Executive Summary

We hold true that in order for people to be free and equal they must be able to exercise complete autonomy over their bodies. That’s why we, a coalition of nearly 80 organizations, have come together to set forth a policy agenda to advance sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice for people in the U.S and around the world.1

As advocates for gender equity and advancing reproductive health, rights, and justice, we know that our reproductive and sexual autonomy are at the core of some of the most important decisions impacting our lives as individuals, families, and communities. Achieving the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health and rights is based on the fundamental human rights of all individuals to: have their bodily integrity, privacy, and personal autonomy respected; freely define their own sexuality; decide whether and when to be sexually active; choose their sexual partners; have safe and pleasurable sexual experiences; decide whether, when, and whom to marry; decide whether, when, and by what means to have a child or children, and how many children to have; and have access over their lifetimes to the information, resources, services, and support necessary to achieve all the above, free from discrimination, coercion, exploitation, and violence.2

Endorsement is an indication of solidarity within our movement and a recognition of the urgency of these policies. Endorsement does not necessarily mean that organizations have expertise on or are actively working towards each priority or policy listed in the Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice

2 Starrs, A.M., Ezeh, A.C., Barker, G., Basu, A., Bertrand, J.T., Blum, R…..Popinchalk A. (2018). Accelerate progress-sexual and reproductive health and rights for all: report of the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission. The Lancet Commissions, 391, 2642-2692.

Because sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice intersect with numerous other issues, policy solutions must also seek to further gender equity, racial equity, economic justice, environmental justice, the right to community safety, immigrants’ rights, indigenous people’s rights, LGBTQ+ liberation, young people’s rights, and the rights of people with disabilities. Indeed, individuals most impacted by public policy surrounding sexual and reproductive health are those of us who have fewer resources and means to navigate systemic barriers. It is critical that U.S. lawmakers implement policies that will help ensure all individuals – no matter who they are, how much money they have, or where they are from – obtain and maintain sexual and reproductive autonomy.

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