What is the Center for Reproductive Rights?
The Center for Reproductive Rights (formerly the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy) is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization dedicated to promoting and defending women's reproductive rights worldwide.
Reproductive freedom lies at the heart of the promise of human dignity, self-determination and equality embodied in both the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The power of law, in turn, ensures that this promise will not ring hollow. Laws and legal norms will, in the end, determine whether women will be free to decide whether and when to have children; whether they will have access to contraception, abortion, healthcare information, and safe pregnancy care; and whether they will make reproductive healthcare choices without coercion. Changing laws and legal norms does not immediately change the reality of women’s lives, of course. But, when integrated with other strategies, the law is a catalyst for fundamental social change.
What are reproductive rights?
Reproductive rights, the foundation for women's self-determination over their bodies and sexual lives, are critical to women's equality and to ensuring global progress toward just and democratic societies. These rights include:
- The right to a full range of safe and affordable contraception
- The right to safe, accessible and legal abortion
- The right to safe and healthy pregnancies
- The right to comprehensive reproductive health care services provided free of discrimination, coercion and violence
- The right to equal access to reproductive health care for women facing social and economic barriers
- The right to be free from practices that harm women and girls (such as female genital mutilation)
- The right to a private and confidential doctor-patient relationship
Legal Advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights
Founded in 1992 (as the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy), the Center has defined the course of reproductive rights law in the United States with significant victories in courts across the country, including two landmark cases in the U.S. Supreme Court: Stenberg v. Carhart (2000) and Ferguson v. City of Charleston (2001). Using international human rights law to advance the reproductive freedom of women, the Center has strengthened reproductive health laws and policies across the globe by working with more than 100 organizations in 45 nations including countries in Africa, Asia, East Central Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Our Work:
- Promoting reproductive rights for every individual
- Securing universal, safe and affordable contraception
- Guaranteeing safe, accessible, and legal abortion
- Defending the rights of pregnant women, including the right to safe and healthy pregnancies
- Ensuring reproductive health care services are provided free of discrimination, coercion, and violence
- Advancing the reproductive rights of adolescents
- Achieving equal access to reproductive health care for women facing social and economic barriers
- Protecting health care providers from violence and coercion
- Eliminating practices that harm women and girls (such as female genital mutilation)
- Defending the right to privacy and confidential doctor/patient relationships
The Center for Reproductive Rights does not accept U.S. government funding. Our programs are fully funded by a community of supporters who believe deeply in our mission. We invite you to join us in protecting women's reproductive freedom. Please consider making a donation today.
We are proud of the way we manage our funds. Read our
annual report online (PDF)
The Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations to the Center for Reproductive Rights are tax deductible charitable contributions.
