Women of color are on the forefront of the fight for body autonomy because they understand what it means not to have it. Why would we ever buy into the notion that a woman’s access to health care should be controlled by anyone else? Every woman has the right to make their own reproductive health decisions, and that includes abortion.

Our country already has a long and shameful history of black women not being able to control their own bodies. From slavery to modern days, black bodies were used to advance medical knowledge without regard to our health, welfare and humanity. Finally, black women’s voices are being heard through the #MeToo and reproductive justice movements.

Now with the Trump administration’s second conservative nominee to the Supreme Court, these voices are at risk of being silenced and every woman’s ability to control her own body is at risk. President Trump promised that he would overturn Roe v. Wade, which guarantees our constitutional right to abortion. If his current attempt to stack the Supreme Court succeeds, right-wing elected officials and anti-abortion activists will be emboldened in their national quest to end legal abortion. And don’t believe they will stop there.

We’ve already seen endless attacks on reproductive health policy, including threats to Title X (our nation’s oldest family planning program), attempts to shut down providers of affordable, quality health care like Planned Parenthood and a blockade in our state Senate preventing access to affordable contraception. Who is most impacted by these attacks? Women of color and those already economically disadvantaged.

It is the ultimate hypocrisy to decry abortion while failing to better the lives of those already walking a hard road. While we hear those who shame and stigmatize women for making the right choice for their family, we hear nothing when it comes to truly creating a world of equal opportunity where everyone has the ability and means to reach their full potential. Women already lack access to fundamental health care, adequate childcare, food subsidies, foster care and supportive children’s services.

In America, we like to deny that pregnancy and childbirth carry genuine health risks. Did you know that the U.S. overall has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed country and that abortion is safer than childbirth? The health risks are greatest for black women — who are almost four times more likely to die from childbirth or childbirth-related issues than white women, regardless of economic status. Historic health care inequities also mean that black women are twice as likely to have an unintended pregnancy as a white woman, and 40 percent more likely to die of breast cancer than white women at every stage of diagnosis.

Banning abortion, reducing access to medically accurate reproductive health care and shuttering health care providers will not stop abortions, but it will end safe abortions. Women will be pushed back into the shadows, and women will die just like we saw before Roe v. Wade. A woman’s right to control her body is a civil right. We must vote and voice our opposition to any policy that will reduce access to all reproductive health care. Women’s lives depend on it.

Senator Kevin S. Parker is intimately familiar with the needs of his ethnically diverse Brooklyn district comprised of sections of Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmas Park, Kensington, Windsor Terrace, and Park Slope. A lifelong Brooklyn resident, he is the Ranking Democratic Member on the Senate Committee on Energy and Telecommunications. Senator Parker is the Whip of the Senate Democratic Conference; Member of the Senate Democratic Conference Policy Group; Member of the Senate Select Committee on Technology & Innovation; and Member of the Senate Democratic Minority and Women-Owned Business Task Force (MWBE). For the 2017-2018 Legislative Session, Senator Parker serves on the Senate Standing Committees on Finance; Rules; Higher education; Labor; Insurance, and Banks. To learn more about Senator Parker and his initiatives on behalf of working families across New York State, please visit www.nysenate.gov/senators/kevin-s-parker.

Robin Chappelle Golston is the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts (PPESA), an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization which represents Planned Parenthood in New York State. Robin has an extensive background as a leader and strategist with both corporate and political experience. In addition to several statewide campaigns, Robin has served as Political Director for both U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, Chief of Staff for NYS Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell, and began her career in the office of U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer. In the private sector, Robin has served as Vice President of Corporate Relations and Government Affairs for EmblemHealth and as Vice President of State Government Relations at JPMorgan Chase.

State Senator Kevin Parker

Writing since September 2018 · 3 stories contributed