Reproductive Health Investors Alliance (Rhia Ventures)

Rhia Ventures promotes left-leaning reproductive health to make contraception and abortion access more widespread through direct investment in early-stage companies developing reproductive health products, advocacy at the state and federal levels, and pushing corporations to provide benefits and policies that support abortion, contraception, and parental leave.

Background

Tara Health Foundation founder and CEO Ruth Shaber and COO Lisa Bowers Hamman founded Reproductive Health Investors Alliance in 2018 within the Tara Health Foundation, a grantmaking foundation that funds pro-abortion groups and abortion-access related causes. ^{3 4}

Left-of-center grant maker Educational Foundation of America (EFA) also provided initial funding. ⁵ EFA‘s Reproductive Health and Justice program supports increased access to abortion and contraception at the national and state level. ⁶

Work Areas

Direct Investment

Rhia Ventures invests in and incubates early-stage companies that focus on developing products and solutions that expand maternal health care, contraception availability, and abortion access through RH Capital Corporation, a fund wholly owned by Rhia Ventures. ⁷ Several early investments made into contraceptive initiatives include medical start-up Cirqle Biomedical, which worked on a non-hormonal contraceptive, and NURX, a telemedicine company created to provide contraceptives and other medications from outside a pharmaceutical environment. ^{8 9} As of May 2023, it had a portfolio of 14 companies. ¹⁰ Through RH Capital, Rhia created the Women’s Health Innovation Council, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to assess investment candidates. ¹¹

Advocacy

Rhia Ventures engages in advocacy to address improvements in reproductive health, contraception and abortion access, and perceived inequities in these areas. ¹² It does this through direct engagement with policy makers and by encouraging corporations to include reproductive health in their benefits. ¹³

In February 2020, Rhia Ventures organized a letter, representing 36 investors and totaling roughly $236 billion in assets, that was sent out to the CEO’s of over 30 companies requesting their positions on policies impacting access to contraceptives and reproductive healthcare. ¹⁴

In June 2022, Rhia Ventures issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court ruling that struck down Roe v. Wade, communicating its belief that “abortion is a fundamental health care right” and reiterating its intent to continue to fight for abortion access. ¹⁵

In January 2023, in the wake of the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, Rhia coordinated with left-of-center investment firms Change Finance, Educational Foundation of America (EFA), Tara Health Foundation, and Arjuna Capital, and Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) to file shareholder proposals for 2023 proxy ballots pushing abortion support and benefits to over 21 corporations. ^{16 17}

In April 2023, Rhia Ventures sent a letter to Tenet Health shareholders urging them to vote for a proposal requiring Tenet to describe its policies on emergency abortions. This was done on behalf of the Marguerite Casey Foundation. ¹⁸

In April 2023, Rhia issued a statement in response to legal challenges to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of mifepristone as an abortion pill. CEO Erika Seth Davies was reported as saying, “restrictions to abortion access disproportionately harm our country’s most marginalized women and other birthing people by further undermining the personal bodily autonomy of individuals seeking abortion care,” and encouraged companies and investors to fight for continued access. ¹⁹

Corporate Engagement

Through its Corporate Engagement program Rhia partners with investors to promote corporate responsibility regarding reproductive and maternal health. In 2020, Rhia Ventures published the report “Hidden Value: The Business Case for Reproductive Health” in collaboration with FSG Social Impact Advisors. The report encourages companies to provide benefits coverage for reproductive health, including contraception, abortion, maternal health care, and parental leave. ²⁰ The report was updated in June 2022 following the May 2022 leak of the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. ²¹

Rhia also published #WhatAreYourReproBenefits, a database of companies that provide for abortion, or publish policies for abortion-related travel and paid time off. ²²

The P.S. Blossom podcast produced by Rhia Ventures focuses on reproductive health, especially for Black, Indigenous, and other women of color. One episode dated May 2, 2023 was entitled “Any Reason is a Good Enough Reason to Access Abortion.” Other episodes also promote abortion access. ²³

Funding

Rhia Ventures reported revenues of $3,348,485 and expenses of $2,875,444 for 2019. ²⁴

Donors to Rhia Ventures include Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (STBF), the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Tides Foundation. ^{25 26}

Founding organizations Educational Foundation of America (EFA) and Tara Health Foundation continue to support Rhia Ventures as well. ^{27 28}

Leadership

Ruth Shaber is co-founder and board chair of Rhia Ventures. Originally an obstetrician and gynecologist, she is founder and president of Tara Health Foundation and a board member for Women of the World Endowment and Toniic Institute. ²⁹ She is co-author of The XX Edge, a book that argues that having women in financial leadership positions improves corporate performance. ³⁰

Erika Seth Davies joined Rhia Ventures in June 2021 as CEO. Davies has over 20 years in racial equity advocacy and founded Racial Equity Asset Lab, an organization that focuses on racial equity in investing. ³¹

Elizabeth Bailey is a managing director for Rhia Ventures. Baily previously served as the founding director for the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) at Massachusetts General Hospital and was a Partner at Impact Investment Fund Commons Capital LP where she managed the portfolios of several biomedical and technology-based companies. ³²

Stasia Obremskey is a managing director for Rhia Ventures, joining the company in 2018 as one of the first Fellows for the Tara Health Foundation. She previously worked for Bain & Company as a managing consultant and also worked in investment banking with Morgan Stanley & Co. She also provided financial and strategic consulting for several medical and technology start-up companies and nonprofit organizations. ³²

Shelley Alpern is Rhia’s director of corporate engagement. Previously she held leadership positions at left-leaning social impact investor Trillium Asset Management and environmentalist groups Clean Yield Asset Management and Ceres. ³³