In 2022, the Supreme Court reversed decades of precedent in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The decision held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion and that the authority to regulate abortions rests with states. While the long-term ramifications of overturning the right to an abortion are unknown, Dobbs immediately triggered states’ existing laws banning abortion and prompted several states to enact laws that would eliminate or restrict access to abortion. As abortion bans spread across the country and prosecutors become more emboldened, Black pregnant people will continue to face a heavier burden of criminalization. Joined by public health, medical, and legal experts, this episode of Justice Above All, hosted by Dr. Sandhya Kajeepeta, explores the history of how pregnant Black people have been criminalized and the far-reaching consequences after the reversal of Roe v. Wade (1973).
Guests:
Pregnancy is not a benign phenomenon.
In her book Inequalities of Love, Dr. Averil Clarke illuminates how, even among college-educated women, Black women report less consistent use of contraception and higher use of less effective contraceptive methods compared to white women. Through her research, Dr. Clarke explores how less consistent and effective contraceptive use among college-educated Black women is shaped by structural barriers in access to marriage, stigma around non-marital sex, and mistrust of doctors, which all have roots in systems of racial discrimination and oppression. Less contraceptive consistency has led to an increased risk of unintended pregnancy among Black women. Check out Inequalities of Love to learn more about racial and class disparities in contraceptive use, unintended pregnancy, and abortion.
You're not protecting people when you say "you have to have a child, no matter what," and then you're not giving them access to safe and affordable maternity health care, or equal pay, or paid leave, or childcare, or all the other things you need in order to support your families.
LDF joined an amicus brief filed by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that overturned decades of precedent of the legality of abortion. The case involved a challenge to Mississippi’s prohibition on elective abortions after 15 weeks, directly challenging the Supreme Court’s seminal abortion rights cases, including Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Together, those cases confirm that the Fourteenth Amendment’s liberty interest includes the right to physical autonomy without government interference.
Reproductive access starts before you're even pregnant. Ensuring that people have access just to general healthcare is a very critical component of ensuring that you have reproductive access later.
Dr. Regina Davis Moss is the President and CEO of In Our Own Voice, a national-state partnership focused on lifting up the voices of Black women leaders at the national and regional levels in our fight to secure Reproductive Justice for all women, femmes, and girls. In collaboration with over 50 reproductive justice organizations, In Our Own Voice has produced the 2023 Black Reproductive Justice Policy Agenda.
The National Birth Equity Collaborative (NBEC) creates transnational solutions that optimize Black maternal, infant, sexual, and reproductive wellbeing. NBEC shifts systems and culture through training, research, technical assistance, policy, advocacy, and community-centered collaboration.
