As part of a statewide Lobby Day, legislators, impacted individuals, and advocates held a press conference to call out extreme restrictions on reproductive healthcare, demand Medicaid expansion, and push for stronger protections for IVF access. Last Thursday, lawmakers, reproductive rights advocates , healthcare providers, and impacted individuals gathered at the Georgia State Capitol to expose the growing crisis of care in the state and demand urgent legislative action to protect reproductive healthcare. As part of a statewide Lobby Day, speakers laid out the dire consequences of ongoing attacks on reproductive freedom, highlighting Georgia’s failure to expand Medicaid, restrictions on abortion access, threats to IVF coverage, and legislation targeting trans healthcare. They called on lawmakers to end the politicization of healthcare and take immediate steps to protect and expand access to care. “We face relentless attacks on our reproductive freedom,” said Alicia Stallworth, Georgia Campaigns Director for Reproductive Freedom for All. “policy malpractice that claims to support IVF but fails to require private insurance to cover treatment, and a refusal to expand Medicaid that has left 18 rural hospitals at risk of closure. These failures aren’t by accident—they are by choice. Extremist lawmakers are more focused on controlling our bodies than ensuring healthcare is accessible, affordable, and local. Today, we are here to say enough is enough.” “Georgians deserve access to high-quality, affordable reproductive healthcare, including abortion, birth control, and fertility treatments,” said Kaylah Oates-Marable, Georgia State Director of Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates . “Instead, our lawmakers are restricting these rights, forcing people to travel across state lines or go without care entirely. It’s time to put an end to these attacks and ensure every Georgian has the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions.” The event featured remarks from Minority Leader Senator Harold V. Jones II (D) and State Rep. Tanya Miller (D), who reaffirmed their commitment to fighting for abortion rights, fertility care protections, Medicaid expansion, and an end to discriminatory policies restricting healthcare access. Leaders from Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates, SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW, and Fake Clinics Suck also spoke about the growing threats to reproductive freedom and the need for legislative action to counter misinformation and protect the right to comprehensive healthcare. The voices of impacted individuals underscored the real human cost of inaction. Georgia college student Serena Dadaro detailed the challenges young people face in accessing reproductive healthcare, while Shanette Williams, the mother of Amber Thurman, delivered an emotional testimony about how Georgia’s broken healthcare system failed her daughter. Her testimony highlighted the staggering racial disparities in maternal healthcare outcomes in Georgia, where Black women are more than twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications as their white counterparts—a crisis that Medicaid expansion and increased access to reproductive healthcare could help address. The post Georgia Lawmakers, Advocates, and Impacted Individuals Declare a Crisis of Care, Demand Action on Reproductive Freedom appeared first on Atlanta Daily World. ...read more read less