All We Want is Agency Over Our Bodies
Latinx women are fighting the good fight for reproductive justice
June 27 marks three years since the Supreme Court decided Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the most significant abortion case in two decades. The ruling struck down a Texas law that placed medically unnecessary regulations on abortion providers, intended to force them to close under the guise of women’s health. The Court’s decision recognized that individuals seeking an abortion would be forced to shoulder excessive burdens in the aftermath of the law and reaffirmed our constitutional right. Nevertheless, we know that a right in theory is not always one in fact and does not ensure access, especially for underserved communities.
The decision was a major victory for those of us fighting to protect access to abortion, but in the three years between the 2013 law passing and the 2016 Supreme Court ruling, more than half of the abortion clinics in Texas had already shut down. Few have opened since. Texans in some cities have to travel 300 miles one-way to get care, which, for people with fewer resources, is logistically or financially impossible. Many undocumented women in Texas face border patrol checkpoints en route that stand between them and the remaining clinics.
