Ranked Nonprofits: National Reproductive Health, Rights, & Justice 2010

The Cause: For years, various reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations have been working to ensure that women have the right to be in control of their physical, mental, and social well-being (as defined by the United Nations). Many supporters of this cause believe that women have a right to safe methods of family planning such as abortion services, emergency contraception, and fertility clinics. They believe that reproductive health is an element of one's general health, which is a fundamental human right for all. However, it is important to note that reproductive health has always been a controversial topic in the US.

The Scope: National reproductive health, rights, and justice experts were asked to recommend nonprofits that are women’s health service providers and provide clinical care (focused on prevention, cancer screenings, contraception, abortion, gynecology, fertility, etc.), as well as advocacy and policy organizations. The nonprofits could focus on sexual health with a particular look at LGBTQ health concerns. Around reproductive rights, the nonprofits might include research, advocacy, litigation, and policy groups. And around reproductive justice, the nonprofits might include empowering the formerly powerless or individuals without a majority voice in this sector, such as younger women, women of color, and so on.

		Top Nonprofit	Mission
1		Guttmacher Institute	The Guttmacher Institute advances sexual and reproductive health through an interrelated program of social science research, policy analysis and public education designed to generate new ideas, encourage enlightened public debate and promote sound policy and program development.
2		Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA)	The mission of Planned Parenthood is to provide comprehensive reproductive and complementary health care services in settings which preserve and protect the essential privacy and rights of each individual, to advocate public policies which guarantee these rights and ensure access to such services, to provide educational programs which enhance understanding of individual and societal implications of human sexuality, and to promote research and the advancement of technology in reproductive health care and encourage understanding of their inherent bioethical, behavioral, and social implications.
3		Center for Reproductive Rights	For more than 15 years, the Center for Reproductive Rights has used the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill.
4		American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)	The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country. The ACLU also works to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including people of color; women; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people; prisoners; and people with disabilities. If the rights of society's most vulnerable members are denied, everybody's rights are imperiled.
5		National Abortion Federation (NAF)	The mission of the National Abortion Federation is to ensure safe, legal, and accessible abortion care to promote health and justice for women.
6		National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health	The mission of NLIRH is to ensure the fundamental human right to reproductive health and justice for Latinas, their families and their communities through public education, community mobilization and policy advocacy.
7		Advocates for Youth	Established in 1980 as the Center for Population Options, Advocates for Youth champions efforts that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates believes it can best serve the field by boldly advocating for a more positive and realistic approach to adolescent sexual health. Advocates focuses its work on young people ages 14-25 in the U.S. and around the globe.
7		Reproductive Health Technologies Project (RHTP)	The mission of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project is to advance the ability of every woman of any age to achieve full reproductive freedom with access to the safest, most effective, appropriate and acceptable technologies for ensuring her own health and controlling her fertility. To fulfill this mission, we seek to build consensus in support of an education, research and advocacy agenda for reproductive health and reproductive freedom. We seek consensus through a process of dialogue among diverse communities about technological developments and their global implications.
8		UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health	The UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health was formed in 1999 to address the health, social, and economic consequences of sex and reproduction through research and training in contraception, family planning, and STIs. The Bixby Center strives to develop preventive solutions to the most pressing domestic and international reproductive health problems.
9		Sister Song	The Collective was formed in 1997 and initially funded by the Ford Foundation to educate women of color and policy makers on reproductive and sexual health and rights, and to work towards the access of health services, information and resources that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. We achieve these goals through public policy work, advocacy, service delivery and health education within our communities on the local, national and international levels.
10		Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP)	The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP), founded in 1963, is a multidisciplinary association of professionals who provide reproductive health services or education, conduct reproductive health research, or influence reproductive health policy. ARHP educates healthcare professionals, policy makers and the public. The organization fosters research and advocacy to improve reproductive health.
11		National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF)	We believe that: The legal right to abortion is only meaningful when women have the resources to obtain abortion services.; Restrictions on abortion care and on public funding for abortion are discriminatory because they especially burden poor women, women of color, young women, and rural women.; Abortion is part of basic health care, which is a right that should be guaranteed to all through an expanded Medicaid program or another universal health care plan.; All women are entitled to reproductive justice. All women deserve to live in a world in which they have the power and the resources necessary to make healthy decisions about their bodies and their families.
12		Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH)	PRCH is a doctor-led national advocacy organization. We use evidence-based medicine to promote sound reproductive health policies. We believe in reproductive choice for everyone. Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health unites the medical community and concerned supporters. Together, we work to improve access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including contraception and abortion.
13		Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice (ACRJ)	ACRJ promotes and protects reproductive justice through organizing, building leadership capacity, developing alliances and education to achieve community and systemic change. We believe reproductive justice will be achieved when all people have the economic, social and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about our gender, bodies and sexuality for ourselves, our families and our communities.
14		National Advocates for Pregnant Women	National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) seeks to protect the rights and human dignity of all women, particularly pregnant and parenting women and those who are most vulnerable including low income women, women of color, and drug-using women. NAPW uses the lessons learned from the experiences of these women to find more effective ways of advancing reproductive and human rights for all women and families. Our work encompasses litigation, litigation support and legal advocacy; local and national organizing; public policy development, public education and outreach. Two principles guide all NAPW activities: to build bridges and align agendas across diverse public health and social justice movements, and to leverage and connect local organizing and activism with national advocacy and policy work.
15		Provide	Provide is committed to access to safe abortion for all women in the U.S. We believe that by being clearly focused on abortion within the context of our broader values we will make a significant contribution to women’s health and autonomy.
16		NARAL Pro-Choice America	NARAL Pro-Choice America's mission is to develop and sustain a constituency that uses the political process to guarantee every woman the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion.
17		National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF)	NAPAWF's mission is to build a movement to advance social justice and human rights for API women and girls.
18		Choice USA	Choice USA mobilizes and provides ongoing support to the diverse, upcoming generation of leaders who promote and protect reproductive choice both now and in the future.

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