Essential Access Health

Mission: Essential Access Health champions and promotes quality sexual + reproductive health care for all

At Essential Access Health (Essential Access), our values are our compass. We believe bodily autonomy is a human right, and that everyone deserves to make decisions about their lives, families, and futures with dignity and respect. Today’s reproductive health landscape is marked by escalating attacks on access, deepening inequities, and state-sanctioned violence against people who can get pregnant. Yet this moment—while challenging—has also become a catalyst for change. It has demanded clarity, courage, and creativity. It has pushed us to reimagine and redesign our work, to ask who is better off because of it, and to expand our sense of what is possible and necessary. This strategic plan sets our direction for the next three years: to lead with our values, transform systems rather than defend the status quo, and shape a future in which sexual and reproductive health care is just, equitable, and centered on people.

Commitment to Equity, Diversity, Justice + Inclusion

Since our founding in 1968, Essential Access has been guided by a foundational belief: every person has the right to access the health services and information they need—with dignity and respect. That belief is as urgent today as it has ever been.

We know that access is not enough on its own. Systemic barriers—rooted in race, identity, ability, and circumstance—continue to determine who receives care and who is left behind. Addressing those barriers is not peripheral to our work; it is central to it. We are committed to embedding a health equity lens across our policies, programs, and services, and to taking meaningful action to ensure that sexual and reproductive health outcomes are just and equitable for everyone we serve, including LGBTQ+ individuals and people with disabilities.

This thread runs through five decades of work, and it shapes how we show up—for our communities, our partners, and one another.

Join Us

With our home office in Southern California and employees throughout the West Coast and Hawaiʻi, our team includes leading experts in sexual and reproductive health—researchers, trainers, clinicians, advocates, and operational leaders who bring both expertise and purpose to their work every day.

We are a mission-driven organization, and that extends to how we show up for our staff. We are committed to building a workplace where people feel seen, supported, and valued—where the same dignity and respect we champion for our patients and communities is reflected in the employee experience. We invest in professional growth, foster a culture of collaboration and psychological safety, and work continuously to ensure Essential Access is a place where talented, passionate people can do the best work of their careers.