NLIRH recognizes that the reproductive health of immigrant women is profoundly affected by immigration policy.
Female immigrants are often forced to work in industries that are undervalued, underpaid, hazardous to one's health, lack basic worker protections and offer no benefits. Not surprisingly, a majority of female immigrants do not have health care coverage.
State legislatures continue to introduce legislation that would restrict non-citizens' access to basic public health programs, including prenatal care.
Immigrant women are less likely to receive adequate reproductive health care, including cervical and breast cancer screening and treatment, family planning services, HIV/AIDS testing and treatment, accurate sex education and culturally and linguistically competent services.
Reproductive health and rights organizations who promote the basic values of dignity, justice, and self-determination MUST speak out in support of the basic principles of immigration reform, which include a path to citizenship and protection for all immigrant families.
How Immigration Reform is a matter of Reproductive Justice
NLIRH Position Statement on Immigration Reform
Immigrants Rights section of the US Social Forum Reproductive Justice Briefing Book
Immigrant Women and the 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards
NLIRH is a co-founder and Steering Committee member of the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights.
The National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights (NCIWR) is comprised of grassroots and national advocacy organizations working together to defend and promote equality for all immigrant women and their families living and working in the United States. We defend and promote equality for all immigrant women and their families living and working in the United States. We integrate human rights principles into our work and believe that immigrant rights are women’s rights. NCIWR advocates at the national, state and local levels for comprehensive immigration reform, fair and non-discriminatory implementation of our immigration and enforcement policies, and reproductive and economic justice for immigrant women.
For more information on NCIWR, visit our website.
National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights
National Immigration Law Center
Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM)
National Council of La Raza
