Even though the right to an abortion is protected under California’s constitution, the North County LGBTQ Resource Center in Oceanside is taking an extra step to make sure people are able to get reproductive and gender-affirming care.
On Tuesday, the center launched a new Reproductive Justice Project.
Max Disposti, executive director of the center, described the project as “not an ideological approach, but really, basic human rights of access to health care.”
Disposti said most reproductive rights messaging is aimed at heterosexual women, not queer women, which is why this program is needed.
“(The) majority of cisgender queer women have been pregnant, and they were more likely to have had an abortion than heterosexual women,” he said. “This is particularly true for bisexual women and other women with a history of same-sex partners.”
The center received nearly $300,000 from the California Department of Public Health’s Reproductive Freedom and Abortion Access Initiative to run the program for the next three years.
It includes one-on-one case management and accompanying people to intimate medical procedures such as abortion and gender-affirming care. The program also provides LGBTQ+ individuals access to reproductive care.
“We really want folks to know that despite all the narratives that are out there, it’s so important for folks to get the care that they need, whether it’s abortion care — if folks need access to gender-affirming care,” said Simón Guzmán, the center’s Reproductive Justice program manager.
He said as a trans man, the issue is personal for him and that reproductive care is health care.
“Ultimately, we want our families to get the care that they need and to live dignified lives,” he said.
