Why Access to Abortion Care Matters for Black Maternal Health
Attacks on abortion care threaten the lives of Black women and gender-expansive people. In this report, the Black Maternal Health Federal Policy Collective highlights the importance of accessible abortion care. It also analyzes the historical context of attacks on Black women’s reproductive choices and features policy recommendations for protecting our right to abortion.
Abortions are safe, whether they are medication abortions or surgical abortions. Abortion access is an essential part of healthcare. However, too many women and gender-expansive people don’t have access to the abortions that they need. This is especially the case for Black people living in Southern states where abortion is more likely to be restricted and banned.
Abortion restrictions and bans are a continuation of a longer history in which white supremacists have sought to control Black people’s reproduction. From chattel slavery to the eugenics movement, Black people have endured forced contraception, forced sterilization, and medical neglect and abuse. Even today, Black people can face racism and bias in the medical system that can cost us our lives.
Abortion restrictions can negatively affect our quality of life and cost us our lives. Black people face criminalization for seeking pregnancy care during miscarriages. Seeking abortion access in other states can be costly. Furthermore, abortion restrictions affect our access to quality health care as doctors move to states where they don’t have to fear prosecution. Increasing numbers of Black birthing people have died because they didn’t have access to the medical care that they needed.
Nevertheless, there is hope. State governments can take steps to protect abortion care providers and people who seek abortions. They can do this by enshrining the right to abortion in the constitution, requiring state-regulated insurance to cover abortion, and defunding and regulating “crisis pregnancy centers.” There are also several bills that the federal government can support to better maternal health and protect our right to abortion.
Without unfettered access to abortion care, our health care system is failing all women, but most especially Black women and birthing people of color. Restrictions on abortion care have far reaching consequences, deepening existing inequities and worsening health outcomes for pregnant and birthing people. Abortion restrictions also have an economic cost that ripples out from individual circumstances to society at large. Protecting and expanding access to abortion care is imperative.
SOURCE: The Century Foundation: Black Maternal Health Federal Policy Collective • LAST UPDATED: October 16, 2024
