In abortion debate, echoes of another battle: Reproductive rights for Black women

by Akilah Johnson
June 10, 2022

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Nailah Nicolas stood in the late-afternoon Southern sun at a park dedicated to three enslaved Black women who suffered torturous experiments to advance the field of gynecology.

That day, hanging heavy in the air surrounding the soaring steel monuments to Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey was the Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision in an abortion case that could overturn Roe v. Wade.

Continued (unblocked): https://wapo.st/3MAxArG
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/10/abortion-reproductive-rights-black-women/


Abortion Bans Pose A Danger To All Mothers. For Black Women, They’re Especially Damaging

STEPHANIE LONG
OCTOBER 20, 2020

In 1973, Roe v. Wade made abortion legal across the U.S., but, as is the case with many other laws and landmark decisions, its application throughout the country was anything but simple — or equal. Decades after the Supreme Court’s ruling that a person's freedom to have an abortion without excessive government limitations is constitutionally protected, various restrictions continue to pose obstacles for people seeking abortions. And, with the appointment of several new conservative judges to the Supreme Court, as well as a rise in restrictive abortion legislation being passed at the state level, the road ahead isn’t looking much clearer.

In 2019 alone, 25 new abortion laws were passed — including bans on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy in Mississippi, Kentucky, and Georgia, and a full abortion ban in Alabama.

Continued:  https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/10/10015405/abortion-ban-racism-black-women-effects


‘I Can’t Focus on Abortion Access if My People Are Dying’

Some Gen Z and millennial women said they viewed abortion rights as important but less urgent than other social justice causes. Others said racial disparities in reproductive health must be a focus.

By Emma Goldberg
June 30, 2020

Like many young Americans, Brea Baker experienced her first moment of political outrage after the killing of a Black man. She was 18 when Trayvon Martin was shot. When she saw his photo on the news, she thought of her younger brother, and the boundary between her politics and her sense of survival collapsed.

In college she volunteered for the N.A.A.C.P. and as a national organizer for the Women’s March. But when conversations among campus activists turned to abortion access, she didn’t feel the same sense of personal rage.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/us/politics/abortion-supreme-court-gen-z.html


Why Tennessee’s Quickly Passed Abortion Ban Is Racist

Why Tennessee’s Quickly Passed Abortion Ban Is Racist

Lauren Rankin
June 25, 2020

In the early-morning hours of June 19, the Tennessee Senate rallied to pass a last-minute healthcare bill. It had nothing to do with mitigating the coronavirus pandemic that had claimed the lives of more than 530 Tennesseans, nor did it address the widespread police violence on display in cities across the country. Instead, it was a wide-ranging anti-abortion bill. Passed in the dead of night after back-room negotiating with Republicans in the Tennessee House, it included one of the most extreme abortion bans in the U.S., banning the procedure at six weeks, before many people even know they’re pregnant.

Simply put, Tennessee just signed into law a near-total abortion ban.

Continued: https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/2020/06/9882861/tennessee-abortion-ban-racist


USA – Limiting Abortion Access Contributes to Poor Maternal Health Outcomes

Limiting Abortion Access Contributes to Poor Maternal Health Outcomes
By Anusha Ravi
Posted on June 13, 2018

Access to abortion is a key component of women’s comprehensive health care. The ability to choose if, when, and how to give birth is linked to women’s economic success, educational attainment, and general health and well-being.

Anti-choice advocates, unfortunately, often use women’s health and maternal mortality as justifications for abortion restrictions. Although abortion has been proven to be one of the safest medical procedures, anti-choice policymakers at state and federal levels continue to use the guise of protecting women’s health to promote restrictions on abortion providers and procedures such as medication abortion; add requirements for women to fulfill in order to receive an abortion; and limit the procedure after an arbitrary number of weeks into a pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2018/06/13/451891/limiting-abortion-access-contributes-poor-maternal-health-outcomes/