June 23, 2022
The Guttmacher Institute recognizes that centering racial equity in our work is necessary to truly fulfill our mission of advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. We are committed to dismantling ongoing oppression based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, income, age, disability, religion, immigration status and other marginalized identities, as well as the compounded impact of multiple oppressions. In the United States, we seek to prioritize actions that improve the health of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) communities, with the long-term goal of eliminating racial disparities in access and outcomes. In other countries, historical, structural and cultural patterns of oppression may present differently, but there, too, we seek to center the needs of those most excluded from privilege and power.
Asserting racial equity as one of our core values must begin with a clear-eyed assessment of the historical context. At Guttmacher, we recognize that research is never neutral, and that sexual and reproductive health research has historically been used to justify reproductive oppression and advance stigmatizing and harmful narratives about people of color in the United States and marginalized communities around the world. We acknowledge that we must be accountable for our part in this history and that we must do far more to center racial equity internally and in every aspect of our programming.
The Institute understands that this effort requires intentional and ongoing practice involving the critical review of and strategic changes to policies, practices, systems and structures to create measurable change in the lives of people of color. To this end, we will take deliberate and committed action to identify and dismantle racial inequities in our research, policy, communications and partnerships. We commit to using our resources and platform to promote racial equity internally and within the sexual and reproductive health and rights field. Internally, we will work to establish goals and build systems that advance racial equity, including an annual review of this statement and proactive and strategic efforts to ensure people of color have voice and leadership within the organization.
We welcome accountability, partnership, and constructive criticism from the movement for reproductive health, rights and justice as we engage in the critical work to dismantle systemic and institutional barriers to justice, bodily autonomy and human rights. Our goal is to provide the needed research, thought partnerships and policy advocacy that will advance global health equity now and in the future.