FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Audrey Ann Ross
215-985-2619
audrey.ross@accessmatters.org
[PHILADELPHIA, PA – January 20, 2021]: Melissa Weiler Gerber, AccessMatters’ President & CEO, released the following statement on Inauguration Day:
Today President Joseph Biden Jr. and Vice President Kamala Harris officially take their oaths of office to lead the United States of America. The transition in administration comes at a critical time for all of us. As a country, we find ourselves in a dire and pivotal moment in which the COVID-19 pandemic, continued police brutality, white supremacy, and anti-Black racism threaten our entire nation, and especially the lives of those who are most marginalized.
Just two weeks ago, we witnessed with horror an insurrection by white supremacists who violently stormed our Capitol, in support of then-President Donald Trump’s relentless efforts to delegitimize our democratic elections. We are now left with the challenge to rebuild as a society and the opportunity to move in a better, more just and more hopeful, direction.
We congratulate President Biden and Vice President Harris in their new roles. As they take office and begin to lead our nation out of its current crises, we are hopeful that President Biden and Vice President Harris will take a proactive role to:
- rescind the Trump-era Title X Family Planning program rule to restore long-standing program protections and practices and ensure patients receive comprehensive, unbiased, confidential health care and information;
- increase funding for the Title X Family Planning program to help meet the increased need for sexual and reproductive health services further exacerbated by the pandemic;
- enact the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2020 to address pregnancy maternal health issues including pregnant/birthing people’s maternal mortality and morbidity;
- confront police brutality and white supremacy;
- rescind all rules that restrict people’s access to birth control; and
- enact comprehensive COVID-19 relief legislation.
We welcome their support and appreciate their true commitment in the fight for a more just society, one that guarantees every person has the health care and information they seek.
– Melissa Weiler Gerber, President & CEO
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AccessMatters’ mission is to protect, expand, and enhance equitable access to sexual and reproductive health care and information for all people. For more information about AccessMatters’ programs, visit www.AccessMatters.org, @AccessMatters4U on Twitter, and @AccessMatters on Facebook.