Advocates for Youth is proud to be one of ninety organizations that came together on December 13, 2016 in Washington, D.C. to declare our unity and dedicate our collective power to protecting and advancing sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice in the United States and around the world. We will continue to work alongside our colleagues to ensure that young people across the world and in the United States continue to have access to education, service and resources necessary to make healthy decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. The joint statement below lays out our shared commitment.

Every person has the basic human right to quality health care, and no individual or community should be left behind. Each of us should have the chance to live safe, healthy lives and be free to determine our own path – including if, when, and how to create a family. We will resist every attempt to roll back those rights or undermine those opportunities.

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WE BELIEVE IN:

protecting and expanding access to sexual and reproductive health education, care, and services; safeguarding and advancing abortion rights and access; promoting health, safety and wellness for all communities; and fostering fairness and equity in sexual and reproductive health.

WE DEMAND THAT:

the policies of our government recognize and respond to the needs and priorities of the diverse range of individuals, families, and communities we represent, especially those who face disproportionate, burdensome, and unfair barriers to accessing quality health care, including women and girls in the Global South and low-income women, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, indigenous peoples, young people, and women of color in the United States; and appointees, nominees, and elected officials uphold our nation’s laws and the U.S. Constitution, affirm protections and safety for individuals, especially those most marginalized, and work to ensure health equity in the United States and around the world.

WE COMMIT TO:

mobilizing to defeat actions that threaten to undermine sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice in any community in the United States and across the globe; exercising the collective power of our movement to create a world where all people have the rights and resources they need to thrive; standing together with our progressive allies to advocate for policies that advance sexual and reproductive health and rights and that ensure all communities have the resources to exercise those rights; and working across movements to advance immigrant rights, youth rights, disability rights, LGBTQ equality, economic justice and racial justice and to ensure the safety of our communities.

We won’t allow roll-backs on hard-won rights. We will hold firm to ensuring that all people are treated with dignity, compassion, and respect and can achieve full reproductive freedom. Together, we will work for a world where equitable access to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice is realized for all.

To read the joint statement, in its entirety, see here.