Reproductive Justice Task Force

The goals of the Reproductive Task Force are to:

A. Inform – Although NYS protects reproductive health rights, many other states do not. One of our goals is to determine how best to influence these other states, as well as to strengthen the protections NYS provides. This requires educating the membership about various state laws, federal laws and how they interact with Jewish law.

B. Inspire – The programs will be designed to engage people to interest them in the need to protect reproductive rights.

C. Act – An obvious way is to donate money to reproductive health rights initiatives. However, not all people are able to make donations and some people like to get actively involved in addition to, or an as alternative to donating. To this end, we maintain a list of potential action items.

Reproductive Task Force Leader: Tanya Briendel, ReproJustice@wct.org

WHAT CAN WE DO NOW?

• The Reproductive Freedom and Equity Funding Program (RFEF) (A361B/ S348C) would create a sustainable funding mechanism for abortion providers, abortion funds, and logistical support funds — the organizations that make the right to care a reality for people seeking abortion in New York.
  • Call Governor Hochul (518-474-8390) to express disappointment that she did not include RFEF in her executive budget, but still ask her to include it in the final budget.
  • Call State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (518-455-3791) to urge the Assembly to pass the bill immediately and to ask him to include RFEF funding in the final budget.
  • Call Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (518-455-2585) to urge her to include RFEF funding in the final budget.

• Support the ERA Amendment to NYS Constitution – On Ballot in November 2024
  Be ready when the call comes from Woodlands to advocate for this amendment to NYS’s constitution – phone calls, postcards, conversations, etc.
  
  New York legislature passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in its second consecutive session, officially bringing the amendment to New Yorkers for ratification on the 2024 November ballot. The ERA would prohibit discrimination by the government based on a person’s ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex — including their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes. It would also protect against any government actions that would curtail a person’s reproductive autonomy or their access to reproductive health care. The ERA would, for the first time, explicitly include language to clarify that discrimination based on a person’s pregnancy or pregnancy outcome is sex discrimination – an essential clarification given the national trend of criminalizing people for various pregnancy outcomes, as well as the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

• Reproductive Justice Shabbat
  Watch last year’s Repro Justice Shabbat service HERE

• Fri, Feb 9, 8:00 pm
  Rabbi Rachel Pass will speak.

• Reproductive Justice Task Force Meeting 
  Thu, Feb 29, 7:30 pm on Zoom