Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare

The Definition

We think of sexual and reproductive healthcare this way:

Organized efforts to maintain and restore complete physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being in all matters relating to the reproductive system—including the ability to have a satisfying and safe sex life, to reproduce, and to decide if, when, and how often to do so.

This definition is adapted from the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

• organized: That’s us. Every Body Texas organizes funding, support, and advocacy for sexual and reproductive health clinics across the state. Learn more about what we do.
• complete: Everything involved in your sexual and reproductive health matters. The physical, the mental, the emotional—all of it. We work hard to ensure the clinics in our network have the resources they need to care for the entire body, including gender-affirming care. 
• emotional: Sex is emotional. Healthcare is emotional. That’s why we, and the clinics we support, acknowledge the whole person.
• satisfying sex life: Sex should be fulfilling and safe, but it should also be enjoyed. We believe the key to enjoying a safe, rewarding sex life is education—early and often.
• if, when, and how: Getting pregnant isn’t always a person’s choice. But we want it to be. At the core of our mission is an unwavering belief in personal autonomy. Each of us has the right to make fully informed and barrier-free decisions about our body.

Information & Access

Information and access underlie everything we do at Every Body Texas. If you read our annual reports, you’ll notice that everything we do is in service of delivering information and/or expanding access.

Contraception

Contraception is “intentionally preventing pregnancy using an artificial method” such as condoms or the pill. Used knowledgeably and properly, contraception gives you:

• The option to control if and when you get pregnant
• The ability to time your pregnancies to best align with your other goals, including education and career
• The power to reduce pregnancy-related health risks
• The means to space pregnancies in a way that increases the likelihood of having a healthy pregnancy, mom, and baby

The clinics in the Every Body Texas network inform their clients of their contraceptive options without judgment.

Sexual Health and Well-Being

Let us be crystal clear: Sexual health is about the whole person. It’s not just safe sex; it’s satisfying sex. It’s not simply the physical act but the mental, emotional, and social dynamics involved.

Yes, “sexual health and well-being” means being free from infection. But it also means being free to decide if and/or when to become pregnant—free from coerced and heteronormative expectations of sex. This phrase is a big, complex concept. It includes notions of body autonomy, rewarding relationships, and simple sexual pleasure.

Too many people never receive the sexual education they deserve. So we remain committed to offering it wherever we can.

At Every Body Texas, we value dignity, equity, access, innovation, quality of care, and facts. The fact is that abortion is a safe and necessary part of sexual and reproductive healthcare that should be accessible to all people who can get pregnant.

Maternal Health in Texas

“Maternal health” includes the health of both the mother and fetus. Getting pregnant comes with a new set of health concerns and questions.

Texas has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the U.S.—about 600 moms per year. If Texas were a country, it would have the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world. The causes? Poor heart health, lack of mental health resources, and substance use are the most common. Women who are Black, regardless of their education or income, are the racial demographic at the greatest risk of maternal death in Texas.

We are trying to reverse this troubling trend. Our clinics help moms (and their babies) stay as healthy and safe as possible.