WASHINGTON (NEWS10) — Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) sent a letter to the Biden administration urging them to establish an Office of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Wellbeing (OSRHW) within the Domestic Policy Council.
The senators say that years of Republican-led policies on the state and federal level have weakened reproductive rights and health care. Now that a Democratic president is in office, they are pushing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to develop, establish, and coordinate a federal government effort to secure reproductive justice for all.
“After years of attacks on women’s ability to make their own health care decisions, we must renew our nation’s commitment to reproductive rights,” said Senator Gillibrand. “The Biden administration has already taken steps to advance and secure reproductive health care and establishing a new Office of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Wellbeing will be critical to a comprehensive, whole-government approach that prioritizes reproductive justice for minority women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and individuals with disabilities.”
An OSRHW would help raise issues of reproductive justice. The senators say this office will address issues related to:
- Health care access
- Economic inequality
- Discrimination based on race, gender identity, and sexual orientation
- Food security
- Housing stability
- Environmental justice
- Immigrant’s rights
- Disability rights; and more.
An OSRHW would provide the country’s first ever centralized White House policy office solely dedicated to empowering all people to have not only health care access, but also the information and resources necessary to make reproductive and child-rearing decisions possible.
