Saint Paul, MN – NCG affirms the human right of bodily autonomy and the liberty for women, transgender and nonbinary people to make decisions about their own bodies, including health care decisions.
The U.S. Supreme Court has signaled its intention to overturn Roe v. Wade and return the issue to state control. Such an action will jeopardize this human right for millions of people, including NCG and co-op staff, and will disproportionately harm those without the economic means to travel to states where abortions are legally, safely and respectfully performed. In turn, this will further compound the systemic socio-economic disparities that exist in the U.S. healthcare system, especially in maternal health, and particularly for queer people, people in the disability community and people of color. In 2021, nineteen states passed 108 laws restricting abortion access and there are more such laws on state dockets in 2022.
Access to reproductive health care allows individuals to determine their own life course, including when and whether to continue their education, pursue a career and have children. The vast majority of Americans agree, as do we, that these decisions should be made by individuals and their doctors.[1] As such, we oppose any law or regulation that restricts or criminalizes people’s access to reproductive health care.
NCG is committed to safeguarding reproductive rights for our staff and has expanded our employee health services to provide travel benefits for employees and dependents in states with restrictive abortion laws to ensure all staff have equal access to necessary health care regardless of where they live.
We call on other companies to join us in safeguarding the reproductive freedom and privacy of employees and upholding this basic human right.
If you would like to donate to organizations that support rights to healthcare, here are a few you might consider:
- In Our Own Voice
- Black Women’s Health Imperative
- URGE (Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity)
- Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
- NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation
About NCG
National Co+op Grocers (NCG), founded in 1999, is a business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the United States. NCG helps unify food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power and ultimately offer more value to food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere. Our 148 member co-ops operate more than 200 stores in 38 states with combined annual sales over $2.4 billion. NCG is a winner of the dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence and a Certified B Corporation. Find a map of NCG member co-ops. To learn more about co-ops, visit www.grocery.coop.
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Media inquiries may be directed to Eric Davis (edavis@curiousplot.agency, 612-424-7545).