Nuestro Texas: Reproductive health, rights, and justice for Latinas in the Rio Grande Valley

In 2011, the Texas legislature cut two-thirds of its family planning funds and promulgated a regulation prohibiting Planned Parenthood—the state’s largest family planning provider—from receiving state family planning funds. While these policy changes impacted women across Texas, these cuts fell most harshly on Latinas, particularly immigrants living in the medically underserved Rio Grande Valley (the Valley). The policy changes to the reproductive health safety net resulted in the closure of frontline family planning clinics and services in the Valley virtually overnight, leaving low-income people with limited access to affordable family planning services, preventive screenings for reproductive system cancers, and testing and treatment for STIs. As a response, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and the Center for Reproductive Rights launched a human rights based campaign to mobilize residents of the Valley to organize and advocate for expanded access to sexual and reproductive health care. The Nuestro Texas campaign, which is centered on a human rights framework, integrates a multi-platform campaign to bridge community mobilizing and policy advocacy at the state and local levels. The presentation will show how this unique partnership is addressing health disparities for immigrant women and Latinas and effectuating change at the local, state and national levels. The presentation will explore how this model can translate to mobilization and advocacy change with respect to the rights and health of other marginalized populations. Finally, participants will learn how human rights strategies can facilitate policy change in regards to health access concerns, particularly in the realm of reproductive and sexual health care.