In their own words, four organizers discuss why they push for public policies that truly represent the Latinx community — and work to protect access to health care.
Planned Parenthood health centers provide care to communities across the country — people of all colors, all gender expressions, regardless of income, education, or immigration status. But that care affects each of our communities in different ways.
The Latinx people who power Planned Parenthood can attest to that truth, and can speak from knowledge about how their life experience informs the ways Planned Parenthood speaks about — and works to protect and expand — access to health care
We want you to meet a few of the Latinx members of the Planned Parenthood family — and to learn from them, in their own words, about the importance of the work they do every day.
Angelica Romero
Raíz Organizer, Planned Parenthood Arizona
1. How long have you worked at Planned Parenthood?
I am a new Raíz organizer and have been on staff for five months — but I was a Raíz volunteer for two years.
2. Why did you come to work at PP?
I got involved with PP because I knew this administration would attack women — but specifically women of color like myself. Planned Parenthood not only focuses on health care for all, but also advocates for immigrant rights so I thought it would be the perfect route to fight for the injustices that matter to me.
3. What does the Raíz organizing work mean to you?
Organizing with Raíz is like organizing for our roots and where we come from. Educating our communities of color on reproductive care issues is something powerful because at times, our people are the ones who are being left out of the reproductive care conversations. Seeing my mom be educated about the services we provide and being able to break the abortion stigma she held is something powerful, and even more empowering when it can be done to many other women like my mother through the Raíz program.
Norma Jimenez
Specialist, Latino Leadership and Engagement, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
1. How long have you worked at Planned Parenthood?
I started my involvement with Planned Parenthood in Phoenix in 2014 when President Obama rolled out the Affordable Care Act (ACA). At the time I was working with a Planned Parenthood group called Community Connect — which I had heard about when a friend who knew I was looking for an internship related to health care emailed to say, “you should apply to this.” That job focused on helping Latinx people and people of color get health insurance. Over the course of six months, I walked neighborhoods, knocked on over 100 doors, mainly Spanish-speaking households, and assisted them in enrolling and choosing a healthcare plan that would work for them and their families through the ACA.
After the enrollment period ended, I continued to engage with Planned Parenthood locally and kept working with Latinx folks through a program called Raíz. As an organizer with Raíz, I helped get sex-ed policies adopted by local school districts and provided an educational forums and pláticas to Spanish-speaking communties and partners. I decided that I wanted to continue being connected with Planned Parenthood, and now, I am working with the strategic partnerships team at the national office in DC.
2. Why did you come to work at PP?
I grew up in a Catholic household in a Mexican family. At a young age, I was made aware to never let anyone touch my body without my permission; or if I was ever made uncomfortable by a male or anyone, to let my mom or grandma know. That was it. All other topics related to reproductive care, education or health care were not talked about.
When I was in middle school, my body started to develop faster than many other of my girl friends. I hid my body under loose clothing when I went to school and hated my body because I was starting to look like a woman. During this time, I also got my period (in middle school) during class and I was so scared. That moment changed me. I was scared, confused and I felt alone and questioned, “why me?” — as if I was broken and I had done something wrong. I had to learn how to navigate that time and moment on my own. My family didn’t talk to me about it. They didn’t know how.
I understood soon enough that many of our moms, and loved ones don’t know how to bring up the subject of reproductive care to their children. Many of our parents think our teachers should be educating us on “sex topics” when in reality, comprehensive sex education is not taught in school at all.
This is why I have decided to work with Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is the country’s largest sex education provider as well as the go-to provider for reproductive health care for people. Planned Parenthood was there for me when I needed my first annual exam. They were there when I needed to learn about my birth control options and most importantly, Planned Parenthood helped me find my voice, and my identity. I learned to love my body unconditionally. I want all young people to know they are not alone, and it’s okay to feel confused and scared. Planned Parenthood is here for you.
3. What does the Raíz organizing work mean to you?
My first time learning to unpack all the bottled-up feelings and trauma I had since I was little, was through Raíz. Raíz provided me with resources and skills to help me develop my professional career. To be empowered, to make my own choices while at the same time being true to the values my family had instilled in me. I identify as an immigrant, as a woman, as a Latina, as a feminist, as the first to go to college, as a survivor.
Raíz is not just another Planned Parenthood program. Raíz uplifts our people, our communities, it empowers people to be true advocates for what they believe. Raíz advocates for justice and helps change policies for the betterment of our families and selves. Raíz works with our moms, abuelitas, with teens, students, with community partners to work on issues that are important to us.
Raíz organizers know we are not single-issue people who live single-issue lives. Raíz upholds our culture, our races, our people and more than anything, trust and family.
Victoria Ruiz-Marin
Raíz Organizing Specialist, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains
1. How long have you worked at Planned Parenthood?
I have worked for Planned Parenthood since January of 2017. I was hired by PPFA as a Raíz Organizer to engage the Latinx community in Las Vegas. At the start of 2018 I transitioned into my local affiliate, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.
2. Why did you come to work at PP?
I decided to work for Planned Parenthood because I recognized the lifesaving medical services they provide each and every day to women and people who need it most. As an undocumented individual who did not have a maternal figure during my adolescence due to unjust immigration policies, I found myself with a pregnancy scare and no knowledge of how to proceed during my high school years. During that stressful time in my life, Planned Parenthood was there for me. The nurse who saw me was kind. She addressed my concerns, and talked to me about the birth control options that were available.
As I grew older I realized that several women in my community had not accessed reproductive health care, because of barriers rooted in discrimination. When I was approached about the position with Raíz, I was excited for the opportunity to engage other Latinx community members around access to reproductive health care and the protection of our reproductive rights. The Latinx community is one of the most marginalized and underserved; I knew that through Raíz I would be able to unite my community in order to drive the change needed to protect our reproductive rights.
3. What does the Raíz organizing work mean to you?
The work being done through Raíz means I’m able to give back to my community by empowering them to become leaders who advocate for their reproductive freedom. Through Raíz, we can collectively break down the existing barriers that keep us from accessing health care. Organizing my community allows me to uplift their voices and experiences to affect policy and ensure our access to reproductive health care, and hold our elected officials accountable. Raíz is truly about justice and building the most authentic and sustainable partnerships among Latinx folks.
Joshua Alba
Raíz Fellow, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts
1. How long have you worked at Planned Parenthood?
I’ve worked at Planned Parenthood since late August 2018 — so, nine months.
2. Why did you come to work at PP?
Coming to work at Planned Parenthood was not initially part of my plan, so it was a surprise. As a cis-male Latino, I had always seen Planned Parenthood as a womxn’s organization, even though I’ve sought its services. I decided to take the opportunity, because I realized that all the reading and healing that I’ve been doing for myself, with my partners, family and friends, around trauma and toxicity stemmed from my relationships with my body, and everyone around me. I still get shook when I register just how fundamental sexual and reproductive health is to identity, empowerment, connection — and how basic health is to all of us.
3. What does the Raíz organizing work mean to you?
This work I’m doing through Raíz is a cornerstone to liberation for me and my people. When I look at the still-lingering effects of Puritan decimation in the Northeast and Catholic colonialism in the Caribbean — I’m Dominican American — I see bodies policed, slaves, minds shackled, forced breeding, rape, mutilation and murder. My family is a direct product of that, and that trauma lives in me. I struggle to heal, and in order to heal, we have to change the core ways in which we see ourselves that we’re established so very long ago. That means owning our own bodies, that means respecting other’s bodies and choices, and doing no harm from this ground level, all the way up. That means fighting for the right for everybody to be able to have, at least, enough protections in this area of our lives, so that we can heal our generational wounds. That’s what Raíz means to me. It’s up to us.
! Pitlyk has also backed the Trump administration’s gag rule, which forced Planned Parenthood out of the Title X program and is now jeopardizing care for millions of people across the country.
And while Pitlyk has made clear she’s against abortion, she’s also fought against birth control access and has gone on the record against alternative reproductive options, such as surrogacy and in vitro fertilization, that an increasing number of people use when facing challenges to getting pregnant.
Bottom line: her extremely biased views have made clear she can’t be trusted to rule on our reproductive health and rights.
What Her Confirmation Could Mean to Missourians
As a lifetime appointee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Pitlyk can help shape the law. We’ve already seen hundreds of anti-abortion and anti-reproductive healthcare bills introduced in state legislatures, and some signed into law by governors. Simultaneously, Trump and the Senate Majority are packing our courts with anti-abortion and anti-reproductive healthcare judges. Think this is a coincidence?
Unfortunately not. Case in point: This year, abortion access could have been decimated in Missouri due to relentless attacks on abortion access. After Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed an eight-week abortion ban into law, Planned Parenthood challenged the law in court and now the case is headed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes four Trump-nominated and confirmed judges. With the attack on abortion and reproductive healthcare on the rise, we know similar cases regarding our reproductive health and rights could come before Pitlyk if she is confirmed.
In short, once confirmed by Senate leadership, Trump’s judicial nominees like Sarah Pitlyk are intentionally set up to rule on cases that could affect reproductive rights for DECADES to come.
Originally posted by plannedparenthood
What You Can Do to Stop Her Confirmation
This isn’t the first time the Trump-Pence administration has nominated an unqualified extremist for a judgeship, but even for them, Sarah Pitlyk is an outrageously inappropriate choice. You know it’s bad when the bipartisan American Bar Association unanimously deems a nominee ‘not qualified.’ An entire branch of government is being remade before our eyes, and we need to do everything we can to stop that from happening. They may think that no one is paying attention to federal judgeship nominees and that they can push through extreme individuals like Pitlyk without objection — but they’re wrong.
Demand Your Senators Vote NO on Sarah Pitlyk’s Appointment!
Call your senators now to demand that they reject Sarah Pitlyk and her extreme, anti-abortion views. ⤵️){kind=link}
. To do this, please click the “Vote Up” icon on the left side of the page to vote for each of our 6 submissions.
Here are our 6 proposed panels:
1. ROE V WADE: 2020 AND HOW YOUR BRAND CAN BE HEARD
The stakes are high for 2020 and companies have an important role to play in this historic moment. An unprecedented number of extreme abortion bans—26 separate bans—have been enacted across the country this year. Already, 1 in 3 women of reproductive age lives in a state where abortion access could be swiftly eliminated if Roe is overturned. That’s over 25 million people. This is an attack on the rights of everyone who might or can get pregnant. We are in the fight of our lives.
This panel will convene leaders who address these threats and highlight the obligation companies have—to their customers and employees—to participate in this space. Panel experts will include a senior leader from Planned Parenthood, a candidate or elected official, and a brand and marketing entrepreneur.
Vote Here
2. IT’S NOT WHAT YOU STAND FOR, IT’S WHAT YOU STAND UP FOR
Brands are standing up for what they believe in now more than ever. Consumers are also demanding more from the brands with which they engage. This discussion will focus on what it looks like when a brand chooses to stand up in support of a social issue, and what it looks like when a brand misses the mark.
Shortly after the signing of the most aggressive anti-abortion law in recent American history, several progressive organizations convened a group of over 200 corporate executives from globally recognized brands to sign a powerful “Don’t Ban Equality” statement in the New York Times.
This panel will bring together the nation’s leading provider of sexual and reproductive health care and a top brand (that took a stand), moderated by a high-profile marketing and digital entrepreneur.
Vote here
3. DRIVING CULTURE AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE
Music has the power to change hearts and to change minds. It has the power to change our culture, to breakdown our history, and change future behaviors. Music has always held a role in the resistance and today is no different. This panel will convene culture makers to discuss the role creators play in shifting culture.
A senior staff member from Planned Parenthood Federation of America and top entertainment manager will discuss the music industry’s role in shaping our future and how artists approach their role (and responsibility) in the resistance.
Vote here
4. COMBATING BIAS THROUGH INCLUSIVE DIGITAL PRODUCTS
It wasn’t until 2011 that female crash course dummies were used to test car safety design. Bias baked into AI has led to darker skin not being recognized as quickly. When our unconscious biases aren’t actively addressed in product design and development, the impact can be devastating. At the same time, there’s a financial cost for companies that alienate certain groups from participating.
But some brands are stepping up to proactively combat bias, creating experiences that are more inclusive and embrace diversity. Hear from the companies leading the charge: Airbnb, Planned Parenthood, Adobe, and Work & Co will discuss strategies and tactics to inform more inclusive product development, and ensure your products can serve as many people as possible.
Vote here
5. DESIGNING PRODUCT FOR BLACK AND LATINX COMMUNITIES
To provide the best possible online health care experience, digital professionals have to understand and embrace the implications of changes in access to care, from a technical and societal lens. By ensuring we build products with our Black and Latinx users in mind, we used technology and innovation to create a suite of digital tools that are useful and educational, as well as inclusive and nonjudgmental.
In this panel, digital product managers and sex educators talk through ways in which we utilize educationally sound, medically accurate, and equity-centered best practices to build understandable, affirming, and relevant products in order to help our users access the sexual and reproductive health care they need and deserve, regardless of race, gender, income, age, or ability status.
Vote here
6. ROO - THE INCLUSIVE SEX ED CHATBOT FOR TEENS
Planned Parenthood’s sex ed chatbot, Roo, lets teens anonymously ask questions about sex, relationships, puberty and more. Roo’s success (770K conversations in 5 months) stems from a judgment-free product and marketing strategy. Students participate in ongoing user testing, and help define the product since day 1. In this talk, dive in to DEI guidelines to design the bot —tone, UX, ethical AI— and go behind the scenes on a companion sex ed YouTube series with a diverse & inclusive cast.
Vote here
Voting ends Friday 8/23. See you at SXSW!
-PP Action tumblr team){kind=link}
 appointed me the acting president and CEO of PPFA and Acting President of PPAF. I am so grateful, and really humbled, for the board giving me this opportunity.
I have been part of the Planned Parenthood family for nearly a decade as a volunteer board member and board chair. In that time, I have had the chance to travel across the country and see the incredible work that happens every day at Planned Parenthood health centers. Planned Parenthood doctors, clinicians and staff at 600 health centers open their doors to care for more than 8,000 people each day, providing birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and safe, legal abortion. Planned Parenthood educators give people the information they need to make decisions about their bodies, their health and their lives. And Planned Parenthood volunteers, activists and organizers empower communities to fight for their rights, including the basic human right to access health care.
I have watched this work happen, and every day I am proud to be part of this organization and this movement. I’ve spent my career working at the intersection of academia and racial justice, and I used to tell my students: We find leadership in everyday experiences, but sometimes you see a good fight and you just want in.
So nearly 10 years ago, I jumped in at Planned Parenthood.
For more than a century, Planned Parenthood has been fighting forward, innovating and striving to better serve our patients and the people who depend on us to lead the fight for reproductive rights.
Today, we are defending access to sexual and reproductive health from attacks on many fronts — from the attempt to shut down access to abortion in states across the South and Midwest; to sexual and reproductive health crises including skyrocketing STI rates and rising maternal mortality rates; to attacks by the Trump-Pence administration. Monday, the administration promised to begin enforcing their harmful Title X gag rule, and we’re fighting back in every way we can. The communities we serve face attacks as immigrant families are ripped apart and dehumanized, LGBTQ people — especially trans and nonbinary people — face continued discrimination, and people of color are openly vilified from the highest office in the country.
The stakes are high.
But I would not have agreed to take on the daunting task of leading Planned Parenthood if I did not already know that this organization and this movement are more than equal to the challenge. We are 13 million supporters strong, and we have a long history of taking on big fights — and winning.
And we know the country stands with us. One in five women in this country has been to Planned Parenthood for care in her lifetime. Support for abortion is at a record high, with 77 percent of Americans saying that the Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade and protect access to safe, legal abortion.
Planned Parenthood is strong because our people are strong. Our service is what gives us our power. Our patients trust us to be there for them even when politicians try to stop us from providing care. Our supporters come through for us when the attacks come at us fast and furious — rallying in Georgia, in Alabama, in Missouri, and everywhere our rights and autonomy are threatened. Every day our staff recommit to our mission: to provide excellent, compassionate sexual and reproductive health care, and to ensure that all people, no matter who they are or where they’re from, can access the care they need.
The bottom line is this: Our work and our mission isn’t about one person or even one organization — our work is about the millions of people who need access to affordable and comprehensive health care.
As Planned Parenthood’s acting president, I will honor what each of you do for this organization and this movement. Because you’re not just doing this for the 2.4 million people who get care at Planned Parenthood each year — you’re doing it for my two daughters, and for the next generation who deserves access to care. I will keep us moving forward, toward a more just, equitable future where every person’s health care decisions are their own.
That is my commitment to you.
Our doors are open — today, tomorrow, and into the next century. No matter what.
In solidarity,
Alexis McGill Johnson){kind=link}
 and onto its health code.
Expands access to abortion later in pregnancy if the woman’s health is at risk or if the pregnancy cannot survive.
New York’s Reproductive Health Act is one of the strongest protections for abortion access in the country. It’s about making sure that at every point in a pregnancy, a woman’s health (and not politicians’ ideology), drives medical decisions.
Enacted: Nevada’s Trust Nevada Women Act
In May, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed the Trust Nevada Women Act into law. Like New York’s Reproductive Health Act, it strikes down ancient criminal punishments for providing abortion. In addition, Nevada doctors are no longer forced to ascertain a woman’s marital status or age, and don’t have to parrot a state-mandated script with politically motivated and inaccurate warnings about the “emotional implications” of abortion.
Enacted: Illinois’s Reproductive Health Act
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the state’s Reproductive Health Act into law on June 12. The Illinois Reproductive Health Act codifies into law that abortion is not a crime. It also fixes the state’s outdated abortion law with regulations that reflect current medical standards.
Enacted: Vermont’s Act to Preserve the Right to Abortion
In Vermont, another sweeping abortion rights bill passed the legislature and has been signed by the G.O.P. governor Phil Scott . The legislation — H.57, “An Act Relating to Preserving the Right to Abortion” — affirms “the fundamental right of every individual who becomes pregnant to choose to carry a pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion.” The measure stops law enforcement from prosecuting abortion providers.
Passed to Full Senate: Rhode Island’s Reproductive Health Care Act
Rhode Island’s Reproductive Health Care Act protects the right to safe, legal abortion. It also repeals unconstitutional laws from Rhode Island’s law book. On June 13, the state Senate Committee on Health and Human Services voted to pass the legislation to the Senate floor.
Introduced: Massachusetts’s ROE Act
Reproductive health champions in Massachusetts recently introduced the Remove Obstacles and Expand (ROE) Abortion Access Act in the state House and Senate. Like reproductive health acts in other states, the ROE Act would put the right to abortion in state law and allow for abortion care later in pregnancy under medical conditions that threaten the woman’s health. It also nixes parental consent and 24-hour waiting period requirements, as well as corrects inflammatory and medically inaccurate definitions of abortion and pregnancy in the current law.
Building on Strength
These states illustrate the power and momentum of the abortion rights movement. In fact, 25 states have introduced bills to affirm and protect reproductive rights during their 2019 legislative sessions.
As of this writing, 12 states have already enacted laws that would protect the right to abortion if Roe v. Wade were overturned. That list includes Illinois, Nevada, New York, and Vermont as mentioned above, as well as California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Oregon and Washington.
Good News from the Courts, Attorneys General
In addition to passing bills in state legislatures, reproductive-rights champions are moving to safeguard abortion access through the courts. In April, the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed that the state’s constitution guarantees the right to “decide whether to continue a pregnancy.” That ruling could pave the way for advocates of safe and legal abortion to challenge abortion restrictions in Kansas.
Meanwhile, attorneys general in Michigan and New Mexicopledged not to prosecute people seeking abortion or abortion providers if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Both states have laws on the books that would criminalize abortion if Roe is overturned.
Americans Support Abortion Access
This wave of legal, and public affirmations reflects Americans’ strong support for access to safe, legal abortion. A vast majority of people in the United States — 77% of Americans, in fact — do not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Join the Resistance
The biggest difference between America now and The Handmaid’s Tale: We don’t have to resist in the shadows. We can be loud and proud. We can shout our solidarity from the rooftops. We can fight back in the open.
Use your voice. Tell your elected officials to get their #BansOffMyBody.
Bans Off My Body
Our bodies are our own — if they are not, we cannot be truly free or equal. Our right to abortion care is not debatable.
Sign on to say: No bans. Not now, not ever.){kind=link}
 bills restricting abortion have been proposed in 47 states, and nearly half are outright bans on abortion. This is despite the fact that 73% of Americans don’t want to see Roe v. Wade overturned.
With Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court justices, we’re in a national moment of crisis, brought about by a small, dedicated group of people who’ve been mounting a coordinated campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade and ban abortion for decades.
Watch the video: understand the nature of these attacks.
So what’s happening in Missouri?
On Friday, May 31, the state of Missouri was expected to block the last remaining licensed abortion center from providing care in the state.
This came on the heels of extreme abortion bans recently passed in
Alabama;
Georgia;
Kentucky;
Louisiana;
Mississippi; and
Ohio.
AND in Missouri itself, where Gov. Mike Parson made a decision that could endanger people should it go into effect: signing into law a bill that:
bans abortion at eight weeks with no exceptions for rape or incest;
expands already burdensome parental involvement requirements for minors seeking abortions;
promotes crisis pregnancy centers, AKA “fake clinics”;
will ban abortion at any stage if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
This law has not yet gone into effect — but Missouri isn’t waiting.
In May, Missouri’s only health center that provides abortion, Reproductive Health Services for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region’s (PPSLR) St. Louis health center, was nearly blocked from renewing its abortion facility license.
The state refuses to renew the abortion license over a completely inappropriate and suspicious request to interrogate (read: intimidate) doctors without explanation. This has nothing to do with patients, and everything to do with politics. The health center isn’t closing, so patients will still be able to get birth control and other sexual and reproductive health care there — but if courts don’t step in, patients won’t be able to get abortions there or anywhere else in Missouri.
This is devastating. More than 1.1 million Missouri women of reproductive age are at risk of being blocked from accessing basic reproductive health care in the state in which they live. This is, effectively, a ban on abortion.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson claims to value life — in a state where maternal mortality rates are 50% higher than the rest of the country, and a syphilis outbreak is sweeping a region of the state, and where he just made health care even harder to access. The hypocrisy is stunning.
Planned Parenthood will never give up on its patients, or on anyone who needs access to abortion care. These bans will not go unchallenged. So step one: just like it did in Alabama last week, Planned Parenthood is suing. (Read the national letter in solidarity with Missouri patients.)
While the abortion ban in Missouri and the bans everywhere affect all of us, we know that these bans will hit people struggling to make ends meet the hardest. And we know in this country, discrimination –– racism, homophobia, transphobia –– is deeply tied to how much money you’re able to make. So while some wealthy women may be able to find a way around the abortion bans, far too many people, particularly people of color, LGTBQ people, and people with low incomes, will be left with no options at all. This is not acceptable.
Together, We Fight For All
Text NOBANS to 22422 to join the fight to protect safe, legal, accessible, and affordable abortion for all.){kind=link}
