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VOLUNTEER
Join our Reproductive Justice in Action Program to become part of our Healthline, Practical Support Network, or Activist Network
CALL US
The ACCESS Healthline provides free, confidential and nonjudgemental information, referrals, peer counseling, and advocacy on a full range of reproductive health services.
TAKE ACTION
On one of our advocacy campaigns.
Welcome
It's Bowl-A-Thon Season!!! - Please save the dates
ACCESS is undergoing efforts to partake in our annual Bowl-A-thon. Get ready to lace up your bowling shoes and fund abortion! Sign up as an individual or a team.
2019 Practical Support Volunteer & Intern Training Dates - Check back for applications for our next training!
ACCESS is excited to announce our 2019 Reproductive Justice in Action Training Schedule! Join our Practical Support Network and help people in California navigate barriers to reproductive health or become an intern in our office and provide peer support to people seeking reproductive justice!
ACCESS is committed to centering, developing, and supporting the leadership of volunteers who represent the communities who call us - in particular, BIPOC, transfolx and gender non-conforming/non-binary folx, people who have lived experience with abortion, and women who have faced intersecting barriers accessing reproductive health services.
Reproductive Justice in Action Training -- Bay Area *Applications CLOSED*
Applications for our Winter 2018 training in the Bay Area are now closed. Check back soon for our 2019 Reproductive Justice in Action Training Calendar!
It's our last training for 2018! We're looking for Practical Support Volunteers, Healthline Interns, and Movement Building Interns! Let's work together to increase access to abortion care in the Bay Area and throughout California. <3
Reproductive Justice in Action Training -- Los Angeles *Applications CLOSED*
Our application period for our Fall 2018 training in Los Angeles is now closed.
Bay Area Training -- Applications CLOSED!
Our application period for our Summer 2018 training in the Bay Area is now closed. Thank you to everyone who applied! You will be receiving an email shortly to schedule a phone interview.
If you're in the LA-area, look for applications for our Fall 2018 RJ Training to open mid-August.
Join us as an on-call volunteer and support people accessing abortion care!
Bowl-a-Thon 2018 is in full effect, y'all!
You probably already know that the 2017 Bowl-a-Thon and Diaper Drive was a HUGE success! We raised over $215,000 for abortion access in California. Can you believe that?! Look at that number again - $215,000. Take a moment and revel in the power of grassroots fundraising!
This year, our goal is $130,000 and we know that YOU can help us reach it! As people try to take away our human rights and reproductive freedoms, we will not debate our right to bodily autonomy. We're continuing to work towards a world in which everyone has access to the abortion care they need. Join us and abortion funds throughout the country as we fund abortion and build power!
(Not sure how it's done? We've you covered! Check out this AH-MAZING how-to video! And this one!)
Redding Training! ***Rescheduled***
We are so happy to announce our first-ever Redding training! We know that callers in this area face many barriers to accessing reproductive health care so we're expanding our network. ACCESS is looking for dedicated volunteers in the area who can provide logistical support so everyone has true bodily autonomy.
2018 Healthline & Practical Support Volunteer Training Dates
ACCESS is excited to announce our 2018 Reproductive Justice in Action Program Training Schedule! Join our Practical Support Network and help people in California navigate barriers to reproductive health or become an intern on our Healthline and provide peer support to people seeking reproductive justice!
ACCESS is committed to centering, developing, and supporting the leadership of volunteers who represent the communities who call us - in particular, people of color, transfolx and gender non-conforming/non-binary folx, people who have lived experience with abortion, and women who have faced intersecting barriers accessing reproductive health services.
Check out what's coming up at ACCESS!
2017 Healthline & Practical Support Volunteer Training Dates
ACCESS is committed to developing the leadership of volunteers who represent the communities who call us - in particular, people of color, transfolx and gender non-conforming/non-binary folx, people who have lived experience with abortion, and women who have faced intersecting barriers accessing reproductive health services.
Our training schedule has now been completed for 2017. Check back soon for our 2018 training schedule and locations! Stay up-to-date on the latest training news here: accesswhj.org/get-updates.
Previous Trainings in 2017:
January 28th: Bay Area
April 15th: Oakland
May 6th: Los Angeles
July 22nd: Sacramento
Executive Transition - Samara Azam-Yu
After ten years at ACCESS and 5 years as the Executive Director, Samara Azam-Yu has completed her transition out of ACCESS. "I'm proud to have built upon the legacy of the incredible people that came before me at ACCESS and know that ACCESS will continue to be in great hands." Read more of her farewell message here.
National Health Law Project & ACCESS release California Abortion Coverage FAQ
Is abortion legal in California? Can I get Medi-Cal coverage for abortion care? Will my private insurance cover abortion?
ACCESS has partnered with the amazing advocates at the National Health Law Project to release an FAQ with unbiased, accurate information about abortion rights and insurance coverage in California. View the whole report here.
The 2017 Abortion Access Bowl-A-Thon
The 2017 Abortion ACCESS Bowl-a-Thon & Diaper Drive was a huge success! This year, we raised over $215,000 for abortion access in California. We will continue to dream big as work our way towards a more just and equitable world, in which everyone has access to the abortion care they need. Thank you so much to our powerful network of bowlers, donors and supporters!
Check out the video!
One of 2016's bright spots. Check out the video about the billboard campaign we led this year.
Check out our Reproductive Justice Billboards!
Get more info at www.rjtogether.org. These billboards serve as a reminder that Oakland’s residents and organizers of color are what made this town great. It’s important that activists, who work every day to affirm the rights of all Oakland residents, see themselves and their work reflected around the city.
The affirmations on these billboards are reflective of the experiences of everyday Oaklanders like young parents, trans women, and incarcerated people. Access to abortion, the fight for Black lives, and the liberation of transgender people deserve space in our public squares.
Petition Party Picnic!
Help us gather signatures in Oakland in support of the EACH Woman Act (to restore federal funding for abortion coverage) and All Above All. Have some food, gather signatures for a bit, then have a drink to celebrate. Bring a friend.
Oakland (Sign up for exact location)
Tuesday, September 27th
5:30-7:30pm
Email: info@accesswhj.org
ALL ACCESS Oakland Event!
SCOTUS Theater Live!
Get your tickets: www.scotustheater.com
ACCESS in "37 Soldiers of Social Change"
San Francisco Magazine featured ACCESS Directors in the "37 Soldiers of Social Change" in December's "Women in Power" issue. Samara is quoted saying "Activists today are attracted to an intersectional framework, we're not just about abortion or housing or immigration anymore, we're interested in every issue and how they overlap."
ACCESS is featured on MSNBC.com
MSNBC.com's Irin Carmon covers California's quiet reproductive rights revolution and the collaborative work that helped pass AB 154 to expand access to early abortion services in California: "The state is bucking a nationwide trend as a wave of new restrictions is forcing abortion providers across the country to shut their doors." The article interviews Executive Director Samara Azam-Yu and board member Nourbese Flint.
Doula support is now available through the ACCESS Healthline
Starting January 22, 2014, people can call the ACCESS Healthline to request a full-spectrum doula to provide support for medication abortion or to have a support person for an abortion procedure in a clinic. Doula's are fully trained and certified by the Bay Area Doula Project. Many ACCESS callers travel long distances alone with partners or family members staying behind to care for their children. We are very excited that the ACCESS/BADP partnership will give our callers the opportunity to have a support person with them.
ACCESS Board Chair Guadalupe Rodriguez on 94.1FM KPFA's Living Room
In light of today's news about the congressional vote on the Affordable Care Act, Board Chair Guadalupe Rodriguez joins Dr. Ellen Schaffer and KPFA's Kris Welch to talk about the landscape around reproductive health policies in California around the nation. Lupe talks about the Women's Health Protection Act that was introduced in congress on Wednesday, November 13, 2013 and other notable legislation. Click here to listen.
ACCESS on 97.1FM KALW's Your Call with Rose Aguilar
Executive Director Samara Azam-Yu talks about the need for later abortion access and the role that barriers to abortion care play in delaying timely access to care in light of the documentary film After Tiller. Your Call's host Rose Aguilar also talks with the filmmaker of After Tiller, Lana Wilson, and Julie Burkhart, the founder and executive director of the South Wind Women’s Center in Wichita, Kansas (which opened in April of this year in the same building Dr. George Tiller’s clinic had been in when he was shot in 2009). Click here to listen.
AB 154 becomes law - ACCESS in the Washington Post
Executive Director Samara Azam-Yu is quoted in the Washington Post article, "California expands early abortion access, defying national trend." She conveys her excitement about the landmark victory with Governor Jerry Brown signing AB 154 into law (enabling nurse practioners, advance practice clinicians, and physicians assistants to perform early abortion procedures). With 473 bills nation-wide to restrict access to abortion care and 68 enacted, AB 154 represents a major victory in expanding abortion access.
Celebrating 20 years of ACCESS and over 22,500 callers!
On September 29th, 2013 ACCESS Women's Health Justice celebrated at the 20th Anniversary and Justice Awards event in Downtown Oakland. The 2013 Justice Award Recipients are: Renee Bracey Sherman for Practical support and overnight housing; Alissa Perrucci and the Women's Options Center for Excellence in Counseling for Abortion Care; Elena Guteirrez and the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice at Berkeley Law for Excellence in Research; and Mardi Kildebeck and the Mary Wohlford Foundation as a model funder for reproductive health, rights, and justice.
Executive Director of ACCESS Delivers petition signatures to Governor
On September 19, 2013, Executive Director Samara Azam-Yu delivered over 17,000 signatures to Governor Brown's office on behalf of the Women's Health Alliance, urging the him to sign into law AB 154. By signing this, Governor Brown would position California as the first state in years to expand abortion access, bucking the trend of restrictions nationwide.
How the Maximum Family Grant Hurts Families
Originally posted in the Strong Families Mama's Day Our Way Blog By Melissa Ortiz
My name is Melissa Ortiz. I am the mother of four children: 19-year-old James, 15-year-old Vanessa, and 14-month-old twins, Dominic and Gabriella. Dominic and Gabriella, are punished by the CalWORKs Maximum Family Grant rule. Being a mother is hard work, but I wouldn’t change it for all the wealth in the world. It is a gift for me to be in their lives and to help shape them from infants into adults. I was born to do this. Continue reading on our tumblr blog
Celebrating Civic Engagement and Reproductive Justice
Originally posted in Oakland Local on 4/5/13 By Samara Azam-Yu
With monumental news this morning of a federal court overturning the age restriction on access to emergency contraception, I am reflecting on victories, the work ahead, and the power of folks staying engaged to advance reproductive justice. Just last week, people from around California met with government representatives to make their voices heard during Reproductive Freedom Week, an annual advocacy event coordinated by the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom. Continue reading on our tumblr blog.
