So You Think Times Have Changed?
I find myself at many tables discussing issues surrounding reproductive health, rights and justice; and I am often the only woman of color and the youngest at these tables. I am very fortunate to have such rich and open dialogue with individuals that are also fighting for reproductive rights. But there are also moments where I’d like to rip my hair out.
Every January the reproductive rights community highlights and celebrates the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling granting the right to abortion. And if I had a quarter for the number of times I’ve heard: “You youngin’s don’t know what it was like to not have access to legal abortions!” I’d be rich, or rather, richer.
While they are not wrong, it shows how far we still have to go.
Yes, I was fortunate enough to be born a few decades after Roe. But this reply strips me of why I do what I do, because of my age, regardless of my advocacy and education work – it strips me, as a woman of color, and other women, like my mother, aunts and cousins, whom continue to face barriers to accessing varied reproductive health services including abortion decades after the Roe decision.
The article, Women of Color Gain Electoral Influence, Lose Access to Health Care, states:
By 2050, people of color are predicted to constitute the majority of the population. Yet, due to high rates of poverty and historical disenfranchisement, women of color often face the most onerous barriers to reproductive health care. – PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1yus7)
Really, is access to reproductive health care that impactful? Well, Roe v Wade was passed in 1973 after the civil rights movement. Communities of color were challenging the systems that had for so long disenfranchised them from gaining access to equal opportunities in many arenas, such as education, health care, jobs, and, well, the list goes on.
Still, forty years later women of color continue to be in the margins. Women of color continue to put their reproductive health care on the back burner; services such as prevention and treatment of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, as well as other preventative care and family planning services continue to be neglected. Today women of color still disproportionately face barriers to care because of travel costs, cost of daycare, missing work, less likely to have paid sick days and not having the money to afford their services.
I want to stress that Roe v. Wade is important to celebrate, but we also have to be critical about our “win” and ask ourselves: Have we settled? Is Roe v. Wade really about just abortion? Or is it about allowing individuals to make informed decisions about their reproductive health? And if so, what are we doing 40 years later to make sure that every single woman has the access to these services?
Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive rights is located in Denver. You can find out more about our organization at www.colorlatina.org.
