Engaging Diverse Stakeholders for Minors’ Reproductive Rights

1. Engaging Diverse Stakeholders for Minors’ Reproductive Rights Teen Health Initiative New York Civil Liberties Union

2. The New York Civil Liberties Union The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is one of the nation's foremost defenders of civil liberties and civil rights. Founded in 1951 as the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, we are a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization with eight chapters and regional offices and nearly 50,000 members across the state. Our mission is to defend and promote the fundamental principles and values embodied in the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution, and the New York Constitution, including freedom of speech and religion, and the right to privacy, equality and due process of law for all New Yorkers. NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project

3. The Teen Health Initiative (THI) • Founded in 1997 by NYCLU’s Reproductive Rights Project. • Created in response to concerns about an increasingly anti-youth political and legislative climate that affected teens’ access to health care. • Ongoing purpose • To address widespread misinformation among teens, health care providers and policymakers about minors’ rights to confidential health care in New York. • To remove the barriers that prevent young people from getting the health care and information they need. NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project

4. THI’s Issue Areas • Minors’ rights and access to confidential care • The rights of pregnant and parenting teens • Comprehensive, medically accurate and holistic sexuality education for young people • Minors’ confidentiality in evolving health insurance and electronic health record systems • Policies, legislation, community issues and trends that affect young people’s health NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project

5. THI’s Work • Peer education program • Free trainings for health care providers, youth workers and educators • Accessible and informative online and print publications • Case and policy advocacy • Intake hotline NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project

6. How We’ve Grown • Broader impact • Larger and more diverse peer educator group • Expanded staff including lawyers, advocates and professional interns from law, social work and public health • Increased depth and sophistication of legal analysis • New trainings and publications developed in response to stakeholder needs NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project

7. What We’ve Achieved • Training over a thousand NYC teens annually • Training over a thousand health care providers annually • Distribution of over 10,000 publications a year statewide • Meaningful, measurable impact of participation in the peer education program NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project

8. What We’ve Achieved • Advocacy and organizing victories • School-Based Health Centers • School-based child care services for parenting students • A sign-on letter encouraging the Department of Education to expand sex ed in its classrooms received thirty-one signatures from a range of organizations working on many aspects of reproductive justice • Responses to intakes have kept pregnant teens from being pushed out of school, persuaded a Medicaid office to stop illegally deterring teens seeking insurance coverage for abortion, supported women discriminated against for breastfeeding, and much more. NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project

9. Next Steps for the Program • Expansion of issue areas • Recognizing funding challenges and participants’ interests in broader activism, THI will become part of our new Teen Activism Project, giving peer educators access to more resources and broader work with a continued emphasis on reproductive justice • Improved statewide presence • Using social media to connect and collaborate with progressive youth groups in other parts of New York State • Continued monitoring and advocacy to maintain momentum on victories and push new initiatives forward NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project

10. For more information Teen Health Initiative New York Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street, 19th Floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 607-3341 www.nyclu.org thi@nyclu.org NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project