Since our last newsletter in January 2025, SAHM and the Advocacy Committee have continued to join forces with other organizations to influence national adolescent health policy and to play a role in key legal decisions and cases that affect the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults (AYA).

SAHM Website
With recent improvements to SAHM’s website, SAHM’s advocacy activities are being posted on a regular basis here. Bookmark this location and visit it to check out recent developments!

SAHM Position Papers
SAHM’s position papers contain our official positions on important policy and clinical issues. They provide the foundation for SAHM as an organization and for SAHM members to advocate on behalf of AYA.

In 2025, SAHM has issued the following new position papers:

• Responding to the Impact of Climate Change on Adolescent and Young Adult Health
• Promoting Food Security Among Adolescents and Young Adults
• Improving Adolescent and Young Adult Health Through Knowledge and Action on Gender-Based Violence
• Guidelines on the Inclusion and Protection of Adolescent Minors and Young Adults in Health Research

SAHM Annual Meeting
At SAHM’s Annual Meeting in Baltimore in March 2025, AYA health advocacy and policy issues were addressed in many of the plenary sessions, institutes, workshops, and committees.

Two sessions focused specifically on current advocacy concerns:

• A session on current federal policy developments at which Matt Mariani, AAP Director of Federal Advocacy, provided an overview of recent actions by the Administration that pose potential harm for AYA health and issues pending in Congress.
• An open forum on Advocacy that provided an opportunity for meeting attendees to share current concerns about policy developments affecting AYA and SAHM members, strategies being used to address these developments, and possible actions SAHM might take as an organization.

Family Planning and Medicaid
SAHM joined the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and several other medical and public health organizations, in an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in the United States Supreme Court in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, a case challenging South Carolina’s exclusion of Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program. The issue pending before the Supreme Court is whether the Medicaid Act’s “any-qualified-provider provision” unambiguously confers a private right upon a Medicaid beneficiary to choose a specific provider. Oral argument in the Supreme Court was on April 2, 2025; a decision is anticipated later in the spring or summer.

Gender Affirming Care
In 2023, 2024, and 2025 SAHM has signed onto “friend of the court” (amicus curiae) briefs in numerous cases challenging bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care cases at all levels of the state and federal courts, including cases in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Indiana, Montana, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas.

Most recently, SAHM joined with multiple other medical and public health organizations in amicus curiae briefs in two cases challenging the Executive Orders limiting access to gender affirming care, PFLAG v. Trump and State of Washington v. Trump. The federal district courts in both cases have issued preliminary injunctions limiting enforcement of the Executive Orders while the litigation continues.

Letters to Congress
In an environment of threats to funding and other policies affecting the health and wellbeing of AYA, SAHM has joined with multiple other medical, mental health, and public health organizations in letters to Congress:

• A letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee asking for a robust public health response to the measles outbreak.
• A letter created by an Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research to House and Senate appropriators urging at least $51.303 billion in NIH funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026), which would represent a $4.222 billion or 9% increase over FY 2025 funding levels. 
• A letter submitted by a coalition led by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in support of gun violence prevention research funding for FY 2026, similar to letters to which SAHM has signed on in the past. This letter calls on Congress to provide $35 million for the CDC, $25 million for the NIH, and $1 million at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). 
• A letter by a coalition of children’s health organizations including First Focus on Children, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and others urging Congress to reject cuts to Medicaid and CHIP. 
• A letter from the CDC Coalition and multiple other national, state, and academic organizations urging Congress to include more than $11 billion in appropriations funding for CDC programs for FY 2026.
• A letter from the Friends of HRSA Coalition and other supporting organizations urging Congress to include more than $10 billion for HRSA discretionary programs in FY 2026 appropriations.

Advocacy Virtual Chats
New Virtual Chats are being planned for 2025; our next topic is Medicaid for AYA. Please contact us with any thoughts or ideas, and/or if you want to organize a Virtual Chat or be a speaker.

Advocacy Resources
In addition to the advocacy support that SAHM provides, excellent resources are available through the state-level American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) chapters and other organizations. Each AAP state chapter has an executive director versed in state advocacy activities, legislative affairs, and ongoing lawsuits. SAHM partners with the AAP for many advocacy activities (national AAP advocacy site is here). Contact information for AAP state chapters can be found at: Chapter Websites (aap.org). The American Public Health Association (APHA), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the American College of Physicians (ACP) have great advocacy resources as well. We also encourage SAHM members to reach out to their SAHM regional chapters to learn about ongoing advocacy efforts, learn from each other and team up to amplify your voices.

Our future SAHM advocacy for AYAs will depend, as always, on the enthusiasm, commitment, dedication, creativity, and perseverance of SAHM members. The Advocacy Committee is ready to help. We would love to work with you. Here are the Advocacy Team members at SAHM: