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GOP Politicians Are Using the Pandemic to Attack Our Reproductive Rights
Some states have set their sights on curtailing access to abortions
As the country continues to weather a global pandemic that has claimed over 28,000 American lives and is estimated to shutter as many as 47 million jobs, instead of focusing on slowing the spread of the virus or offering support to frontline health care workers and other essential personnel, GOP politicians have set their sights on curtailing access to abortion care. Currently, Arkansas, Alabama, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas have all attempted to ban abortion — claiming it is a “nonessential” procedure that is taking up hospital beds and personal protective equipment (this is not true) — with varying degrees of success. Lawsuits have been filed in each state challenging these clearly unconstitutional bans, but as the litigation plays out in court, it is Black and Brown pregnant people who will suffer the most.
Studies have shown that Covid-19 is disproportionately impacting Black people — in Alabama, African Americans make up 27% of the population but 54% of Covid-19 deaths; in Louisiana, Black people are 32% of the population and 70% of the state’s coronavirus deaths. At a time when one in four Americans are sheltering in place to mitigate the spread of…
