While the Supreme Court has decided to overturn Roe v. Wade, thereby further upholding discriminatory oppression and damaging our health systems, Missouri Foundation for Health will continue our work toward achieving health equity for all Missourians. We will work with our community partners and others to alleviate the harm caused by this ruling and to ensure that greater access to affordable, high-quality health care is available for ourselves, our families, and our neighbors.
In achieving health equity, everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to live their best lives, and in doing so has the right to decide if and when to have children. Policies, practices, behaviors, and beliefs that prevent or limit autonomy and access are detrimental to a woman’s health across her life and adversely affect her family and the community in which she resides.
Healthy, thriving homes, communities, and neighborhoods can lead to improved health outcomes and provide many opportunities for families to succeed. Missouri parents also need paid family and sick leave, affordable high-quality child care, and unfettered access to a full range of contraceptive methods, among other things to continue advancing health equity.
Despite this ruling and the devastating impacts it will have on our civil rights and well-being, MFH will not be deterred. We envision a world where everyone has what they need to live their healthiest lives.
Our Focus on Women’s Health
Our commitment to women’s health runs deep. For nearly a decade, the Foundation’s Infant Mortality Reduction Initiative has been using equity-focused strategies to save lives through FLOURISH St. Louis and Bootheel Babies and Families. Building on our commitment, we launched The Right Time to empower people to take control of their health. Most recently, we’ve been exploring ways to promote high-quality, equitable maternal health care with partners around the state.
In Our Own Words
The Supreme Court’s decision and the consequences to follow will touch women of all ages, races and ethnicities, across all sectors, industries, socioeconomic levels, and lived experiences. Over the course of the next few days, MFH will release the stories of its women in leadership. This series captures real-life accounts of the five women who are members of the Executive Team at the Foundation, reinforcing how essential women’s rights are and how crucial adequate reproductive care is in reducing health disparities and the role it plays in shaping the outcome of one’s life.
