Welcome | Bienvenidos

1

Our Mission

The mission of NLIRH is to ensure the fundamental human right to reproductive health and justice for Latinas, their families and their communities through public education, community mobilization and policy advocacy.

In Solidarity: May Day!

May 1st throughout the nation is a day of solidarity amongst movements: from labor rights, to immigrants’ rights, and for NLIRH, reproductive rights and justice! On May 1st, NLIRH will march in solidarity with friends, colleagues and activists from various movements.


The New York City May 1st Coalition has organized thousands of workers and immigrants from around NYC to march in solidarity against the raids and deportations that are devastating immigrant families across the nation. Thousands will also march to protest the exploitation that has resulted from the passing of NAFTA and to recognize that police brutality and over-policing is adversely impacting all of us, immigrants and non-immigrants alike.


At NLIRH, we include the perspectives and needs of immigrant Latinas in each of our programs and initiatives.  We aim to raise awareness and promote policies that will improve the lives of Latina immigrants in the US. One of our initiatives includes the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights (NCIWR), created in efforts to move the immigration debate from a male dominated perspective and dialogue to one that includes a gender perspective.  A coalition of 30 member organizations, NCIWR believes that equality for immigrant women can only be attained when immigrant women can live free from discrimination, oppression and violence in all their forms.


NLIRH was present at International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in Geneva, Switzerland in February 2008. NLIRH with several other organizations submitted its perspectives on how the U.S. government has failed to eliminate racial discrimination in the U.S.  Our contribution to the report focused on the U.S. government’s negligence to provide a policy that would give immigrants, particularly immigrant women, access to general and reproductive healthcare services.  Many statutes have hindered and denied women reproductive health care offered through public health programs, such as Medicaid.  These continual restrictions further exacerbate health disparities within the immigrant population in the U.S. and violate immigrants’ human rights.


For these and many others reasons, on May 1st NLIRH will stand side by side with our brothers and sisters in the struggle to defend and protect the human rights of us all!


In solidarity,

NLIRH staff

Breaking News

Supreme Court Upholds Indiana Voter Identification Law

 On  April 28, 2008, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law requiring that citizens present a valid photo ID when voting.   

 

The Indiana law, which is one of the strictest voter-ID laws in the country, requires that people present a government-issued photo ID before voting.  Voters who do not have the proper identification are allowed to cast a provisional ballot, but must appear at the courthouse to present proper identification within ten days.

 

How does this affect Latinas?

  • Low income  people, the elderly and people of color, who are less likely to have drivers’ licenses, are disproportionately burdened by this measure.
  • Gender non-conforming Latin@s, are also especially burdened by ID laws.  Many gender non-conforming persons may not have a valid government-issued ID, and those who do, may present their gender in a way that does not match their ID, exposing them to discrimination or even violence. 

NLIRH advocates that all persons, regardless of their socioeconomic status, age, or gender identity, have the ability and the right to participate in the political process.

Therefore, NLIRH understands that every member of our diverse community must have an adequate and fair means to invoke our right to vote and thus empower our communities to obtain salud, dignidad, y justicia.

Last update 5/14/08.
To contact the website manager, click here.