Why Reproductive Justice?
For over four decades, Women’s Foundation California (WFC) has supported reproductive justice organizing led by Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women, as well as gender expansive people across the state. We boldly partner with communities, the office of the Governor of California, and Legislature to protect bodily autonomy and vigorously invest in reproductive justice for generations to come. Together, we are radically co-creating California’s reproductive justice future by moving financial resources and building collective power.
Our ability to seize this moment, as a community, as a state, as a movement, is intertwined with the power we’ve forged by supporting our reproductive justice grant partners and through our Solís Policy Institute (SPI), where we advocate and pass over 50 pieces of intersectional feminist policies that advance health, safety, and prosperity for all. And we’re just getting started.
we pass reproductive justice legislation
600+ Fellows Trained
50+ Laws Passed
For two decades, the Solís Policy Institute (SPI) has been an integral part of the Women’s Foundation California, investing in, training, and connecting a cohort of feminist leaders dedicated to advancing policies that promote reproductive justice.
Each year, SPI cultivates a pipeline of activists and advocates who are passionate about making a difference in their communities through policy.
Whether it’s a law ensuring accommodations for nursing parents or student access to medicated abortion, Women’s Foundation California is proud of our work to shape the legislative landscape of reproductive justice in California.
EXAMPLES OF LAWS WE'VE PASSED
The California Momnibus Act
Signed October 4, 2021
Author: Senator Nancy Skinner
SB65 keeps Black, Indigenous women, and gender expansive folks of color healthy while they birth and parent, providing long overdue resources to close racial, economic, and gender health gaps.
The College Student Right to Access Act
Signed October 11, 2019
Author: Senator Connie Leyva
SB24 made California the first state in the nation to mandate that all student health centers at all 34 public universities and colleges offer abortion medication.
Proposition 1: Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom
Passed November 8, 2022
Proposition 1 amends the California Constitution to enshrine the fundamental right to choose an abortion, use or refuse contraceptives (birth control), and make individual decisions on reproductive health.
Assembly Bill 2785
Signed September 30, 2018
Author: Assemblymember Blanca Rubio
Requires California Community Colleges and California State Universities to provide lactation accommodations to student parents.
Assembly Bill 2695
Signed September 26, 2006
Author: Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg
Strengthens protections from physical assault for frontline workers dealing with domestic violence, reproductive rights, and human rights.
Assembly Bill 1285
Signed October 7, 2005
Author: Assemblymember Cindy Montañez
Expands the family childcare retention program in Los Angeles County, thereby increasing working families’ options for affordable quality childcare.
Grant Partners
Women’s Foundation California invests in Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and AAPI women and gender expansive people who are on the frontlines of the intersectional reproductive justice movement. Alongside and in partnership, we can and will build what comes next. Their leadership embodies our work together as radical intersectional feminists.
Take action today to support the movement creating and supporting bodily autonomy in California and beyond. Here’s a list of our phenomenal Black, Indigenous, AAPI, and Latinx -led reproductive justice organizations and partners.
GLOSSARY
As we continue to talk, organize, and build power, it’s helpful to have a shared vocabulary. We’ve pulled together a series of working definitions curated from our community that we’ll continue to evolve.
Whenever we embark on a project like this, we keep in mind that words, like the people who use them, are imperfect, ever-evolving, and powerful.
Words both fail and help define us. What we’ve outlined here is not the end all be all, but a jumping-off point for a conversation that we hope continues forever into our feminist future.
OUR ZINE
Intersection is a zine that explores the complexities of reproductive justice through the mediums of poetry and art.
In this collection, diverse voices come together to share their experiences of navigating the intersections of reproductive health, rights, and access with other aspects of their identities, such as race, gender, sexuality, and disability.
Intersection is a powerful and thought-provoking work that invites readers to join in the ongoing struggle for reproductive justice.
REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE MESSAGING
A DONOR-FUNDER-COMMUNITY ORGANIZER RESOURCE
Women’s Foundation California is building a network of allied social justice and human rights organizations that integrate an intersectional reproductive justice analysis into their work.
We are developing strategies of self-help and empowerment so that women and gender-expansive emerging leaders and funders have the tools and language for our reproductive justice future.