Oscar-nominated abortion provider celebrates 50 years despite challenges

Atlanta, GA – Reproductive health care provider Feminist Center for Reproductive Liberation (formerly Feminist Women’s Health Center) is celebrating 50 years of service despite facing significant political and legal obstacles. Established in 1976, the Dekalb-based nonprofit offers family planning services, gender affirming care, abortion, advocacy opportunities, and volunteer programming. Feminist Center was the focal point of Oscar-nominated documentary the Devil is Busy and will commemorate its anniversary with a gala on October 17^th.

“This joyful moment comes at a frightening time in our nation’s history, when attacks on reproductive health and the people we serve continue to swell,” says Feminist Center Executive Director Kwajelyn Jackson. “But as a nonprofit with a legacy of changemaking, Feminist Center’s work has always been to identify obstacles in our path and find ways through.”

Feminist Center began offering abortion care decades before national chains provided the service in Georgia. Today, the organization has managed to remain open under Georgia’s 6-week abortion ban, even as providers like Atlanta Women’s Health and Savannah Medical Clinic close.

Board Chair Aarti Sharma notes, “Reaching 50 years is not just a milestone. It is evidence of resistance. It tells us that communities have always created systems of care when institutions failed us, and that this work remains deeply necessary.”

Beyond offering clinical care, Feminist Center has worked with community partners across issues to offer civic education and shift policy. In 2017 it co-founded reproductive health policy coalition Amplify Georgia, and shortly after Roe’s overturning it led efforts to establish a publicly-funded abortion financial assistance program for Atlanta City residents.

“I applaud the work Feminist Center is leading to build the movement for reproductive justice,” says co-Founder Lynn Thogersen. She continued, “the leadership and staff is truly building on everything that we envisioned, hoped for, and worked for 50 years ago.”