Two hands, one light-skinned and one dark-skinned, forming a heart shape against a pastel-colored sky.

It’s GIVING TUESDAY!

New Jersey has the 47th worst pregnancy-related outcomes in the United States for Black females. This community is also disproportionately involved with the state’s justice and child welfare systems, further disenfranchising them when it comes to reproductive health care and education.

Introducing

Logo for Empowered Me, a New Jersey Black Women Physicians Association initiative.

Issues We Care About…

  • A young girl with dark hair and wearing a pink and white striped long-sleeve shirt stands outside, holding onto a chain-link fence and looking into the camera with a serious expression. There are buildings in the background under a clear blue sky.

    Disrupted Sexual Education for Foster Youth

    For transition-age foster youth, sex education and related resources are disrupted by frequent instabilities. Their pregnancy rate is doubled, and their sexually transmitted infection rates are increased dramatically as well once they are outside the system.

  • A woman sitting on a wooden chair with her knees pulled up, holding her head with both hands, appearing distressed or upset.

    Intimate Partner Violence towards Court-involved Women

    Women in foster care and court systems are more likely to experience abusive relationships, reproductive coercion, and intimate partner violence associated with pregnancy, and other situation that affect ability to access care

  • Two women arm wrestling in a white tiled room.

    Sexual Abuse

    According to the National Resource Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community, 1 in 4 Black girls will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old. 1 in 5 Black women are rape survivors.

  • Close-up of four hands placed on nude skin, with varying skin tones, over a lap and arm, in soft lighting.

    Frequency of Sexual Activity Amongst Court-involved women

    The sexual debut timing for court-involved females is sooner. This community also has higher sexual activity rates as well as a higher number of lifetime partners whilst also having less contact with healthcare providers.

  • A metal cage bed with two beds stacked, each with a pillow and blanket, in a dimly lit room.

    Incarcerated Women and Violence

    90% of incarcerated women have a history of sexual, physical, and emotional trauma including intimate partner violence (Lynch et al, 2012)

  • A tall, white control tower with an antenna on top, surrounded by a fence and vegetation with autumn-colored leaves.

    Pregnancy Amongst Incarcerated Women

    Of the 85% of incarcerated women who plan to be sexually active upon release, only 9% report wanting to be pregnant, but only 38% have access to contraceptives (Clarkeetal.,2006).

A Few Key Action Items…

  • Strengthen ties with legislators, to address inadequate sex education offered in New Jersey public schools

  • Deepen relationships with New Jersey family and criminal courts, NJ Dept. of Corrections, and the New Jersey Bar Association to provide court-involved females equitable healthcare

  • Conduct research on court-involved women and teen girls via focus groups to understand and advocate for them and to address systemic gaps that marginalize them

  • Create a thorough evidence-informed reproductive health curriculum that caters to this vulnerable population

  • Review New Jersey’s existing sexual education curricula to further investigate its limitations and gaps

The New Jersey Black Women Physician Association is introducing EmpoweredMe, an initiative aimed to address insufficient sex education offered by New Jersey Public Schools as well as improve reproductive healthcare for New Jersey’s most at-risk Black females.

The Initiative:

The 2-year pilot program will start in Mercer and Essex Counties. Its objectives are to:

  • Provide a practical framework for Black reproductive-aged court-involved women and girls to receive equitable reproductive health education.

  • To increase access to trauma-informed and culturally competent sex education for New Jersey Girls in foster or group home care.

  • To improve New Jersey’s inadequate sex education system.

Logo for the New Jersey Black Women Physicians Association Initiative with large light blue text reading 'Empowered' and a smaller word 'Me' in gold, with a red underline, and a tagline in gold saying 'A New Jersey Black Women Physicians Association Initiative'.

HELP US REACH OUR GOAL:

Who We Are.

NJBWPA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and network of Black women physicians dedicated to advocacy and the elimination of healthcare disparities within communities of color and other vulnerable populations. This initiative is one of the three main projects we are tirelessly working on.

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