Senators Warren, Booker, Gillibrand, and Colleagues Urge the Biden Administration to Establish an Office of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Wellbeing Within the Domestic Policy Council
"[T]he comprehensive scope of reproductive health care must be an early priority for the Biden administration"
Washington, DC - United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), along with Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), sent a letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris supporting the establishment of an Office of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Wellbeing (OSRHW) within the Domestic Policy Council at the White House that would develop, establish, and coordinate a federal government effort to secure reproductive justice for all.
"We are deeply appreciative of and encouraged by your administration's commitment to advancing and securing reproductive rights-including the right to access contraception and abortion-as evidenced by your early executive actions. We ask now that you build upon these efforts and institutionalize a reproductive justice policy framework, which aims to go beyond securing reproductive rights to more holistically address 'the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities,' in the White House," wrote the senators. "Securing true reproductive justice is beyond the scope of any one existing executive department."
An OSRHW would elevate issues of reproductive justice, addressing issues related to health care access; economic inequality; discrimination based on race, gender identity, and sexual orientation; food security; housing stability; environmental justice; immigrant's rights; disability rights; and more. The office would provide America's first ever centralized White House policy office solely dedicated to empowering all people to have not only health care access, but also the information and resources necessary to make reproductive and child-rearing decisions possible.
"In the midst of a pandemic that has disproportionately affected women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, people of color, and people with disabilities, and in the wake of an administration that has implemented public policies that harm these communities at every turn, the comprehensive scope of reproductive health care must be an early priority for the Biden administration," concluded the senators.
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