On 49th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Texas Abortion Funds Urge Leaders to Champion Reproductive Justice for Black Womxn
For immediate release
Contact: cburrell@thefiyacenter.org
On 49th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Texas Abortion Funds Urge
Leaders to Champion Reproductive Justice for Black Womxn
Dallas, TX – January 22nd marks the 49th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling, a landmark case affirming the legal right to abortion. This year’s anniversary is likely to be the last, as the Supreme Court is poised to rule on a case that could overturn Roe, which would activate dormant pre-Roe and trigger bans on the books in Texas. Already, Texas’ near-total ban on abortion, which prevents abortions after around six weeks, renders Roe almost meaningless in the state.
As abortion funds navigate this hostile landscape, they continue to push to not only enshrine Roe in policy this anniversary, but also expand abortion and reproductive health care access for all Texans.
Marsha Jones, Exective Director of The Afiya Center, the only reproductive justice organization in North Texas founded and directed by Black womxn, said:
“As we recognize the 49th anniversary of Roe, millions of people in Texas are already living in a world where the legal right to abortion guaranteed by Roe has been extinguished. Texas’ near-total abortion ban has pushed abortion access out of reach for many, and the promise of defending Roe this anniversary is cold comfort when abortion remains unaffordable and unobtainable for Black womxn who face so many systemic barriers. The forced pregnancies that have stemmed from Texas’ near-total abortion ban have been particularly devastating for Black womxn, who are already facing a Black maternal mortality crisis. Our lawmakers have refused time and again to provide Black womxn the health care coverage and the pre- and post-natal care we need to give birth safely, in the way we choose. So when we want to have abortions, we cannot, and when we want to give birth with dignity and in safety, we cannot do so either. We deserve so much better. Black womxn deserve not just abortion access, but affordable food, a good education for our children, safe neighborhoods that are free from white supremacist violence. We deserve a full world of opportunity, without limits on our bodies or political interference in our lives. So yes, we’ve got to fight abortion bans and pass policy like the Women’s Health Protection Act to make Roe the law of the land, but that is only the beginning. Lawmakers need to think bigger and bolder than Roe to build a world with real reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy for Black womxn and our communities.”
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