What was access to abortion like before Roe v. Wade, and what will access to abortion look like after its overturning? Becca Andrews, reporter at Reckon News, talks to us about her new book No Choice: The Destruction of Roe v. Wade and the Fight to Protect a Fundamental American Right, including what communities will be hardest hit by the Supreme Court’s decision, as well as the inspiring, groundbreaking work that leaders, activists, and providers are doing around the country to ensure that patients are able to access essential abortion care.

The history of reproductive coercion has been and continues to be rampant in the United States, disproportionately targeted towards people of color and non-cisgendered folks. This unjust thread, foundational to the beginnings of the U.S., continues to weave through access to reproductive healthcare and modern medicine in general. The Janes, the Clergy Consultative Service on Abortion, and the Society for Humane Abortion were collectives that supported, counseled on, referred to, and facilitated access to abortion care before the Supreme Court’s 1973 implementation of Roe.

However, Roe’s legal protections were not around long before they started to be chipped away at; Roe had not even been in place for 50 years before its repeal. Throughout Roe’s standing, many white women’s reproductive health and rights advocacy did not extend to include all who have a right to care. This was made expressly evident through the application of (and lack of fight against) the Hyde amendment, which systematically prevents those receiving Medicaid coverage from accessing an abortion. In addition, the multi-layered barriers—such as a lack of access to childcare and transportation, inability to take time off of work, and lack of access to funds for the procedure and associated costs—coalesced overtime to make an unnavigable labyrinth to accessing care that was particularly felt by those with low-incomes, people of color, young people, LGBTQI+ folks, and immigrant communities. 

Links

No Choice: The Destruction of Roe v. Wade and the Fight to Protect a Fundamental American Right

Becca Andrews at Reckon News

Becca Andrews on Twitter

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