Planned Parenthood to Endorse Yes on Prop. 16 Alongside Feminist Activists Gloria Steinem and Dolores Huerta, Promoting Equal Opportunities for All
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 26, 2020
SACRAMENTO – Jodi Hicks, President/CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, issued the following statement announcing Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California’s endorsement of Proposition 16 in advance of today’s Proposition 16 Women’s Roundtable on Women’s Equality Day. Proposition 16, if passed, will reverse the bans on equal opportunity programs, like affirmative action.
“Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California is proud to endorse Proposition 16 because it takes California a step forward in the pursuit of equity. For too long, the ban on affirmative action has let gender and racial discrimination run rampant across California, disproportionately harming Black and brown women. California, despite our progressive values, remains one of only eight states that outlaw policies promoting equal opportunity. It’s time for that to change.
“At Planned Parenthood, we fight for reproductive freedom, to ensure everyone has access to sexual and reproductive health care, but we know there is no reproductive freedom while discriminatory barriers to education and employment still exist. Proposition 16 will remove many of these barriers by restoring equal opportunity programs that hire and promote more women, invest in women-owned businesses, and ensure women and people of color have access to education and the resources they need to succeed.
“A summer of protests has shown us something we should’ve known all along: protect Black bodies, listen to Indigenous people, support trans lives, trust women. We support Proposition 16 because we stand with, and work to listen to and uplift, the voices of those who have been systemically discriminated against. And while Proposition 16 doesn’t eradicate California’s history of gender and racial discrimination, it does take us one big step closer to a state of equity.”
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Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California (PPAC) is the state public policy office representing California’s seven separately incorporated Planned Parenthood affiliates. Through advocacy and electoral action, PPAC promotes sound public policy in areas of sexual and reproductive health care and sex education.