FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 2026
Statewide Initiative Will Strengthen Provider Education, Center Black Women’s Lived Experiences, and Bring Dignity to Abortion and Reproductive Healthcare
[Los Angeles, CA] – Black Women for Wellness announces its partnership in Developing Reproductive Justice Skills Among Health Professionals for Systems Change, a statewide initiative designed to strengthen California healthcare providers’ capacity to deliver medically accurate, culturally responsive, reproductive justice-informed sexual and reproductive healthcare.
Led by Training in Early Abortion for Comprehensive Healthcare (TEACH), the six-organization collaboration includes Black Women for Wellness, ACCESS Reproductive Justice, Access Bridge, Birth Control Pharmacist, and The Period Pills Project. Together, the partners will reach providers across multiple disciplines and care settings, including reproductive healthcare providers, emergency department clinicians, pharmacists, community health workers, doulas, and allied health professionals.
The initiative comes at a critical moment for reproductive freedom, as abortion access and bodily autonomy remain under political attack across the country. Black Women for Wellness’ role centers the experiences of Black women, girls, and gender-expansive people by bringing a reproductive justice framework to provider education, community listening, and narrative change. BWW’s work will focus on moving abortion and reproductive healthcare out of stigma and into a framework of dignity, safety, informed consent, and self-determination. Part of the work will include workshops for healthcare providers at BWW’s Annual Reproductive Justice Conference, education for expecting families, birthing tours and outreach to the community at-large.
“In this political climate, we cannot allow abortion to be treated as something people must whisper about, hide from, or carry alone,” said Jannette Robinson Flint, Founder and Executive Director of Black Women for Wellness. “Black women have always fought for the right to make decisions about our bodies, our families, and our futures. This initiative is about bringing dignity to abortion care, confronting medical racism, and making sure healthcare providers understand that reproductive justice requires more than access — it requires respect, truth, safety, and accountability.”
The initiative responds to persistent reproductive healthcare barriers across California, including provider shortages, inadequate cultural competency training, institutional restrictions, stigma, and the ongoing impact of medical racism. These barriers disproportionately affect Black women, girls, gender-expansive people, BIPOC communities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ communities, people with disabilities, young people, and people experiencing economic marginalization.
As part of the broader collaboration, partners will develop training, technical assistance, curriculum resources, and community-informed education tools to support care that centers bodily autonomy, informed consent, dignity, and reproductive freedom. The initiative will also assess provider knowledge, self-assessed competence, practice-change intentions, community engagement, and narrative-change reach.
This announcement is also an invitation. Black Women for Wellness calls on healthcare providers (includes: doulas, doctors, nurses, midwives, perinatal, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and all providers part of the reproductive ecosystem), community members, advocates, organizers, and institutional partners to attend the Black Women for Wellness27th Annual Reproductive Justice Conferenceon August 13, 2026, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM at The California Endowment, 1000 Alameda St., Los Angeles CA. Continuing Education Units will be available.
The conference will serve as a key space for learning, community voice, and collective action around reproductive justice, abortion access, Black women’s health, dignity-centered care, and systems change.
Tickets are available through Eventbrite – Click Here
ABOUT BLACK WOMEN FOR WELLNESS
Black Women for Wellness (BWW) is a nonprofit organization committed to the health and well-being of Black women and girls through education, advocacy, and empowerment. Our Beauty Justice Initiative challenges the toxic beauty industry, promotes safe beauty alternatives, and advocates for policy changes that protect Black women from environmental harm.
About Developing Reproductive Justice Skills Among Health Professionals for Systems Change
Developing Reproductive Justice Skills Among Health Professionals for Systems Change is a statewide California initiative led by TEACH in collaboration with five reproductive justice partner organizations. The initiative is designed to strengthen healthcare provider capacity to deliver medically accurate, culturally responsive, reproductive justice-informed sexual and reproductive healthcare, including abortion-related information, care, and referrals.
CONTACT
For media inquiries, please contact:
Ariel Grant
Communications Coordinator
Black Women for Wellness
ariel@bwwla.com
(323) 290-5955
For questions about Black Women for Wellness’ role in the program, please contact:
Cherella Nicholson
Project Manager, Sisters in Control of Reproductive Justice (SCRJ)
Black Women for Wellness
cherella@bwwla.com
(323)290-5955
