About Us

Mission Statement

The San Diego Coalition for Reproductive Justice (CRJ) is a consortium of individuals, non-profits, religious groups, and other organizations whose mission is to leverage its resources and capacities by working together to call for reproductive justice and preserving the right to privacy in San Diego. By providing members with information affecting reproductive justice locally, nationally, and globally, CRJ increases public awareness and accessible, affordable reproductive health care while fostering a strong local voice of support. 

Vision

The San Diego Coalition for Reproductive Justice (CRJ) strives for a society that values every person and creates a safe space to live, thrive, and raise a healthy family. CRJ envisions a world that supports everyone’s right to make personal decisions related to reproduction and preserves the constitutional right to privacy related to childbearing decisions. CRJ supports access to services and resources related to reproductive justice, and that abortion remains a safe, legal, and accessible option. 

Leadership

A Brief History

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that the “fundamental” right to privacy was “broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”  In the next legal milestone for reproductive choice in 1992, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Court, in the face of massive anti-choice pressure, preserved constitutional protection for the right to choose, writing, “The ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives.” 

At the same time, however, the Court adopted a new, weaker test for evaluating abortion laws: instead of holding laws regulating abortion to a “strict scrutiny” standard, the highest level of judicial review, Casey established an “undue burden” test.  Under this principle, state regulations are constitutional unless they place a “substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a non-viable fetus.”  This decision has forced pro-choice organizations to fight legal battles throughout the country over the past two decades over whether or not a particular restriction constitutes an “undue burden.”  In many cases, the courts have been cruelly insensitive to the problems of real women, in particular low-income women, women of color, and teens. 

The Coalition for Reproductive Choice formed in 1989 to protect everyone’s right to make informed decisions, free from government interference, about whether and when to become a parent.  Even though women no longer faced a world in which illegal, unsafe, and sometimes fatal abortions were the norm, for many women, the right to choose had become an increasingly hollow right.  The Coalition participated in lobbying and political education work, and produced a popular annual event commemorating the Roe decision.