Memphis Center For Reproductive Health

This grant will support CHOICES to open a health care clinic in Carbondale, Illinois, with the aim of preserving access to abortion services for Southern patients who will likely see a dramatic reduction in access due to legal changes. CHOICES currently has a full spectrum reproductive health care clinic in Memphis, Tennessee. Carbondale is a three- to four-hour drive from Memphis, Nashville, and Louisville, and a stop on the Amtrack railway from New Orleans, which makes it an ideal location to serve people from these communities. It will begin offering medication abortion services and gender-affirming hormone therapy immediately upon opening in 2022, and will grow to offer full-spectrum reproductive health care based on the needs of the community in Carbondale and elsewhere. (Strategy: U.S. Reproductive Equity)

This grant will support Healthy and Free Tennessee to continue its role as one of the founding alliance members of SEARE, a Southern regional partnership working to align reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations serving diverse communities in the Southeast. The project has a strong focus on racial equity in order to unify the movement in the Southeast for full equitable access to reproductive rights and health information and services. In this second phase of the partnership, the four anchor organizations will continue to build an infrastructure to create resources and opportunities for new alliance members through communications and engagement, policy, and a Southeastern convening space.

This grant will support the Southeast Alliance for Reproductive Empowerment project, a partnership of SisterSong, SPARK Reproductive Justice, Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network, and Healthy and Free Tennessee. The project aims to build a stronger movement in the Southeast to support full and equal access to reproductive rights, information, and services. This seed grant will fund the startup phase of the project, including creating organizational infrastructure and a coordinating body; mapping the movement for reproductive rights in theregion; defining a common agenda, progress measures, and activities; and recruiting member organizations.