The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday night to allow Texas’ 6-week abortion ban effectively allows the state to eliminate a person’s right to their own body, adding additional hardship to marginalized genders who have already borne the brunt of the pandemic’s negative economic impact.
It is blatantly unconstitutional and flies in the face of decades of precedent.
The Women’s Funding Network unequivocally asserts that reproductive rights are human rights. Abortion is healthcare. It is a moral imperative that any gender with the ability to become pregnant have access to safe and legal care that respects their dignity, privacy, and freedom.
Women with financial means in the U.S. have always been able to access safe abortions, regardless of the law. Abortion bans only hurt those already hurting: young people who are raped, those struggling to make ends meet, people of color, immigrants and refugees. Research shows that a woman who wants to end a pregnancy but is denied is more likely to live in poverty, be unemployed, and have a hard time affording groceries and rent than one who was able to get an abortion. This “turnaway effect” persists for years, and is a major driver in trapping marginalized genders in poverty for generations.
As feminist funders we understand that the relationship between abortion bans and poverty has never been more clear: Our Women’s Economic Mobility Hubs found that key barriers to economic mobility for women include biases in hiring, wage gaps, lack of affordable childcare, and lack of health care and paid leave. All of which worsen a woman’s financial situation if she is denied the ability to determine if and when to have a child.
Abortion bans kill women. We remember and honor Rosie Jiménez, the first Texan known to die of another infamous abortion ban: the Hyde Amendment. She died of an unsafe abortion in 1977, just two months after that ban went into effect.
We call on everyone in the U.S. to show up for people of all genders whose reproductive rights are continuously and systematically under attack. We ask you to:
- Contact your representatives and demand they permanently expand access to and fund abortion care.
- Educate yourself and others about safe, self-managed abortion
- Donate to the organizations doing vital work on the ground in Texas to support women in accessing abortion care.
Finally, as the Supreme Court evaluates whether to overturn Roe v. Wade this fall, we are collaborating with other gender justice funders and organizations — stay tuned as we continue our fight for the rights, liberation, and justice for all.
In solidarity,
Elizabeth Barajas-Román
Women’s Funding Network
President & CEO