PWN established October 23 as a Day of Action to End Violence Against Women Living with HIV in 2014 in the wake of two brutal murders of women following disclosure of their HIV status. Over the past five years, we have used the Day of Action to raise awareness to the many different forms of violence faced by women and people of trans experience, from intimate partner violence to structural violence such as attacks on our economic security and reproductive freedom.


This year, for our sixth annual Day of Action to End Violence Against Women Living with HIV, we are asking our members, partners, supporters, allies, and accomplices to stand with us in fighting for reproductive justice for all women and people of trans experience living with HIV.

Check out 2019 Day of Action events here!
Click here for our Day of Action Social Media Toolkit!

Family defines us. While we all have different ways of forming family, we are united by a common thread: choice. Whether we have or want children or not; whether we want to give birth or adopt; and if we do want children, at what point in our lives and under what circumstances we want them—these are all choices that we should be able to make for ourselves. Equally, the freedom to raise and parent children in safe and sustainable communities is core to reproductive justice, as defined by SisterSong. When politicians pass laws and create policies that take away our freedom to make these life-changing decisions for ourselves, these are acts of violence.

The transgender community is one of the most targeted populations in the U.S., facing discrimination in housing, employment, education, health care, public accommodations, and policing. Such pervasive discriminatory practice and policies make the ability to form the family in a safe and sustainable community especially challenging. A trans-centered approach to reproductive justice must include a commitment to removing barriers to bodily autonomy and family formation that disproportionately impact the trans community, like fertility preservation and accurate gender markers on IDs.

Endorsing organizations:

  • A Family Affair
  • AIDS United
  • AIDS Foundation of Chicago
  • Black Women’s Health Imperative
  • Bow Tie Movement – 2
  • Bruised Not Broken Therapy, LLC
  • Caracole
  • Christie’s Place
  • CORA (Coloradans Organizations & Individuals Responding to HIV and AIDS)
  • Desiree Alliance
  • Equality North Carolina
  • Gay City: Seattle’s LGBTQ Center
  • GIRL U CAN DO IT, INC.
  • HIV Power Shift
  • Idaho Coalition for HIV Health and Safety, All Under One Roof LGBT Center
  • If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice
  • National Network to End Domestic Violence
  • National Working Positive Coalition
  • New Jersey Association on Correction
  • Positive People Network
  • Positive Widows in Kenya
  • Positive Women’s Network – NV
  • Positive Women’s Network-USA (Georgia)
  • Positively Beautiful
  • Prevention Access Campaign
  • PWN-USA Louisiana
  • PWN-USA Ohio
  • PWN-USA Texas, Dallas-Ft Worth
  • PWN-USA Texas, Greater Houston Area
  • Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS)
  • The 6:52 Project Foundation, Inc.
  • The HIV Disclosure Project
  • The Life Group LA
  • The Well Project
  • Transgender Law Center
  • URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
  • Women of Wonder
  • Women’s HIV Program at UCSF

Stand with PWN on our Day of Action to End Violence Against Women Living with HIV to demand reproductive justice for all women and people of trans experience through the following policies:

  • Oppose conditioning ID gender marker changes on proof of surgery or other onerous requirements: Conditioning legal recognition on a costly, invasive, and perhaps unwanted sterilization reflects a dogmatic and dangerous approach to gender that fixates on genitalia rather than personal agency and autonomy. 
  • Support full public coverage for fertility preservation services regardless of medical “need” determinations.
  • Support informed consent standards that accurately and fully inform people of the implications of transition-related care, regardless of age, gender, or gender expression.
  • Support the right to safe, legal abortion for all people of all genders who can get pregnant, and remove barriers to abortion access, such as waiting periods, mandated ultrasounds, and other requirements that make abortion difficult or impossible for low-income people to access.
  • Repeal the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funding from being used for abortion and impedes access to abortion services for low-income people.
  • Support gender-inclusive language in reproductive health, rights, and justice policy.