based violence, maternal health complications, and barriers to accessing aid, have different requirements in these settings. Julianne Deitch, Associate Director of Research at the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), looks back with us on this last year’s foreign aid cuts and talks to us about...

The Global Gag Rule, started by President Ronald Regan in 1984, prevented foreign NGOs from receiving U.S. family planning assistance if they performed, promoted, advocated for, counseled on, or referred patients for abortion. It has gone in and out of place since then, depending on who is in the White House. It was expanded during the first Trump administration to apply not only to family planning funding, but all of global health funding. Caitlin Horrigan, Senior Director of Global Advocacy...

We are approximately one year into Trump 2.0, where the administration has dismantled the systems we have worked to build. Civil rights offices have been gutted, DEI programs paused or eliminated, data erased, and enforcement mechanisms present behind-the-scenes. Meanwhile, the decimation of USAID and the de-prioritization of global health have led to a radically different foreign policy architecture and the closure of health clinics, service disruption, and the shutdown of community organiza...

America is facing a gender backlash—a backlash so swift and severe, it feels more like a whiplash. Right now, no group is more at risk than trans Americans. On his first day back in the White House, Trump signed a controversial executive order meant to deny trans identity and push transgender people out of public life. Since then, attacks on trans rights—trans existence—have become increasingly hostile and widespread. But even as many conservatives work overtime to focus the public's ire on t...

There’s still time in the year to hear from leaders and advocates in the sexual and reproductive health and rights field! On this episode of our most popular series, SRHR Hero Origin Stories, we talk to a number of amazing heroes in the field of reproductive health, rights, and justice about how they began working in this space. On this episode, hear from Lupe Rodriguez, Executive Director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, Dr. Monica McLemore, Professor at New York Un...

Impending Medicaid cuts, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s defunding of Planned Parenthood, and the freezing of Title X funding have fueled clinic closures across rural areas. Ashley Kurzweil, Senior Policy Analyst for Reproductive Health and Rights at the National Partnership for Women and Families and Sarah Coombs, Director for Health System Transformation at the National Partnership for Women and Families sit down to talk with us about the future of rural hospitals and clinics and the patie...

No one’s health experiences exist in a vacuum. Individuals live multifaceted lives and often have multiple, intersecting health concerns. Our health influences our lives, and our lives (including our economic realities) influence our health. Nourbese Flint, President of All* Above All and All* in All Action Fund, sits down to talk with us about how comprehensive reproductive justice, including abortion access, requires economic security. To achieve full reproductive justice, people nee...

November 12, 2025, is #ThxBirthControl Day-- a day to celebrate the multiple methods of contraceptive care that allow people to live their fullest lives and reach their dreams and goals. Monica Edwards, Senior Manager, Public Policy at Power to Decide and Tara Mancini, Public Policy Director at Power to Decide, sit down to talk with us about the magic of #ThxBirthControl Day, as well as the recent attacks that threaten our access to the contraception that helps shape our lives. Over 90% of ad...