Abortion Clinics Must Stay Open – Young People Need Care
(Washington, DC) — Statement by Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity in support of abortion providers in Texas, Ohio, and Alabama who are filing suit to keep abortion services legal and accessible during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Over the last two weeks, anti-abortion politicians in Alabama, Ohio, Texas, and other states have callously exploited the COVID-19 crisis to further their extremist agendas by instructing health care providers to halt abortion services to comply with temporary suspension orders on all ‘non-essential’ surgeries or procedures. “Let’s be clear: abortion is essential care. Period. Yesterday, in response to this dire threat to the reproductive health of millions of women, trans, and nonbinary people, abortion providers in Alabama and Ohio joined Texas in suing to ensure that essential… Read more »
Amid Pandemic, Young People Call for Sweeping Reform
(Washington, DC) — As COVID-19 exposes the failures of US institutions to meet the needs of working people, URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, a reproductive justice organization led by young people in the South, Midwest, and California, is calling on elected officials, media, and thought leaders to stop belittling and blaming young people and to refocus the conversation squarely where it belongs: bolstering our health care, economic, and social infrastructure to meet basic living standards. Today, URGE is releasing the Young People’s Reproductive Justice Policy Agenda (the Policy Agenda), a new blueprint of what young people envision for their futures. Developed in conversation with young people across the country, the Policy Agenda calls on local, state, and federal policymakers to address the urgent needs of young people and… Read more »
URGE Statement: Abortion Care is Essential Health Care
(Washington, DC) — Statement by Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity on Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s instruction that health care providers stop providing abortion care during the COVID-19 pandemic. “On March 20, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost instructed two abortion clinics in Ohio to cease providing abortion care under the order that health care providers stop all ‘non-essential’ surgeries and medical procedures.” “Abortion in not a ‘non-essential’ medical procedure. It is essential health care. Full stop. People across Ohio must be able to access abortion care without delay and with dignity and respect. It is disgraceful that anti-abortion extremists are politicizing the COVID-19 crisis by veiling their continued efforts to close Ohio’s abortion clinics under the guise of patient health and safety.” … Read more »
URGE Statement: COVID-19 Poses a Threat and an Opportunity
(Washington, DC) — Statement by Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity on threats to young people in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. “As the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold, we risk losing critical ground to politicians who will stop at nothing to enact and uphold regressive policies that deny women and trans people our right to bodily autonomy, sever social and economic lifelines for low-income and other marginalized communities, detain migrants, and deprive people of color and young people of our right to vote. “URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity is committed to staying vigilant through this pandemic. No matter what happens, we will continue to resist those who would take advantage of this crisis to rob us of our right to… Read more »
University Administrators Must Support Students Affected by COVID-19 Campus Closures
(Washington, DC) — Statement by Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity on the recent spate of university campus closures across the nation due to the COVID-19 pandemic: “We call on university administrators to consider and find ways to meet the health and other needs of students impacted by sudden campus closures amid COVID-19 concerns. For millions of young people, campus food programs, health services, and housing are essential life-saving resources. For many, these services are the only safety nets they have. Colleges and universities must prioritize young people of color and those who are low-income, first-generation, and LGBTQIA+. As we manage the spread of COVID-19, we must center young people and all who face homelessness, food insecurity, and the loss of healthcare access…. Read more »
Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Organizations Show Solidarity During Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Organizations Show Solidarity During Domestic Violence Awareness Month Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Week of Solidarity Campaign to highlight marginalized survivors, as well as connections to reproductive justice Washington, D.C. (October 14, 2019) – From October 14th, 2019 through October 18th, 2019, as a part of the October Domestic Violence Awareness month, reproductive health, rights, and justice advocates, and other social justice allies, will be launching a Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Week of Solidarity Campaign highlighting survivors from communities most often overlooked, as well as highlight/lift up the connection between IPV and Reproductive Justice. how IPV is connected to reproductive justice. “Everyone deserves the chance to live a safe and healthy life, free from state and interpersonal violence,” said Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director… Read more »
Statement from URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity Executive Director and Board of Directors
Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director: “URGE envisions a world where each of us can live, love, express our gender, create families, and enjoy sexuality with liberation, joy, and dignity. Essential to this vision is ending sexual and gender-based violence, harassment, and abuse, and addressing the disparate impact of these harms on young people, women and femmes, queer and trans folks, and people of color. As a survivor of sexual assault, I know the pain of these kinds of trauma, and how hard it is to speak up. We at URGE extend our support and solidarity to all survivors, those who tell their stories and those who do not. “Any allegation of sexual misconduct, harassment, or abuse should be investigated and addressed, in collaboration with those who have come forward. These… Read more »
Young People in the South and Midwest Celebrate the EACH Woman Act
Washington, DC (March 12, 2019)– In response to the newly introduced legislation, the EACH Woman Act, Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, issued this statement: “In a time of conservative attacks on our health and rights, the EACH Woman Act presents a bold and proactive vision for ending the bans that deny abortion coverage. The Hyde Amendment, which the EACH Woman Act would erase, was created to take abortion access away from low-income people and people of color. Young people are among those most harmed by bans on abortion coverage, and we applaud the EACH Woman Act and thank the brave lawmakers leading this visionary bill. “Today’s bicameral introduction of the EACH Woman Act is a progressive and necessary step in to ensure… Read more »
Young Voters Surge at the Polls Across the Nation
WASHINGTON Young people (18-29) voted in record numbers in the 2018 midterms, and tipped the scales in crucial races in a year of narrow margins, according to a new report from URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, “The Young People’s Election: Casting Votes. Building Power.” Highlights include: Young people registered to vote at record rates with early voting for young adults surging 188 percent since the 2014 midterm elections. Nationally, voters aged 18 to 39 tripled their early voting rate since 2014; in Texas and Georgia, the number of early young voters doubled from 2014. One-third (31%) of young people (18-29) turned out to vote in the 2018 midterm election, up from 21% in 2014, representing the highest level of participation among youth in the past quarter-century. “The 2018… Read more »
URGE Advocates Celebrate Pro Medica Transfer Agreement with Capital Care Network
Toledo, Ohio – URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity activists are celebrating a big win for abortion access in Toledo. On Monday, February 12, 2018 ProMedica, a non-profit health care system in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, signed a transfer agreement with Capital Care Network, ensuring that the last surviving reproductive health clinic that provides abortion care remains open. Over the last seven months, hundreds of activists in northwest Ohio have worked tirelessly to encourage the CEO of ProMedica, Randy Oostra, to sign a transfer agreement with Capital Care Network. The legally required but medically unnecessary agreement ensures that Capital Care, the only clinic in Toledo offering abortion for thousands of patients in the region, remains open. Moments before the agreement was signed, 50 advocates showed their support by rallying… Read more »
