WHAT WE DO
Healthy and Free Tennessee (HFTN) is a statewide reproductive freedom organization working to promote sexual and reproductive health and freedom through policy & legislation, education & analysis, building alternative structures, and leadership development. As the only statewide reproductive freedom network, we act as a bridge for people and organizations across the state to show how movements and issues are interconnected and to strengthen our supporters’ capacity to advocate for themselves and their communities. Since our founding in 2012, we have grown into a network of over 50 organizational partners and over 8,000 supporters. Since 2014, our organizational focus has been on the intersections of racism, the criminal legal system, and reproductive freedom. We work to improve access to reproductive health care to marginalized communities and fight punitive policies that seek to criminalize reproductive choices and outcomes.
HOW WE DO IT
Policy & Advocacy: Each year we compile the state’s most comprehensive reproductive freedom policy watchlist and use our legislative work to inform and activate supporters, including an annual advocacy day for our supporters to talk with their legislators. We work to pass legislation like SB1839 Tennessee Prenatal Care in Jails and Prisons in 2021 and SB2769 Anti-Shackling in 2022. We also provide retrospective and current policy analysis to inform movement strategy. We published a report analyzing legislation impacting reproductive freedom from 2011-2020 - read the report here Tennessee Over Ten.
Education & Analysis:We educate policymakers, organizations, and the public through trainings, workshops, and convenings. We also provide education through public media and communications about our issues (including print, billboards, radio, etc), using bold messaging that is designed to help draw connections between reproductive justice and prison abolition.
Building Alternatives: Since 2020, we have held statewide transformative justice trainings each year with Mia Mingus for over 40 representatives from social justice organizations located across the state. The goal of this project is to train community members to become transformative justice process facilitators, equipping them with the tools and skill sets to intervene in instances of harm and violence within their communities. This work to build alternatives to the criminal legal system is central to our fight against the criminalization of pregnancy and parenting.
Leadership Development: We are committed to building the bench of reproductive freedom leaders through youth engagement and leadership development programs and trainings. Since 2016, we have convened a statewide youth leadership council made up of young people between the ages of 18-25.
