Reproductive Justice

The National Council of Jewish Women works to advance the well-being of women, children, and families. NCJW believes that religious liberty and the separation of religion and state are constitutional principles that must be protected and preserved in order to maintain our democratic society.

NCJW regards advancing reproductive justice as integrally bound to protecting a woman’s religious liberty — her ability to make personal decisions based upon her own faith and moral values. Every woman should be able to access the care she needs without jeopardizing her economic security or other human needs. We support every woman’s ability to make her own moral decisions about her body and reproductive life, regardless of her income, job, source of insurance, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, or other factors.

NCJW endorses and resolves to work for:

• Comprehensive, confidential, accessible family planning and reproductive health services, regardless of ability to pay.
• Quality, comprehensive, nondiscriminatory health care coverage and services, that are affordable and accessible for all.
• The right to have children or not have children, and to parent the children we have in safe and healthy environments

• The protection of every female’s right to reproductive choices, including safe and legal abortion, medically accurate information, and the elimination of obstacles that limit reproductive freedoms. These rights are integrally bound to religious freedom—one of the cornerstones of our constitution.  NCJW strongly believes that legislating from one religious view point on this very personal issue restricts religious liberty for all of us.

We urge the Legislature to:

• Support HB 241(Farrar) HB 248 (Farrar) and HB 249 (Farrar)
• HB 241 Would extend Medicaid coverage for 12 months after pregnancy. HB 248 Removes medical inaccuracies.  Would remove medically-inaccurate information from the materials that states mandates be given to women seeking an abortion. HB 249 Would eliminate certain requirements that create a 24-hour waiting period for women who seek an abortion. Research has shown that it does not change minds
• Support HB 513 (Howard) and HB 800 (Howard) HB513 Would establish a pilot program for distributing long-acting reversible contraception to public school students.  HB 800 would require the state’s children’s health plan to include coverage for birth control. 
• Support HB 606 (Thierry) Would automatically enroll a woman who is a Medicaid recipient into the Healthy Texas Women program.
• Support HB 895 (Cole) Would require the Medicaid program to include abortion care coverage.
• Support HB 366 (González) Would require the Texas State Board of Education to create a curriculum on healthy relationships.
• Support HB 60 (Ortega) Would require institutions of higher education to inform students about women’s health programs administered by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
• Oppose SB 389 (Campbell) and SB22 (Campbell) SB 389 (Campbell) These bills would prohibit government entities from engaging in transactions or contracts with an abortion provider. SB 22 will ban any local government from partnering with trusted health care providers, including Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has partnered with local governments to provide much needed health care, education and outreach, including providing cancer screenings, STI testing, and HIV-prevention and Zika-prevention outreach to at-risk populations.
• Oppose HB 47 (Swanson) Would revoke the medical license of doctors who perform elective abortions, with some exception
• Oppose HB 895 (Tinderholt) Would make abortion illegal.
• Oppose HB 1012 (Bohac) Would ban the distribution of any kind of contraceptive in public school districts and make other changes to School Health Advisory Councils, which are tasked with making recommendations on sex education policies.

• Oppose HB 1500 (Cain) Would ban abortions at any time after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
• Oppose SJR 377 (Hall) and SJR 3 (Hall) SJR 377 Would curtail a School Health Advisory Council’s ability to make certain recommendations. SJR 3 Would amend the state constitution to prohibit abortion.