The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) joined other leaders in immigrants’ rights and health equity to send a letter to President Obama and members of Congress urging that programs and public services that meet basic human needs be included in immigration reform, including programs that improve access to affordable health care.
The letter was endorsed by over 360 national, state, and local groups. Jessica González-Rojas, executive director of NLIRH issued the following statement:
“All people, including Latinas and immigrant Latinas, deserve access to affordable, quality, and comprehensive health care, including reproductive health care. Federal policies restricting immigrant Latinas’ access to health care have enacted a high human toll – by contributing to widened reproductive health disparities – and have defied sound public health policies.
These policies have also enacted a high financial cost, by limiting access to vital preventive reproductive and sexual health care, including cervical cancer screenings, contraception, and prenatal care. Immigrant women and families are the backbones of their communities, contribute to their schools, churches, and local economies, and make our nation stronger. We look forward to working with policymakers to find commonsense solutions that keep our families healthy and our communities strong.”
