The 2023 application period for Our Justice’s Board of Directors and Committees is now open!

Our Justice believes everyone deserves the autonomy and resources to make healthy decisions about sex, pregnancy, and parenting. We seek to build a world of full reproductive justice, a political vision developed by Black women that supports everyone’s right to have a child, to not have a child, and to raise their families in safe and supportive environments.

We do this through programming that breaks down barriers to abortion and reproductive care.

• Abortion Assistance Fund & Lodging Program

• Free Plan B Program

• UnRestrict Minnesota advocacy campaign

• Legal Advocacy

• Mutual Aid and Healing

At Our Justice, we work directly with those impacted by abortion restrictions, building community around shared reproductive justice values. Our Justice is comprised of a small, but growing, staff and a governing board. In 2023, we are focused on growing our capacity to meet an increasing need for abortion care in Minnesota and navigating the evolving landscape of abortion access.

We are currently recruiting new board members and new committee members to:

• Guide and grow our core work, including relaunching our post-abortion support group and recruiting volunteers to operate the Abortion Assistance Fund.

• Continue growing our individual, monthly, and major donor programs, and support our largest annual fundraiser, the Fund-a-Thon.

• Strengthen our organization with improved HR, technology, and governance practices

What are we looking for in a candidate? Please note: these are the needs we have identified as an organization, and we do not expect one person to fulfill all of them! If you see yourself in even one of these needs, we welcome your application. We are looking for people with:

• A firm commitment to Reproductive Justice and our mission to ensure that all people have the power to make sexual and reproductive health decisions with dignity.

• Experience on a Board of Directors and an understanding of how a high functioning Board should operate.

• Participate in board work which includes supporting programming, attending meetings outside of work hours, and attending Our Justice events.

• Strong community ties and the ability to engage their networks for fundraising and other support such as getting folks involved in our organization.

• Knowledge or growing knowledge of abortion access at local and national levels.

• Experience receiving or providing abortion care and/or practical support.

• A commitment to racial, economic, disability, and gender justice, understanding that reproductive justice is linked to all movement work for collective liberation.

• Capacity to ensure our board reflects the communities we serve. We encourage folks with unique, marginalized and complex identities to apply!

Not sure if you’re ready to join a board? Consider joining one of our committees or volunteering in another capacity! Being a valued committee member or volunteer can be an excellent springboard to joining the Board of Directors down the road. Fill out the Our Justice Volunteer Interest form to get started!

How to apply

Submit your resume, cover letter, and two community references who can speak to your community work to board@ourjustice.net. Your cover letter should specifically address why you would like to work with Our Justice and how your skills can support and strengthen Our Justice.

Deadline for application is end-of-day 10/2/23.

Applications will be reviewed and selected candidates will be interviewed on a rolling basis starting 10/16/23 and lasting through 10/31/23. We anticipate onboarding new Board and Committee members in January 2024. Initial board terms will vary and be staggered. Board terms are 3 years. In exceptional circumstances, a shorter Board term will be considered.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to board@ourjustice.net with questions about this process.

Our Justice is hiring a full-time Communications and Advocacy Director to tell our story, share information about our direct services, and build community power for reproductive justice in Minnesota.

JOB DESCRIPTION 

COMMUNICATIONS & ADVOCACY DIRECTOR

Title: Communications & Advocacy Director

Supervised by: Executive Director 

Status: Full-time, salaried 

Salary level: Director 

Pay: $56,000-$67,500 per year 

Benefits: Health and dental insurance, wellness and phone stipends, unlimited PTO 

Location:  Work from home, Twin Cities, MN based; co-working space available

Projected Hiring Timeline:  Open for applications through July 23; interviews late July - early August; job offer mid-late August; anticipated start date in early-mid September. 

Organizational Overview 

Every day, people are making decisions about sex, pregnancy, and parenting, and many encounter enormous challenges due to lack of resources and support. 

Our Justice has always worked to provide people with the resources they need to access reproductive care now, while also advocating for policy change that would make these resources more available and remove many of these challenges altogether. Founded in 1967 by a small group of doctors, clergy, and community members to assist Minnesota women in accessing abortion care, Our Justice continues to support people’s reproductive and sexual human rights. 

Position Description 

Our Justice’s Communications and Advocacy Director tells the story of our organization - our work, our history, our values - and leads advocacy projects that align with our values and meaningfully impact our clients’ ability to access abortion care. In this role, you can collaborate with our small team and volunteers to help this organization of over 50 years deepen community understanding of reproductive justice, educate and activate folks around our work to make abortion and all reproductive health care radically accessible, help Our Justice show up for our partners, and strengthen relationships with our community allies and supporters.

Essential Job Functions 

Directing Overall Communications Direction and Strategy (approximately 40% of the position) 

• Coordinate with fundraising and programmatic teams to curate and manage a central communications calendar 

• Create, oversee and execute OurJustice’s digital communications, including social media and email, and ensuring our blog and website is regularly up-to-date. Publish original content and graphics that match our brand voice and identity. 

• Grow Our Justice’s voice through timely and impactful rapid response communications.

• Monitor and amplify shared communications from partner organizations.

• Update the communications strategy and plan for Our Justice providing strategic direction, oversight, coordination, and priority setting.

• Create communications and media materials, including but not limited to web content, brochures, annual reports, fact sheets, advocacy and fundraising emails, newsletters, press releases, media pitches, toolkits, and other publications.

• Lead projects that shape, gauge, and translate complex public opinion and message research, both qualitative and quantitative, into actionable tactics to advance reproductive freedom.

• Create and oversee earned media strategy, including proactively pitching stories, identifying earned media opportunities and building relationships with reporters to garner press.

• Identify opportunities to lift the voices of Our Justice staff and members around key media moments.

• Seek out new channels of engagement including micro-influencers in key communities and new means of audience segmentation and targeting, constantly pursuing innovation and results. 

• Support fundraising in preparation and content development of grant applications.
  

Amplifying Our Justice’s Programmatic Work (approximately 25% of the position)

• Ensure the breadth of Our Justice’s programmatic work (Abortion Assistance Fund, Abortion Assistance Lodging Program, Emerge, Curbside Plan BⓇ, community advocacy) is reaching key audiences in vibrant, authentic, and engaging ways. 

• Tell the story of our participation in the current Doe v. Minnesota case to remove Minnesota’s abortion restrictions. Ensure that messaging reaches out to and beyond our supporters and integrates with fundraising goals.

• Prepare and edit communications pieces for the Executive Director, other staff, and board members including speeches and op-eds 

• Establish a regular cadence of relevant, easily accessible content through various communication channels. Develop relationships with communities most impacted by reproductive oppression to share our resources and reduce abortion stigma.
  

Advocacy (approximately 25% of the position) 

• Co-lead with Executive Director future advocacy initiatives that align with Our Justice’s values and strategic priorities - this looks like developing specific policy/service provision changes Our Justice would bring to elected officials, providers, insurance providers, etc. 

• Curate audience specific educational materials for future advocacy initiatives

• Stay up to date on national and local policy landscape 

• Develop and sustain relationships with political stakeholders 

• Power mapping elected officials and allies -learning about official positions, past votes, campaign platforms, past social media posts, endorsements, allies within the elected body/community at large

• Writing talking points and general policy guidance based on Our Justice’s values - how will the given policy item make abortion and all repro care more accessible, correct reproductive injustices, etc.
  

Other (approximately 10% of the position) 

• Support the work of additional Our Justice committees as needed.

• Actively participate in required convenings, summits, retreats, and org meetings,            and participate in required virtual staff communications. 

• Protect the organization by keeping information confidential.

• Perform duties required of all staff to support smooth internal operations such   as submitting timely reports and reimbursement requests.

• Perform other duties as assigned by the Executive Director

• Update professional knowledge by participating in educational opportunities approved by Our Justice, maintaining networks, and participating in professional organizations relevant to your role.

Travel Expectations 

Ability to travel locally (2-3x or more per week) within the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area is required. Travel precautions and suspensions will be made in order to ensure safety amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Benchmarks 

• Work with Program and Fundraising teams to develop a communications calendar.

• Increase reach and engagement across all platforms - social, email, etc. 

• Develop Our Justice’s leaders as effective public spokespeople around our advocacy, partnerships and direct service work.

• Launch successful campaigns highlighting the changes in the Reproductive Justice ecosystem.

Qualifications 

Job experience requirements 

• Leadership experience with communications, social media, PR/media relations & advocacy

• Demonstrated writing, editing, and proofreading skills - with evidence of good storytelling ability. 

• Demonstrated knowledge of Reproductive Justice & abortion landscape 

• Ability to self-manage and work outside traditional work week, as needed. 

• Experience with or strong connections to movements led by-and-for young Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) most directly impacted by and best positioned to end gender oppression

• Enthusiasm for building relationships (i.e. engaging in many meetings, coffees, breakfasts, Zoom meetings, etc.) across grassroots movements to advance Our Justice’s purpose and vision

Specific skill sets 

• Technology acumen - CRM experience (EveryAction preferred), Squarespace, social media platforms. HTML knowledge is a plus. 

• Understanding of public relations, marketing, and communications.

• Strong interpersonal skills. Comfortable delegating tasks, working with coalition    partners, managing volunteers, managing up, and working with a network of folks with varying degrees of involvement and capacity. 

• Candidate has a strong confidence center - is comfortable handling the ambiguity and change that comes from working with a small organization in a period of transformation and growth. 

• Leadership style that is emotionally intelligent, transparent, self-reflective, and comfortable working through moments of conflict and ambiguity
  

Qualities 

• Committed to abortion access, reproductive justice, and full reproductive health care for all. 

• Committed to an intersectional framework that includes, but is not limited to gender, economic, and racial justice. 

• Ability to enjoy collaboration and be a part of a dynamic and integrated team; maintain flexibility and effectively manage ambiguity and/or gaps in communication that are common in a volunteer-heavy work environment.

• Self-motivated, resourceful, creative, and able to work without significant day-to-day supervision. 

• Open to giving and receiving feedback and committed to practicing this regularly.

• Appreciation of working with diverse staff and board in an organization committed to racial justice. 

• Demonstrates commitment to organizational stability 

Work Environment 

The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with different abilities to perform the essential functions. 

• Our Justice is led by a volunteer working board and committees who regularly meet in off hours including evenings and weekends. Our Justice staff must be flexible and able to attend these meetings as much as possible, being able to prioritize their time in a flexible way. 

• Must be able to participate in online virtual communications including email, video conferencing, and other online tools used to facilitate virtual office culture and work sharing. 

• This position is full time, with the employee's regular full time schedule to be approved by the supervisor. 

• Must be able to conduct business in English; however, fluency in languages other than English is a plus. 

• Some work at off-site locations may be required; Our Justice aims for accessibility in any off-site location that we have control of, but some of them may not be fully accessible. 

• This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, and scanners. Employee is regularly required to communicate effectively via computer, via phone, and in person. 

• This role requires frequent sitting. 

Our Justice is committed to fostering the leadership and elevating the voices of Black people, women, young people, people of color, Native people, immigrant and refugees, low-income people, LGBQ+, and transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people, people who have had abortions, people with disabilities, young parents, people who were formerly imprisoned, people who have received funding for abortions, and people living in the many intersections of these experiences. We encourage people from these communities to apply. As an organization rooted in Reproductive Justice and anti-racism, Our Justice is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any individual based on any non-merit factor. Our Justice is committed to an equitable workplace where everyone is treated as a respected and valued member of the team. Our Justice actively seeks to build and maintain a diverse staff with regard to race, culture, ethnicity, class, religion, physical ability, age, gender, and sexual orientation. 

To Apply:  Please submit your resume, three writing samples (one of which should be a social media sample), and a cover letter to contact@ourjustice.net.  As part of your cover letter, please describe how reproductive justice shows up in your life.  

We’re very closely watching a federal court case in Texas that could potentially ban mifepristone in all 50 states. 

What is Mifepristone? 

Mifepristone is one of two medications typically prescribed for a medication abortion - most medication abortions involve taking mifepristone to stop the hormones that maintain a pregnancy, and misoprostol to induce contractions. Medication abortion with mifepristone is a safe, effective method of ending a pregnancy, and it accounts for over half of all abortions nationwide and 60% of abortions in Minnesota. 

What is this lawsuit? 

Anti-abortion lawyers filed this lawsuit to repeal all of the FDA’s actions regarding mifepristone, including FDA’s approval of mifepristone and the recent actions that allowed mifepristone to be administered via telehealth and distributed through the mail. It is clear that these lawyers’ goal has always been to ban abortion outright and stop us from making healthy choices for our own bodies and families. They filed this lawsuit with a specific federal judge in Texas who has a long history of attacking birth control access and LGBTQ rights.

We’re prepared for three potential outcomes:

1. The judge throws the case out (very unlikely)

2. The judge keeps the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, but reinstates restrictions that would ban patients from receiving mifepristone via telehealth, which would seriously limit options for patients in rural areas

3. The judge overturns the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, taking mifepristone off the market, possibly by citing an outdated pre-Roe law called the Comstock Act, which bans mailing of drugs and devices used to end a pregnancy

What will happen to medication abortion? Are there other options?

If the courts do ban Mifepristone, it will be a devastating blow. But it will not stop people from getting abortions, it will not change the fact that abortion is legal in Minnesota, and it will not stop Our Justice from funding abortions. Mifepristone is not the only way to safely end a pregnancy - it is also safe and effective to use misoprostol alone, and many providers will start using this method if mifepristone is banned. 

Another safe, affordable option for many people is to purchase mifepristone and misoprostol in advance to keep at home for future use. This is called advance provision, and our partners at Plan C have lots of resources on how to access this service!

How is Our Justice preparing for the decision?

Our Justice will continue directly funding abortion for anyone seeking care in Minnesota and one independent clinic in Iowa, including patients seeking medication abortion care. Medication abortion will still be available if mifepristone is banned, but it will be administered through misoprostol only. This will mean that many patients traveling to Minnesota may have to stay longer to pass their pregnancies because this method takes longer than the mifepristone/misoprostol method. 

Just because we can adapt to a new reality without mifepristone does not mean we should have to. We all deserve the full range of safe, dignified reproductive health care choices, and attempting to limit the number of abortion methods available to patients is a direct violation of our right to full bodily autonomy in reproductive health care.

It’s that time of year again! Today is the first day of registration for the 2022 Our Justice Fund-a-Thon! The theme is Totally '90s: Don’t Rewind Our Rights!

We’ve responded to over one thousand requests for abortion assistance in 2021 alone, and if Roe v. Wade falls, the number of people traveling to Minnesota for abortions could increase by 370% or more. This is why we’ve set an ambitious goal for this year’s campaign. 

We’re raising $80,000 to ensure everyone who reaches out to us can pay for their abortion, get a ride to the clinic, and have a safe place to stay if they are traveling. In order to reach our goal, we need 120 people to participate as fundraisers. Your participation could make the difference between someone accessing abortion care or being forced to delay or go without.

Anyone can participate in the Fund-a-Thon, no experience is necessary! We will provide fundraising guides, training, and support to ensure your success.

 The Fund-a-Thon will culminate with a party on April 28th where we’ll celebrate our work, talk about the state of Reproductive Justice and dance to the music of the '90’s! The best way to ensure a ticket to the party is to sign up as a fundraiser, limited tickets for non-fundraiser will be available for purchase on March 28th. 

Questions? Feel free to reach out to Leah@ourjustice.net and ask! 

Stay tuned for more details to come - and start thinking of your '90s themed team name!

The 2022 application period for Our Justice’s Board of Directors and Committees is now open!

Our Justice believes everyone deserves the autonomy and resources to make healthy decisions about sex, pregnancy, and parenting. We seek to build a world of full reproductive justice, a political vision developed by Black women that supports everyone’s right to have a child, to not have a child, and to raise their families in safe and supportive environments. 

We do this through programming that breaks down barriers to abortion and reproductive care.

• Abortion Assistance Fund & Lodging Program 

• Free Plan B Program 

• UnRestrict Minnesota advocacy campaign

• Legal Advocacy 

• Mutual Aid and Healing 

At Our Justice, we work directly with those impacted by abortion restrictions, building community around shared reproductive justice values. The Our Justice team has three staff and a working board. In 2022, we are focused on growing our capacity to meet an increasing need for abortion care in Minnesota and preparing for the potential fall of Roe v. Wade – which could increase the number of people traveling to Minnesota for abortions by care by 370%

We are currently recruiting four new board members and new committee members to:

• Guide and grow our core work, including relaunching our post-abortion support group and recruiting volunteers to operate the Abortion Assistance Fund.

• Continue growing our individual, monthly, and major donor programs, and support our largest annual fundraiser, the Fund-a-Thon, which brings in $60K-$80K+ annually.

• Set the tone for the next phase of Our Justice by engaging in upcoming strategic planning that will guide our work for the next five years.

• Strengthen our organization with improved HR, technology, and governance practices

What are we looking for in a candidate? Please note: these are the needs we have identified as an organization, and we do not expect one person to fulfill all of them! If you see yourself in even one of these needs, we welcome your application. We are looking for people with

• A firm commitment to Reproductive Justice and our mission to ensure that all people have the power to make sexual and reproductive health decisions with dignity.

• Experience on a Board of Directors and understanding of how a high functioning Board should operate. 

• A capacity to join a working board, which includes supporting programming, attending meetings outside of work hours, and attending Our Justice events. 

• Strong community ties and ability engage their networks for fundraising and other support, and getting folks involved in our organization.

• Knowledge or growing knowledge of abortion access at local and national levels.

• Experience receiving or providing abortion care and/or practical support.

• A commitment to racial, economic, disability, and gender justice, understanding that reproductive justice is linked to all movement work for collective liberation.

• Capacity to ensure our board reflects the communities we serve. We encourage folks with unique, marginalized and complex identities to apply! 

Not sure if you’re ready to join a board? Consider joining one of our committees! Being a valued committee member can be an excellent springboard to joining the Board of Directors down the road. We are looking for new members to assist with:

• HR & Governance Committee (meets monthly)

• Finance Committee (meets monthly)

• Fund-a-Thon Committee (meets weekly until Fund-a-Thon in April)

How to apply

Submit your resume, cover letter, and two community references who can speak to your community work to board@ourjustice.net. Your cover letter should specifically address why you would like to work with Our Justice and how your skills can support and strengthen Our Justice. 

Deadline for application is end-of-day 3/11/22. We will host two Zoom happy hours on 2/22/22 6pm-7pm CT and Monday, 3/7/22 6pm-7pm CT for applicants to meet staff and Board and ask any questions you may have about Our Justice. Register here. 

Applications will be reviewed and selected candidates will be interviewed on a rolling basis

Starting 3/14/22 and lasting through 4/8/22. We anticipate onboarding new Board and Committee members 4/17/22. Initial board terms will vary and be staggered. Initial board terms may be 18 months, 2 years, or 3 years, to be determined by the Board and new members together. 

In exceptional circumstances, a shorter Board term will be considered. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to board@ourjustice.net with questions about this process.

Peace Our Justice community,

I am honored and excited to announce my transition from Vision Realization Advisor to the role of Executive Director of Our Justice. This is an incredible opportunity that speaks to my passions, skillset, and guiding principle; that we all deserve full bodily autonomy and a world free from reproductive oppression.

Over the last decade, I have dedicated my personal and professional talents toward making reproductive justice a reality. It’s a journey that I began at Whole Woman’s Health, an independent abortion clinic, as a phone counselor. I worked my way up to call center manager leading a team who provided compassionate care and education for folks seeking to access abortions across the nation. In 2017 I co-founded and ran Trust Collective for 3 years, a collective uplifting women and femmes of color to be engaged in reproductive justice storytelling. In 2019 I transitioned to the Vision Realization Advisor for Our Justice, and since then I have had the opportunity to deepen my holistic leadership and skill building, through the National Network of Abortion Funds Movement Makers Fellows Program.

Driven by my love and commitment to serve folks who are systematically excluded, I am eager to build upon the momentum that Our Justice has created over the last few years with the Plan B delivery program, our abortion lodging program and the UnRestrict MN campaign. As the new Executive Director, I pledge to keep you informed of our growth as I work toward achieving our priorities for 2022 — including updates about our litigation, the continued development of our staff and Board of Directors, and the commitment to solidify funding to enhance programmatic viability and expansion.

There is no denying that these last few years have been uniquely challenging for all of us, especially for those who face legal and economic barriers to accessing essential healthcare, including abortion care. For many people, these attacks on bodily autonomy are unprecedented, however for the majority of people who look like me, institutional oppression has been the norm- these barriers to care are not new, they just look different.

Nonetheless, our dedicated staff continues to exceed expectations, finding innovative ways to support our grantees and communities through legal attacks and impacts of the pandemic. Thanks to your generosity, our team has improved our intake systems to better support our grantees and the influx of out-of-state grantees that we may be seeing with the potential fall of Roe. Not only that, our team has been instrumental in the litigation to reaffirm and expand Minnesota’s protections for access to abortion care. Your support has never been more critical to fulfilling our mission. I am confident that with you by our side Our Justice will continue to make Reproductive Justice feel more irresistible, and shift resources so that our communities have the power to make sexual and reproductive health decisions with self-determination.

Thank you again for your support and Happy New Year! 

Sincerely,

Shayla Walker, Executive Director

What we do is more important than what we say or what we say we believe. - bell hooks 

Our Justice is breaking down barriers to reproductive health care access at all levels - including fighting against the misinformation and predatory practices of fake clinics known as “crisis pregnancy centers.”

I contributed to a new report about how fake clinics in Minnesota use state funding to intentionally deceive pregnant people and deny their right to abortion care. 

“While the state sends millions of dollars to crisis pregnancy centers that deliberately lie to pregnant people and stop them from accessing abortion care, abortion funds and providers have to scramble to raise money to fund essential, life-affirming reproductive health care — often in situations where CPCs have delayed someone’s access to abortion and made the procedure more expensive. 

 When CPCs lie to pregnant people about their reproductive health care options, the effects fall disproportionately on people of color and people with low incomes — following a long history of reproductive oppression against people of color. It is absolutely unacceptable and unjust for the state to fund organizations that deliberately deny people their essential rights to bodily autonomy and self-determination.”

 We’re fighting for a world where everyone has the resources and autonomy to make healthy decisions about their bodies and families. Unlike these fake health clinics, Our Justice does not receive any state funding. We are funded by our community. 

Join us today to ensure accurate, life-affirming reproductive care stays available in Minnesota. 

Abortion restrictions in other states have ripple effects across the country. That’s why we helped write an amicus brief for Dobbs v. Jackson, a Supreme Court case that will consider whether or not Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban is constitutional. Amicus briefs are briefs that people and organizations with a strong interest in a case can submit to offer information or arguments about the impact of a particular lawsuit. Along with abortion funds and practical support groups across the country, we discuss the impact that abortion restrictions and stigma have on people seeking abortion care. 

“In 2020, Our Justice, which operates an abortion assistance fund in Minnesota, typically provided $150 to $200 to first-trimester abortion patients and $300 to $500 to second-trimester abortion patients. Yet the starting cost of a first-trimester abortion in Minnesota is $700, and the starting cost of a second trimester abortion in Minnesota is $800. Even with support from Our Justice and partner organizations, Minnesota abortion patients sometimes spend weeks or months trying to gather the necessary funds to access care.”

As abortion access is severely restricted in states like Texas and Mississippi, people will continue to seek abortion care across state lines, traveling further and further to get the care they need. Even though abortion is legal here in Minnesota, we still have our own restrictions on abortion care, and it is nowhere near accessible to everyone who needs it. In addition to submitting an amicus brief, with the help of the Lawyering Project and Gender Justice, I wrote an individual declaration speaking to the specific barriers that people here Minnesota face when they try to access abortion care. 

“Other challenges people face in accessing abortion care include the need for childcare and the need to take time off from work or school. The longer someone is away from home, the harder it can be for them to secure and pay for childcare. In addition, the longer someone is away from home, the harder and more stressful it can be to keep their whereabouts—and thus their pregnancy and abortion—confidential, including from their employers or abusive partners. Being forced to take multiple days off from work to travel to obtain abortion care can also jeopardize their employment.” 

Abortion funds provide essential financial assistance and logistical support for people seeking abortions. We do our best to minimize barriers to care as much as we can under the constraints of national and state-level restrictions on abortion, and we’ll always fight to make sure abortion is accessible to every single person who needs it. 

Since 1974, Our Justice has run a booth at the Minnesota State Fair, where we share information about our work to protect and expand abortion access and educate Minnesotans on our vision of Reproductive Justice. As the only abortion-positive booth at the fair, we have always valued the opportunity to share our mission with Minnesotans from across the state - and hand out our signature condoms on a stick. However, this year the Our Justice Board has made the difficult decision to cancel our State Fair booth for the 2021 fair. We made this decision while weighing our treasured legacy of sharing our vision for safe, legal abortion access against the safety of our staff and volunteers amidst the rapid spread of COVID-19.

We made this decision specifically because the Fair repeatedly chose not to implement safety protocols that would keep our communities healthy. Our booth was inside the crowded Grandstand with no mask mandate, no proof of vaccination or testing, and no caps on attendance. Though Our Justice planned to implement safety protocols at our individual booth, these measures would not have effectively limited COVID-19 transmission in a way that would make our volunteers feel safe. Had the State Fair management chosen to prioritize the safety of fairgoers by implementing COVID precautions, it is likely we would have felt safe continuing with the booth. We heard from our volunteers, staff and board members that they did not feel safe attending the fair without any safety protocols, and as an organization grounded in bodily autonomy and community health, we could not participate in an event that would put the safety of our supporters and their loved ones at risk. 

To all those who contributed their time, energy, and money to the Our Justice State Fair booth over the last 47 years: thank you. We are a grassroots organization built by your support, and we are deeply grateful to be in community with you. We look forward to finding new ways to safely connect with our supporters, educate more people about our services and share our vision of Reproductive Justice. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at contact@ourjustice.net if you have any specific questions about this decision.

As an organization providing direct financial and logistical support for abortion care, we see the impacts of state-level abortion restrictions firsthand. Restrictions like a 24-hour waiting period, physician-only requirements, and two-parent notifications for minors create barriers to abortion care that disproportionately affect people of color, people with low incomes, and youth.

Our Justice’s Vision Realization Advisor, Shayla, joined local abortion providers and advocates to put together a report with If/When/How on the impact that Minnesota’s forced parental involvement laws have on youth. The two-parent notification law forces young people under age 18 seeking abortion care in Minnesota to choose between several bleak scenarios: notifying both parents of their decision regardless of their relationship, having an abortion provider notify their parents about their private medical decision 48 hours prior to accessing the care they need, or going to court to request an order from a judge to bypass the two-parent notification.

Imagine being a young person finding out that you are pregnant, trying to schedule an abortion in a state with multiple week scheduling delays at every clinic, figuring out how to pay for your procedure, and then finding out you have to go to court for a stranger behind a bench to decide if it is in your best interest to access the health care you need. As one advocate quoted in the report says,

“Most people haven’t been to court. They’ve only seen it on TV. And if you’re a person of color, interacting with the court can be extremely stressful and traumatizing for young people. Even though I’m constantly telling people their information is confidential inside the courtroom, that doesn’t mean their experience feels that way from beginning to end. There’s an armed deputy and cameras when you first enter the courthouse building. It’s scary. It’s a big deal.”

Read the full report here.

The two-parent notification law is just one of over a dozen abortion restrictions we’re challenging in a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota. Donate today to help us dismantle legal barriers to abortion access and ensure bodily autonomy for everyone!

This is a guest blog post from our friends Brooke and Julie at Just the Pill, Minnesota’s first mobile abortion clinic. 

Across Minnesota, there are huge swaths of land where people are making choices about sex, pregnancy, and parenting without reliable access to abortion. If you live in rural Minnesota and want to get an abortion, you’ve probably got – quite literally – a long road ahead of you. 

First, you have to try to schedule an appointment at a clinic and likely face at least a two-week delay on top of scheduling a window to listen to a state-mandated, medically irrelevant script. Then you have to figure out how you’re going to make the three, four, or even five hour drive across the state to get to the clinic and where you’re going to stay if you’re getting a later abortion that requires a two-day procedure. You’ve got to figure out how to get time off work and what excuse you’re going to give your boss. Most people seeking abortions already have one child, so you probably have to find childcare, too. Then you have to find a way to pay for all of this - the $600 average cost of an abortion, gas money, childcare, a night in a hotel, and missed time off work. 

We founded Just the Pill, Minnesota’s first mobile abortion clinic, because we believe It shouldn’t be this hard to access abortion. Like our friends at Our Justice, we believe that abortion access is an essential piece of the bodily autonomy that everyone deserves. Our missions are deeply intertwined as we work to expand abortion access and fight back against structural barriers that include finances, logistics, stigma and shame, and restrictive laws intended to make it as hard as possible for people to access abortion. 

These laws and restrictions are an ever-present backdrop for our work. We can’t ever separate the personal from the political. Case in point: Before the pandemic, the federal government had singled out medication abortion for targeted restrictions that required patients to come into a clinic for an in-person visit to receive mifepristone, the first pill in a medication abortion. There is no medically necessary reason for this in-person requirement because patients, it’s just another step intended to make it even more inconvenient to get an abortion. In the early months of the pandemic, the federal government briefly lifted these requirements to lower the risks of COVID-19 transmission, allowing us to mail medication abortion across the state and meet the needs of people in rural Minnesota who had previously never had access to abortion. 

In January 2021, the Supreme Court reversed that action and reinstated the medically unnecessary in-person requirements, creating confusion for patients and sending us on a state-wide road trip in our mobile clinic as we pulled 12-hour days driving across Minnesota to meet patients and dispense medication abortion. Then, the FDA lifted in-person requirements again, allowing us to mail medication abortion again but creating still more confusion for providers and patients. 

Getting essential health care doesn’t have to be this hard, and it’s clear that people in power chose for it to be this way. We’re working to change that by making abortion more accessible for rural Minnesotans, driven by values of bodily autonomy, accessibility, and community care. We’ve already reached patients who have never had access to abortion care before, and 30% of patients surveyed said they would have had to delay their abortion significantly more than 2 weeks or continued their pregnancy if they did not have access to Just the Pill’s services. 

There is a need for abortion access in our community, and we should always be working to meet that need in the most accessible ways possible. 

As the folks at Our Justice know, abortion access is a radical form of community care. We want our patients to know that they are a part of a community that believes they should have access to a full range of reproductive health care. If you need an abortion, we want you to know that you have options for how to access it, people who will help you pay for it, and community partners who will help provide aftercare kits. We also want you to know that you’re part of a community working to make it easier to access abortion by making the changes to in-person requirements permanent and repealing state-level abortion restrictions.

Abortion is a part of the whole fabric of someone’s life as they exercise their bodily autonomy and make decisions to care for themselves and their families. At Our Justice and Just the Pill, we’re working to make sure that autonomy belongs to everyone. 

For more information on Just the Pill’s services, visit their website. As always, if you need help paying for an abortion, visit Our Justice’s abortion assistance fund form here. 

Brittany Delaney is a spoken word artist, a friend, community member, and Black mama of two surviving the autoimmune disease, lupus. While undergoing treatment this past February at M Health Fairview Ridges, Brittany was subjected to the racist, negligent care that is all too common for Black people in our hospital system.

Doctors and nurses repeatedly failed to inform her about changes to her care, mismanaged her medications, and refused to listen to Brittany when she experienced pain and negative reactions to the doctors’ treatments. Hospital staff tried to coerce Brittany into signing inaccurate discharge forms to relieve themselves of responsibility for her care. The medical providers entrusted with Brittany’s care refused wheelchair rides, made thinly-veiled threats to her primary care physician, and botched a basic surgical procedure for Brittany that prompted severe migraines and yet another trip to the hospital to correct the error.

All of this during a pandemic where Brittany cannot have visitors, forcing her to navigate these injustices and figure out how to pay the hospital bills - all while she is trying to parent her children.

This is just a brief snapshot of a document detailing the medical racism Brittany is facing while trying to navigate a system that is supposed to take care of her. On Black Maternal Health Week, we want to acknowledge that although conversations around Black maternal health typically focus on birthing, the health of Black mamas goes beyond birthing to include all of the care and resources needed to keep Black mamas and families healthy for their whole lives.

Black maternal health means caring for the whole person, building a vision of Reproductive Justice where Black mamas have the power, autonomy, and resources they need to have safe pregnancy outcomes and raise healthy families. In this world, Black mamas raise their kids in communities with abundant care, love, and room to grow - free from fear of police violence and white supremacy. In this world, Brittany’s needs are taken seriously, and she can go to a hospital knowing that doctors are there to prioritize her comfort so she can go home safely to her family.

But we just aren’t there yet. Black mamas still lack access to systems that truly care for us. If we have a medical emergency, we can’t trust hospitals to treat us with compassion and care. If we are in crisis, we can’t call the police without fear of violence against us and our families. If we want our story told, we can’t depend on the media to accurately tell our stories without exploiting them. We turn to our community to get our needs met, to fellow Black mamas who face the same racism of a system that constantly exploits, devalues, and extinguishes Black life. Our community is what holds us, gives us rides, keeps us company on the phone, brings us meals, and advocates for the value of our lives when systems of power fail us.

But the reality is that those systems of community care are not well-resourced, and to achieve Reproductive Justice we have to dismantle white supremacy by uplifting and prioritizing the networks of community care that truly sustain us. We need doctors and nurses who look like us, who know our lives and know that the health of Black mamas is bound up with the health of Black families and communities. We need care that is affordable and accessible, and we need to know that if something goes wrong in our treatment, our voices will be heard. How can we expect Brittany to be there for her kids if she can’t get what she needs to care for herself?

It is a privilege to believe systems of power - hospitals, police, government - exist to care for you. It’s a privilege that Black women have never had. This Black Maternal Health week, we remain committed to holding Black life sacred, to nourishing the health of Black mamas and realizing a full vision of Reproductive Justice.

To support Brittany, please consider providing direct aid to her via Paypal or CashApp.

Black Maternal Health week was an initiative created by Black Mamas Matter - we at Our Justice recognize and respect that many people with the ability to birth may not resonate with the term mama. Your health, your family, and your bodily autonomy are essential parts of the vision for Reproductive Justice.

We are grieving the loss of our Asian siblings in Atlanta at the hands of yet another white supremacist shooter. In a country with a long history of anti-Asian racism, where lethal weapons are made readily available at the expense of community safety, and where white supremacists are repeatedly protected and given platforms to promote violent, hateful speech, it is clear that our systems of power are not built to keep us safe.

Reproductive justice is about safety and bodily autonomy for everyone, and we're going to hold our AAPI community close as we heal and continue building this collective vision.

Minnesota, Wisconsin, and National Advocates Stand Against Government Sanctioned Sexual Violence

Non-consensual cavity searches:  Amicus Brief Filing with the Supreme Court of the United States

Saint Paul, MN – Twelve organizations leading the fight against sexual violence filed a brief in support of a woman requesting that the Supreme Court of the United States review her case. After being detained for shoplifting, she was suspected of hiding drugs and subjected to a non-consensual body cavity search.  Now, anti-sexual violence advocacy organizations call on the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review of her appeal and find that absent a warrant, probable cause, or exigent circumstances, non-consensual body cavity searches are a violation of a detainee’s Fourth Amendment rights.

 “A higher national standard can help protect people from this type of assault in Minnesota and across the nation,” said Rana Alexander, executive director of Standpoint, Minnesota’s premiere legal resource for domestic and sexual violence victims. “Our joint brief opposes these assaults under the guise of a search and believe the facts of this case show the continuing crisis of disproportionate attacks of this kind against Black, Indigenous, and people of color across our country.”  

This overt, physical act of sexual assault by the government forcibly overrode this woman’s right to bodily autonomy. Further, this victim is Native American, whose community has experienced significant historical trauma in relation to sexual violence and government-sanctioned violence.

In response, anti-sexual violence advocacy organizations (in the form of an Amicus Curiae or Friend of the Court Brief*) call for a higher standard before a detainee can be subjected to a non-consensual body cavity search. Given the overrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color in jails and prisons, including Wisconsin, these state violations of bodily autonomy are disproportionately inflicted upon and cause harm to marginalized communities.  

 Said Nicole Matthews, Executive Director of the Minnesota Indian Women Sexual Assault Coalition, “Native women are the backbone of our communities, and the United States government has a federal trust responsibility to not only honor the sovereignty of our Nations but to honor the sovereignty of our life-givers.” 

###

*About the Amici Curiae:  This is a group of 12 non-profit and educational organizations dedicated to the prevention of gender and sexual violence, the advancement of racial, gender, and reproductive justice, and support of and advocacy for Native American tribal members and communities. Katherine S. Barrett Wiik of Best & Flanagan LLP is counsel of record.

National Alliance to End Sexual ViolenceNational

Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Inc.

Battered Women’s Justice Project                                       

Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault                    

Columbia Law School Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic

Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition   

Alliance of Tribal Coalitions to End Violence  

Mending the Sacred Hoop                                                       

Standpoint 

Gender Justice                                                                              

Our Justice

Join the effort to advance reproductive Freedom in Minnesota as Our Justice’s New Communications Manager!

Title: Communications Manager

• Supervised by: Board Vice Chair, Our Justice Executive Committee

• Supervises: Volunteers

• Status: Full-time, salaried

• Salary level: Manager

• Date revised: January 2021

• Pay: $55,000 per year

• Benefits: Health insurance, phone reimbursement and computer provided

To Apply:

Send resume, cover letter, and three communications samples to contact@ourjustice.net under the subject line “Communications Manager Application” no later than Monday, January 18th, 2021. If you have any questions about the position please email stephanie@ourjustice.net.

Organizational Overview

Every day, people are making decisions about sex, pregnancy, and parenting, and many encounter enormous challenges due to lack of resources and support. 

Our Justice has always worked to provide people with the resources they need now, while also advocating for policy change that would make these resources more available and remove many of these challenges altogether. Founded in 1967 by a small group of doctors, clergy, and community members to assist Minnesota women in accessing abortion care, Our Justice continues to support people’s reproductive and sexual human rights.

Currently, our work is spread out across a committee structure and powered by a working board, active volunteers, and two full-time staff members. This position will round out a trio of full-time staff members, including programming (Vision Realization Advisor) and development. These three positions will work as a horizontal team, taking direction from committee work and reporting to the board and executive committees.

Position Description

Our Justice is seeking a full-time, salaried Communications Manager to tell the story of our organization - our work, our history, our values - to our key audiences in a new, consistent, and engaging way. In this role, you can collaborate with our small team and volunteers to help this organization of over 50 years deepen community understanding of reproductive justice, educate and activate folks around our work to remove Minnesota’s unconstitutional anti-abortion restrictions, help Our Justice show up for our partners, and strengthen relationships with our community allies and supporters.

Essential Job Functions

Amplifying Our Work to Remove Minnesota’s Abortion Restrictions (approximately 40% of the position)

• Tell the story of our participation in the current Doe v. Minnesota case to remove Minnesota’s abortion restrictions. Ensure that messaging reaches out to and beyond our supporters and integrates with fundraising goals. 

• Cultivate Our Justice as an essential voice in this work by drafting organizational messaging and talking points, conducting or coordinating spokesperson and media training for the Board Chair, Vision Realization Advisor, and others as assigned, and developing and executing an earned media strategy. 

• Represent Our Justice as co-leaders of the UnRestrict Minnesota campaign. Ensure our organization and the folks we serve have an active voice in the campaign, lead and/or support coalition activities, and amplify UnRestrict Minnesota communications across our channels. 

• Aid in the practical aspects of our role as a plaintiff in a currently ongoing lawsuit, including help with gathering discovery documents, cataloging and communicating historical information, and other activities as determined.  

• Attend all UnRestrict Minnesota Community Partner meetings (1-2/month), attend UnRestrict Minnesota leadership meetings if determined needed (up to 1/week), lead (or co-lead) sub-committees as assigned. 

Amplifying Our Justice’s Programmatic Work (approximately 50% of the position) 

• Ensure the breadth of Our Justice’s programmatic work (Abortion Assistance Fund, Abortion Assistance Lodging Program, Emerge, Curbside Plan BⓇ, community advocacy) is reaching key audiences in vibrant, authentic, and engaging ways.

• Oversee and execute OurJustice’s digital communications, including social media and email, and ensuring our blog and website is regularly up-to-date. Publish original content and graphics that match our brand voice and identity.

• Grow Our Justice’s current and timely voice through rapid response communications as appropriate.

• Work with the communication, fundraising, and programmatic teams to hold a central communications calendar to organize and work off of. 

• Support Our Justice’s major events with an “all hands on deck” approach, especially but not limited to Our Justice’s booth at the Minnesota State Fair/Pleasure Summer and the spring Fund-a-Thon. Employee must commit to being in town and accessible during the full duration of the Minnesota State Fair (during active seasons) and to working 7x 4-hr shifts at Our Justice’s booth.

• Cultivate our organizational culture by acting as “moderator” on Our Justice’s closed Facebook group and Slack channels.

• Monitor and amplify shared communications from partner organizations, including the National Network of Abortion Funds.

Other (approximately 10% of the position) 

• Support the success and engagement of the Communications & Fundraising Committee by attending meetings, preparing materials as needed, and collaborating with the committee leads.

• Support the work of additional Our Justice committees as needed.

• Actively participate in required convenings, summits, retreats, and org meetings, and participate in required virtual staff communications. 

• Protect the organization by keeping information confidential. 

• Update professional knowledge by participating in educational opportunities approved by Our Justice, maintaining networks, and participating in professional organizations relevant to your role. 

• Perform duties required of all staff to support smooth internal operations such as submitting timely reports, reimbursement requests, and timesheets. 

• Perform other duties as assigned by the Board and Executive Committee. 

Travel Expectations

Travel is currently limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a post-COVID landscape, state, regional, and sometimes national travel would be expected no more than 6 times per year. Ability to travel locally (2-3x or more per week) within the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area is required. Reliable transportation to and from the State Fairgrounds during active Minnesota State Fair years a must. Regardless of where an employee lives, and barring travel delays, outside an individual’s control, employee must be able to arrive at destination on-time. 

Travel precautions and suspensions will be made in order to ensure safety amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Benchmarks

• Work with Program and Fundraising teams to develop a communications calendar. 

• Increase reach and engagement across all platforms - social, email, etc. 

• Develop Our Justice’s leaders as effective public spokespeople around our work, Doe v. Minnesota, and UnRestrict Minnesota. 

• Launch a successful campaign highlighting the history or our work and our efforts to advance reproductive freedom by removing Minnesota’s abortion restrictions. 

Qualifications

Job experience requirements

• 5+ years of PR/media relations experience and digital communications  (can include volunteer or student work)

• Demonstrated writing, editing, and proofreading skills - with evidence of good storytelling ability. 

• Meaningful personal and/or professional engagement in movements or organizations centered around BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities.

• Experience with reproductive justice and/or racial and social justice movements.

• Ability to self-manage and work outside traditional work week, as needed.

Specific skill sets

• Understanding of public relations, marketing, and communications. 

• Technology acumen - CRM experience (EveryAction preferred), Squarespace, social media platforms. HTML knowledge a plus.

• Strong interpersonal skills. Comfortable delegating tasks, working with coalition partners, managing volunteers, managing up, and working with a network of folks with varying degrees of involvement and capacity.

• Candidate has a strong confidence center - is comfortable handling the ambiguity and change that comes from working with a small organization in a period of transformation and growth. 

• Comfortable working within a place of what can be v. what has been established. 

Qualities

• Committed to abortion access, reproductive justice, and full reproductive health care for all. 

• Committed to an intersectional framework that includes, but is not limited to gender, economic, and racial justice. 

• Ability to enjoy collaboration and be a part of a dynamic and integrated team; maintain flexibility and effectively manage ambiguity and/or gaps in communication that are common in a volunteer-heavy work environment. 

• Self-motivated, resourceful, creative, and able to work without significant day-to-day supervision. 

• Open to giving and receiving feedback and committed to practicing this regularly. 

• Appreciation of working with diverse staff and board in an organization committed to racial justice. 

• Demonstrates commitment to organizational stability 

Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with different abilities to perform the essential functions.

• Our Justice is led by a volunteer working board and committees who regularly meet in off hours including evenings and weekends. Our Justice staff must be flexible and able to attend these meetings as much as possible, being able to prioritize their time in a flexible way. 

• Depending on location, a combination of in-office and virtual office at this time. Must be able to participate in online virtual communications including email, video conferencing, and other online tools used to facilitate virtual office culture and work sharing. 

• This position is full time, with employee’s regular full time schedule to be approved by supervisor.

• Must be able to conduct business in English; however, fluency in languages other than English is a plus. 

• Some work at off-site locations may be required; Our Justice aims for accessibility in any off-site location that we have control of, but some of them may not be fully accessible. 

• This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, and scanners. Employee is regularly required to communicate effectively via computer, via phone, and in person. 

• This role requires frequent sitting.

As an organization rooted in Reproductive Justice and anti-racism, Our Justice is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any individual based on any non-merit factor. Our Justice is committed to an equitable workplace where everyone is treated as a respected and valued member of the team. Our Justice actively seeks to build and maintain a diverse staff with regard to race, culture, ethnicity, class, religion, physical ability, age, gender, and sexual orientation. As an organization working in solidarity with the reproductive justice movement, Our Justice is committed to fostering the leadership and elevating the voices of women, young people, people of color, Native people, immigrant and refugees, low-income people, LGBQ+, and transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people, people who have had abortions, people with disabilities, young parents, people who were formerly imprisoned, people who have received funding for abortions, and people living in the many intersections of these experiences. We encourage people from these communities to apply. 

As our communities move past the jarring confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and closer to the impending election, we can’t help but think of the reproductive injustice that has and continues to occur in the name politics. This September, we first learned about the horrific events occurring in Georgia’s Irwin County Detention Center, or ICDC.  For those of you not in the know, a whistleblower—Dawn Wooten, a licensed practical nurse—has come forward stating that some detained “women may have been required to have a hysterectomy”, and did not fully understand why they were having the procedure. A detainee in the ICDC states she has spoken with five different fellow detainees who had hysterectomies in the latter part of 2019, alone. Just this week it was reported that 57 migrant women were victims of this ICE gynecologist (via The Cut).

We are speaking up and out today, not out of shock, but because we are tired. Tired of the way systems are set up in the United States to not only oppress Black, indigenous, and brown bodies, but also kill us. We have no doubt that these forced hysterectomies are acts of genocide, of eugenics.

Let us not forget our history: that Hitler learned from the United States’ horrific acts, not the other way around. We know that there would be no United States without the coercion, manipulation, maiming, and murder of Black, indigenous, and brown bodies.

We see this in the United States’ history of forced hysterectomies of Black, indigenous, brown, disabled, and mentally ill persons; of the Dalkon Shield; of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Going back further, we see this in the very root of gynecology. J. Marion Sims is hailed as the father of modern gynecology. However, the reason we have the practice of gynecology is because Simms’ experimentation on Black bodies without anesthesia and for the profit of slaveholders. In fact, private corrections companies—such as Lasalle Corrections, owner of the ICDC—are still making money off of incarcerated people's bodies, using them for free, or nearly free, labor. That is really no different than slaveholders making money off experimentation on Black bodies.

Again, we are not shocked by the events at ICDC We’ve known this was coming in a country unashamed to shackle its own incarcerated citizens while giving birth; in a country in which prison guards try to insert them in the process while incarcerated folks are seeking abortions. We have both worked in direct abortion service and seen this happen firsthand. We know about the struggles of immigrants trying to access reproductive care. We know about people who were raped on their journey to the United States and called our phone lines seeking abortion care, and we were there to provide it to them with dignity and compassion.

After all, what is health care without dignity, without compassion, without choice?

We seek a world steeped in, lush with Reproductive Justice. A world in which we all thrive in safe and healthy communities; free to make the choice about whether or not to parent and to parent the children we already have in those safe and healthy communities. At Our Justice, we work to advance our Reproductive Justice values and radically fund abortion care. We hope you will join us in uplifting the voices, rights, and lives of people detained by ICE across the United States by following and supporting the work of the following organizations:

Project South 

Government Accountability Project

Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights

South Georgia Immigrant Support Network

Georgia Detention Watch

With love,

Lauren Buchanan, Our Justice Board Chair • Shayla Walker, Our Justice Vision Realization Advisor

With last night's confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, we are just one major step closer to further decimation of our right to abortion and bodily autonomy. 

As one of the oldest abortion funds in the nation, we know that for too many Roe v. Wade is a right in name only. Even in Minnesota lawmakers have enacted hurdle after hurdle to put abortion out of reach for those who can least afford it - poor women, women of color, teens, and undocumented folks. And yet, our state has some of the strongest protections in the region, making Minnesota an incomplete but necessary bastion for access in our region.

And now, we need your help.

Abortion funds bridge the gap between the laws and court decisions, and people's need for care DAILY. As the right to abortion hangs on the edge, we need your support to ensure that every Minnesotan or person traveling to Minnesota has the resources, money, and support to get the care they need. 

You can help us deliver on that promise by signing up as a monthly sustainer TODAY! During the month of October, all monthly donations started at $20 a month or below will be matched dollar for dollar FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR thanks to the generous support of the Still Ain't Satisfied Foundation.

There is no better reason or time to give. 

Then, join us Wednesday, October 28th (tomorrow) at 5:30pm for Happy Hour. We'll be eating tacos, drinking beer, and talking about our work funding abortions. Meet some of our amazing volunteers, staff, and board, and learn about the work we are doing to expand access to care through direct service and mutual aid, as well as through community advocacy and our lawsuit, Doe v. Minnesota.  

These are unprecedented times and that's why we are leaning on you - our community - to join in and support our work. Whether you give today, invite a friend to learn about Our Justice, or reach out to volunteer - this moment calls for us to come together and prepare for the long haul. 

In solidarity, 

Everyone at Our Justice

Expanding access to healthcare during this crisis

Like us, you are probably scrolling endlessly through your twitter feed trying to get a handle on the latest COVID-19 news. We get it, at this moment there is a lot to worry about. But one thing that we do not want you to have to worry about is access to essential health care like abortion care and birth control. 

In an effort to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, Our Justice is expanding our support to offer free curbside emergency contraception. This service is available to anyone who needs EC, or who might need EC in the future. We want you to be prepared for whatever is ahead and not have to unnecessarily scramble to a pharmacy for EC. 

How can you access this support:

• Email our Vision Realization Advisor Shayla Walker (shayla@ourjustice.net)

• In the email let them know your preferred day/time for curbside pickup, or if you need EC sent to you in the mail

• Who is eligible? Everyone! Yes, that means you.

• Don’t forget, please share this information with your networks!

Learn more about our free EC here. You can also access free EC through our partner organization, SPIRAL. Visit their site to learn more about how they are supporting folks seeking abortion care during this time by offering virtual aftercare and transportation assistance.

Finally, if you want to support our critical work you still can! While our Bowl-a-Thon was sadly cancelled, you can still participate in our virtual Fund-a-Thon. Learn more here. 

Thank you for your support, 

OJ

Many parts of our lives have been disrupted by this pandemic, and it is an especially tough time for people who are seeking abortion care. The role of abortion funds is crucial in the coming months as Minnesotans face more financial insecurity due to the economic shutdown resulting from COVID-19.

Like you, Our Justice is working in a new environment and under unprecedented circumstances.

Many Minnesotans and Midwesterners, especially folks on the margins, already face substantial barriers to abortion care. These barriers will only be compounded in the face of clinic workers and community health providers being on the front lines of a pandemic, with a higher risk of getting sick, or faced with the necessity of needing to close at this time. People will have more expensive abortions if they need extra time to gather financial and logistical support, and they will likely need to travel farther to get their abortions and experience travel barriers we’ve never faced. They’re already parenting, and may have the new expense of finding childcare or taking time off work to be with their children as their schools close. Abortion needs rise in the face of crisis, and unfortunately they do not pause as figure out how to react as a society.

Out of an abundance of caution and care for our community, we have decided that we cannot in good faith host an in-person Bowl-a-Thon event. However, we will continue with a virtual Fund-a-Thon campaign to be extended through Thursday, June 25th. Together, our community will make sure that accessing care is still possible. Our Justice is committed to continue answering the call from people who are in need of financial and logistical support to make the reproductive choice they need or want. 

Abortion is an essential procedure, and supporting abortion access is a form of mutual aid during this tenuous time.

We invite you to join us in making sure that everyone who needs an abortion can get one, by signing up as a virtual fundraiser to support our work. You can make a one-time donation, start a virtual team, or join solo, at whatever goal is attainable and meaningful for you. 

• Consider raising $100 to cover the cost of a hotel room for someone traveling from out of town.
  

• Consider starting a team to raise $250 - the average cost of an Our Justice Abortion Assistance Fund Pledge (likely to increase over the coming weeks and months) or $750, which is the beginning cost of a second trimester abortion - something that may become increasingly common as barriers caused by this pandemic push back appointment accessibility.
  

• Or, commit to helping Our Justice remove the existing barriers to abortion in Minnesota by giving $14 right now - $1 for each of the 14 anti-abortion laws we are challenging in court.

Regardless of your capacity for giving at this time, we appreciate being in community with you and are sending support and strength your way. 

Thank you for sharing in this community that advocates for reproductive justice for all, no matter the circumstances. 

Wow. Can we just say... it's been a YEAR!

Our Justice started out 2019 with some major undertakings ahead of us. We're talking substantial, make-or-break moments for our beloved organization of over 52 years. 

This was our first year as a board-led, all volunteer organization. Even with the change in capacity, we held closely the promise to our clients from in and out of state, who rely on Our Justice to access the abortion care they need. We were unwavering in our commitment to continue the decades-long traditions of the Bowl-a-Thon and Minnesota State Fair Booth. 

Our Justice kept these core tenets of our organization constant with the knowledge that all of us are holding these programs, together. 

However, we knew just maintaining these pieces of our work wasn't enough. There was still more, incredibly important work to be done if we were to live up to our Reproductive Justice values and meaningfully push towards our vision of advancing Reproductive Freedom across our state and region. 

So we...

Welcomed four new board members - each with fresh energy and personal expertise around what it means to provide and access abortion in Minnesota. 

Worked to thoughtfully ensure we embodied the Reproductive Justice framework by ensuring Our Justice is truly led by women of color. 

Lifted up stories fo Reproductive Justice at the Roe x RJ storytelling event in honor of the Roe v. Wade anniversary. 

Signed on as a plaintiff to the Doe v. Minnesota lawsuit challenging Minnesota's abortion restrictions that limit the ability to access or provide abortion care. 

Are a local leader in the UnRestrict Minnesota campaign to educate folks across the state about the harmful anti-abortion laws that exist in our state. 

Brought to life a project three years in the making with December's launch of the Abortion Assistance Lodging Program. 

All of this while...

Building community with our local peers and partners. 

Securing our financial stability. 

Laying the foundation to move from a board to a committee-driven organization - cultivating even more energy and community power. 

Offering pledges ranging from $65 to $1,075 to those needing help from the Abortion Assistance Fund. 

We are so incredibly proud of everything accomplished this past year. We are also incredibly humbled because we know all of this was only possible because of YOU!

YOU never gave up on us. 

YOU had faith that Our Justice wasn't done speaking out against reproductive oppression and serving our communities in need. 

YOU buoyed us with your time, your energy, your efforts, your gifts, and your kind offers of support. 

Because of you, Our Justice is moving into 2020 undaunted. We are renewed with the strength and optimism to continue to grow, thrive, and take on the new challenges certainly to come in this next year and decade. 

Thank you, truly. 

In service and solidarity, 

The Our Justice Board of Directors