Advocacy Activities

May

• SAHM signs-on to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Coalition letter to congressional leaders to advocate for the Early Action and Responsiveness Lifts Youth (EARLY) Minds Act (H.R.708). The bipartisan EARLY Minds Act would allow states to better tailor the response to the youth mental health crisis in their states by allowing them to use funds from the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant (MHBG), which is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), for prevention and early intervention services.

April 

• SAHM signs-on to a coalition letter, led by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), to urge the Supreme Court Not to Weaken EMTALA Protections.
• SAHM signs-on to a coalition letter, led by the American Academy of Pediatrics to advocate for increased Congressional appropriations for gun violence prevention research for FY25. 
• SAHM joins an amicus curiae brief filed in the supreme court of the state of Montana in Scarlet Van Garden, et al., v. State of Montana. 

March

• SAHM joined 17 health organizations and more than 100 health experts in an amicus brief filed with the Montana Supreme Court in Held v. Montana. A group of youth plaintiffs, represented by Our Children’s Trust, won a landmark victory in the trial court, recognizing that their right to a clean and healthful environment under the Montana Constitution had been violated.
• SAHM joins an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Poe v Labrador.

February

• SAHM joins a sign-on letter organized by Trust for America’s Health, supporting efforts at the CDC to address Adverse Child Experiences (ACEs). The letter asks that Congress include the “PACE Act” (Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences) in the reauthorization of the bipartisan “SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act,” which focuses on substance use.
• SAHM signs-on to a CAMH (Child and Adolescent Mental Health) coalition letter that urges Congress to address the youth mental health crisis as a priority in 2024 by advancing legislation that enhances pediatric mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention, and treatment and supporting the pediatric workforce.

January 

• SAHM joined with ACOG, AAP, and more than a dozen other medical organizations in an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and Danco Laboratories v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the case involving challenges to FDA regulations for use of mifepristone in medication abortions. The outcome of this case could have nationwide implications. 
• SAHM joins Amicus curiae brief in the Texas Court of Appeals in support of the preliminary injunctions issued in Masters v. PFLAG.