The National LGBTQ Task Force recognizes that everyone has a fundamental right to sexual and bodily autonomy, which includes the right to decide whether or when to become a parent, parent the children we have, and to do so with dignity and free from violence and discrimination. We support the reproductive health, rights, and justice (“repro*”) movements because LGBTQ people need access to reproductive healthcare and services, but we continue to face pervasive discrimination designed to block recognition of our identities and relationships and to hinder our ability to access the healthcare we need, including gender-affirming care and sexual and reproductive healthcare.
LGBTQ people need access to reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion, assisted reproductive services, HIV care, pregnancy care, parenting resources, and more. Although many people talk about reproductive health as a “women’s issue,” many LGBTQ people—including lesbian and bisexual women, transgender men, two-spirit, intersex, nonbinary and gender non-conforming individuals—can get pregnant, use birth control, have abortions, carry pregnancies, and become parents.
Further, our hard won legal rights as LGBTQ and reproductive rights movements have long been intertwined through Supreme Court decisions dating back over 40 years. From Roe v. Wade to the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage decision, our ability to live our lives fully and to not be discriminated against are dependent on each other’s mutual progress.
We also have the same opposition. Controlling sexuality and gender expression usually share an agenda with controlling reproductive choices. Most recently, our opponents have been using religion and “conscience” as a guise for discrimination against LGBTQ people and people seeking access to reproductive health services.