• Contact Your Representatives – Demand that your elected officials protect reproductive rights by calling or emailing them. Take action here: Contact Your Elected Officials.

• Speak Out When It Matters – Learn how to give a public comment so you can advocate for reproductive rights at key moments: How to Give a Public Comment.

• Stay Informed on Abortion Access – Know the state of abortion access in your area and get updates by signing up for Planned Parenthood emails: Abortion Access Tool.

• Take Action as an Activist – Learn how to organize, track important issues, and take meaningful action: Activist Training & Action.

• Support Organizations Fighting for Reproductive Rights – Follow and amplify the work of groups like Planned Parenthood and ACLU to help protect and expand access to reproductive healthcare.

Knowledge is power. Educate yourself and you’ll be ready to talk with others and find ways to plug in that feel right for you!

Choice vs. Access: Defining Reproductive Justice from Planned Parenthood

Watch this 6 minute video on Choice vs. Access: Defining Reproductive Justice

Key Terms

Reproductive Rights – The legal rights and access to reproductive healthcare, including contraception, abortion, and maternal care.

Bodily Autonomy – The fundamental right to make decisions about one’s own body without government or external control.

Abortion Access – The ability to obtain a safe and legal abortion without unnecessary restrictions or barriers.

Reproductive Justice – A framework that goes beyond legal rights to include access to healthcare, economic justice, and the ability to parent in safe communities.

Trigger Law – A law designed to ban or severely restrict abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned or weakened.

Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) – Anti-abortion organizations that pose as legitimate healthcare clinics but provide misleading or false information to discourage abortion.

Medication Abortion – A safe, FDA-approved method for ending a pregnancy using pills, typically mifepristone and misoprostol.

Hyde Amendment – A federal policy that restricts the use of government funds, like Medicaid, from covering abortion services, disproportionately affecting low-income individuals.

TRAP Laws (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) – Laws that impose unnecessary regulations on abortion clinics to force them to close or limit access.

Contraceptive Access – The right to obtain and use birth control methods without barriers, including emergency contraception and long-term options.

Parental Notification & Consent Laws – State laws requiring minors to notify or get permission from a parent before obtaining an abortion, creating additional barriers for young people.

Fetal Personhood Laws – Laws that seek to grant legal rights to fetuses, which can be used to criminalize abortion and limit reproductive healthcare.

Self-Managed Abortion – The process of ending a pregnancy outside of a clinical setting, often with abortion pills, without direct medical supervision.

National Organizations:

Abortion Funds

Planned Parenthood

Keep Our Clinics

Get involved locally:

Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest