After 3 and 1/2 years as executive director, I am writing to share that have accepted a new opportunity and will be leaving the role in January 2023. It has been been an incredible joy to be part of Jane’s Due Process. I have felt so lucky and honored to get to work with our incredible staff, board, volunteers and the youth we serve. And I am excited for the wonderful work JDP has ahead of it. My last day will be January 13, 2023.
Our amazing staff and board have built Jane’s Due Process into a powerful organization that centers young people’s autonomy.Their daily work is rooted in values of care, compassion, and justice. I have complete faith in this incredible team as they continue JDP’s work. Look out in the coming months for announcements regarding JDP’s executive director search.
As I look back on my time at Jane’s Due Process, I want to make sure you are up to date on our latest work:
In 2022, youth in Texas were faced with two devastating realities: the 6-week abortion ban in Texas and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Despite the abortion ban currently in effect in Texas and our pause in direct services helping coordinate abortion funding and travel, Jane’s Due Process has been hard at work protecting teens’ reproductive rights;
- This fall, we joined Texas abortion funds and a provider in filing a federal lawsuit (Fund Texas Choice v. Paxton) to affirm our right to help Texas teens obtain abortion care in states where it is still legal. This case is ongoing, and we are hopeful that the courts will decide in our favor, allowing us to resume abortion support services.
- Our phone and text hotlines remain open so that we can provide information to youth who want to seek abortion care in states where it is still legal.
- With abortion no longer legal in Texas, we have seen the need for birth control and emergency contraceptives skyrocket. We maintain a live textline staffed by volunteers that teens can contact to get information about where they can receive birth control without parental consent.
- We also provide emergency contraception (EC) to teens in communities with limited access to Title X family planning clinics through our free ‘repro kit’ program. Each kit contains free emergency contraceptive pills, pregnancy tests, condoms, and a zine on reproductive health.
- We continue our national advocacy to end parental involvement laws and affirm teens’ reproductive rights.
- Our new cohort of youth advocacy fellows – all former JDP clients who have been through the judicial bypass process – launched in May 2022. They are preparing to advocate for abortion & birth control access, as well as menstrual equity and LGBTQIA+ youth rights during the upcoming 2023 state legislative session. And two of them were featured in this new Teen Vogue piece!
Our wonderful deputy director Jaymie Cobb will act as interim executive director after I leave. Please join me in celebrating Jaymie’s leadership as she steps into this role.
Jane’s Due Process’s greatest hope in 2023 is that we’ll be able to resume our abortion support services safely after getting legal clarity from the courts. And no matter what, we will never give up fighting for young people in Texas.
In love and solidarity,
Rosann Mariappuram
