A note from NAF’s President and CEO, The Very Reverend Katherine Ragsdale:
I am sure many of you saw yesterday’s New York Times piece, “How a Divided Left is Losing the Battle on Abortion,” which raised a number of concerning and challenging issues about our movement. I spoke to this reporter for more than an hour, and it was clear during my conversation that she had her own agenda of portraying a fractured movement. Since I repeatedly refused to rise to the bait and disparage our colleagues in support of that misguided narrative, NAF was not included in the story.
As in every family, our movement has disagreements. The article mentioned the history of division between Planned Parenthood and independent providers. This is a not news to any of us, but it is a complicated issue and an area where much work has been done on both sides. Since our founding, NAF has been “the big tent” and it is central to our mission to bring together all types of providers. This work is more important now than ever before as we must work together no matter our affiliations to face the uncertain future. NAF will continue to foster spaces for providers to meet and network and remain the place that unites providers.
It’s no secret that this is a difficult and pivotal moment for our movement on many fronts. And if we are going to weather this latest political storm, we must do so by working together as a united front. NAF is committed to working with our state and national coalition partners and abortion providers of all types in a respectful, transparent, and collegial manner. The patients and communities we serve are depending on us.
Thank you for all you do.