Increasingly, environmental justice organizations and reproductive justice advocates are looking for ways to work together to raise the profile of their interconnected fights. Now, they want the government to follow suit.
In March, the EPA wrote a response to the letter, reiterating its commitments to environmental justice and pointing out ways in which it is working with other agencies, including the Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, to educate health care providers like obstetricians around exposures to PFAS and lead.
Making a commitment to reproductive justice at the newly formed office, and dedicating a person to helm it, would not only lead to better coordination at the government level, Wheeler argues, but also could better direct funding to work already happening on the ground when for example, lead contaminates a water supply and environmental justice groups rush in to provide safe water to pregnant people or those with small children.
Federal grants usually require a laborious grant application process. Grassroots organizations often don’t have the resources to compete for federal money, but they are usually doing the most immediate work, deploying to evacuation centers during hurricanes to provide supplies to people who are breastfeeding, for example, or educating people about climate risks and environmental exposures during and after their pregnancy.
Rep. Lauren Underwood, an Illinois Democrat, recently reintroduced the Protecting Moms and Babies Against Climate Change Act, part of a, which would do just that. The legislation would create a federal grant program that would invest in community-based efforts to mitigate climate impacts on pregnant people.