About the Nonprofit
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The Afiya Center's mision is to Transform the Lives, Health, and overall wellbeing of Black Women and Girls by providing Refuge, education, and Resources; We act to ignite the Communial Voices of Black women resulting in our full achievement of reproductuve freedom.
The Afiya Center (TAC) was established in response to the increasing disparities between HIV incidences worldwide and the extraordinary prevalence of HIV among Black womxn and girls in Texas. TAC is unique in that it is the only Reproductive Justice (RJ) organization in North Texas founded and directed by Black womxn. The Afiya Center understands that the reproductive justice framework is the driving force behind sexual and reproductive rights for Black women. By utilizing this multi-pronged framework, The Afiya Center continues to bring awareness to the connections between reproductive oppression and the increased risk of transmission of HIV to women of color. Additionally, The Afiya Center believes that reproductive justice is a platform to create advocacy that is informed, self-actualized, and protects women’s reproductive health, rights, and justice. We are proud to be the creators of Texas’s First Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Policy Summit. Texas Black women have grown tired of being left out of the conversations being had about their bodies and for that reason, The Afiya Center has taken the charge to amplify their voices and spearhead the First Ever Texas Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Policy Summit. The purpose of the summit was to create a convening of Black women in Texas who can lead the conversation on the critical issues surrounding Black women, reproductive rights, and the abortion movement. The big vision is to bring in new allies and resources for Black women living in Texas and provide a framework to implement in their respective districts, communities, and organizations.
A recent study found that after 2010, the “reported maternal mortality rate for Texas doubled within a two-year period to levels not seen in other U.S. states.” In the state of Texas, black women bear the greatest risk of maternal death. This is because Black women continue to be ignored in policy conversations. Our legislators are so concerned with controlling women’s reproductive rights that they refuse to acknowledge the harm that they are doing to this state’s most marginalized women. Over the past eight years, The Afiya Center has participated in four consecutive Legislative Sessions where Texas lawmakers consistently presented and passed legislation that has had a devastating impact on women’s quality of life by limiting their reproductive choices. The limiting of reproductive choices has been especially harmful to Black women in Texas and The Afiya Center believes the continued funding cuts and unreasonable restrictions upon women's access to healthcare have resulted in poor maternal health outcomes for Black women. Through an intersectional report prepared by The Afiya Center called "The State of Black Women in Texas," we seek to highlight ways in which the current political climate has created socioeconomic and health disparities that exist among Black women in Texas.
