National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund

NIRH Action Fund is doing what no other organization is doing in the states: ensuring that candidates and campaigns have the tools they need to run, win, and govern on a proactive reproductive rights, health, and justice platform.

Especially with a hostile Supreme Court, states are our first lines of defense for reproductive freedom. State elected officials have the power to improve access or to create barriers to abortion care. Elections provide voters with an opportunity to ensure that those who care about progressive issues, including abortion access, are in those seats of power. Voting not just at the top of the ticket—but all the way down the ballot—is key to increasing access to reproductive health care, including abortion. And with more pro choice officials in office, the advocacy work we and our local partners engage in to to push forward proactive and progressive policy can lead to opportunities for reproductive health and rights protections to be enshrined into law.

NIRH Action Fund’s electoral program lays the groundwork to allow for policy change in every state in which we work. We aim to elect leaders who will create proactive, visionary policies that will help our communities thrive, and to reelect the ones who have made such change. NIRH Action Fund also engages in public education campaigns to raise awareness about the need to fight for a proactive vision of reproductive health care access.

NIRH Action Fund has a history of elevating messaging that leans into values of respect and support for people who have abortions, proving that strong support for abortion access is a winning issue. By emphasizing these values and helping candidates and campaigns elevate their strong support for reproductive freedom, we will not only win key electoral contests, but reshape the role that support for abortion access plays in the political process.

NIRH Action Fund is proud to have a series of important wins and lessons learned from the last few years:

• In New York, voters rewarded legislative leaders who solidified the state as a model for protecting and
advancing reproductive freedom - reinforcing NIRH-AF’s decades-long investment to achieve this goal.
• New Mexico voters replaced conservative Democrats with supporters of abortion access and firmly solidified
majorities in both legislative chambers that will repeal the state’s old abortion ban and advance new
protections. This has been a long-standing goal for NIRH and reflects Action Fund work over two election
cycle
• In Arizona, Pennsylvania, and other critical battleground states, we partnered with the political infrastructure,
provided strategic guidance, informed them about where the electorate stood on the issue, and brought them
to a place of embracing authentic, public support for reproductive freedom.
• In New Jersey, we helped spearhead efforts to pass the progressive Reproductive Freedom Act as a member
of the NJ Thrive Coalition, which led the state to take an important first step in codifying the current rights to
abortion for residents in a new bill.

Looking ahead, NIRH Action Fund will continue laying the groundwork for future legislative victories by doubling down on our efforts to pass proactive legislation and elect pro choice official into office everywhere we can.