51 years ago, on January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade recognized the individual right to decide whether or not to have an abortion. Since this right was overturned in the Dobbs decision in June 2022, we’ve seen cruel abortion bans passed and even attempts to outlaw medication abortion. We know bans and restrictions on this important healthcare impact poor and working class people, rural residents, people of color, and queer folks the most. 

From advocating for reproductive justice and LGBTQ equality to providing LGBTQ-inclusive healthcare, NCLR and Planned Parenthood Northern California (PPNorCal) are working to ensure abortion access and reproductive health care for all. 

NCLR and PPNorCal came together to create this Q&A in honor of  this important moment. Read on to learn about resources and the current work we are doing for reproductive freedom.  

Why does PPNorCal support the LGBTQIA+ community? 

PPNorCal supports the LGBTQIA+ community because true reproductive freedom needs to include everyone. Reproductive freedom is nothing without the right to gender-affirming care, the rights of all people to access abortion, birth control, fertility treatment, prenatal care, and all other forms of sexual and reproductive health care. Every person deserves access to sexual and reproductive health care, regardless of gender, race, legal status, or sexual orientation. PPNorCal believes that LGBTQIA+ rights are deeply connected to reproductive freedom. We are proud to serve our LGBTQIA+ patients and proud to have many LGBTQIA+ staff members and volunteers who help us achieve our mission of providing care from San Francisco to the Oregon border. 

What types of healthcare does PPNorCal provide to the LGBTQIA+ community? 

At PPNorCal, we have been proudly providing gender-affirming hormone therapy to transgender, gender-expansive, and nonbinary patients for over a decade. We always use a patient’s stated name and pronouns, and heterosexuality is never the presumed default when we talk to patients about their sexual or romantic partners. While those are longstanding forms of care for us, we have also had two exciting developments recently! Now, all 17 of our health centers can dispense PrEP directly to patients instead of sending them to the nearest pharmacy. We also just received funding to provide the Mpox vaccine to patients at three of our health centers: San Francisco, Concord, and Vallejo.

What does bodily autonomy mean to NCLR?

NCLR believes that everyone should have the freedom to make choices over their own bodies and healthcare. From gender-affirming care to abortion access, we know that essential healthcare empowers individuals and saves lives. That is why our feminism includes reproductive justice for all!

How does NCLR fight for reproductive justice and abortion access?

Through policy advocacy and impact litigation, NCLR works to ensure that every person has the ability to choose whether or not to have children, and that those who form their families using assisted reproduction have robust legal protections.  

We also strongly support the provision of all reproductive health services to people of all genders, including access to abortion, contraception, assisted reproduction and fertility services covered by insurance, and fertility preservation for transgender people. We are proud to be in this fight with other orgs fighting for reproductive justice – including Planned Parenthood of Northern California!