The Society of Family Planning recognizes that institutionalized, exclusionary, and oppressive systems such as racism, sexism, classism, ableism, nationalism, heterosexism, cisgenderism, and other discriminatory practices are barriers to the full participation of all contributors to the field of family planning. We acknowledge the interconnectedness of these oppressive systems.

We also intentionally center and lead with anti-racism, recognizing deeply-rooted and pervasive structural racial injustices and that an anti-racist praxis connects multiple marginalized communities allowing for broader equity impacts for all.

To achieve the Society’s vision of just and equitable abortion and contraception informed by science and to ensure that this vision is actualized for the benefit of all, we must work together to intentionally address and incorporate values of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in everything we do, from how we govern the organization to the implementation of our programs.

Our work to advance DEI has included 1) adoption of the Society’s DEI Vision statement; 2) documentation of and reflection on practices implemented to change how we work to advance our vision; 3) aggregation and reflection on self-reported racial and ethnic identities of staff, Board members, and program participants; and 4) evaluation of how self-reported racial and ethnic identity impacts experiences within Society programming (forthcoming). Collectively, we intend for these efforts to advance us towards serving as an organization accountable to addressing systemic racism and the root causes of inequality.

As we reflect on our progress towards meeting our goals and realizing our DEI Vision, we continue to consider the following questions:

• As a scientific society, what does it look like to have meaningful partnership with members on these efforts? And, recognizing the long legacy of structural racism to which science and medicine have contributed, what does it look like to partner with other academic and medical organizations on these efforts?
• Which of our efforts to align our processes with our DEI vision are most meaningful? Which have limited impact? Where should we focus future process improvements?
• What does achieving our goal — of serving as an organization accountable to addressing systemic racism and the root causes of inequality — look like? What indicators would we see in our data to suggest we are on the path towards this goal, and what would tell us we are off course? 

We welcome continued reflection and partnership on these and other questions as we believe addressing systems of oppression requires learning and doing together. Please email Jenni Villavicencio to discuss further.

Reports