Black women denounce latest attack on reproductive health and rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2018
Contact: Alexa Mauzy-Lewis, Camino PR
alexa@caminopr_com / 212-255-2575

Statement by Marcela Howell, founder and executive director of In Our Own Voice
WASHINGTON- Today, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote on the NIFLA v. Becerra declared that lies and trickery can pass for reproductive health care for women. In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda Founder and Executive Director Marcela Howell issued the following statement about the decision:

“By one vote, the Court has made it harder for California women to obtain honest information about their reproductive health. By one vote, the Court declared that fake clinics, pretending to be health care centers, can continue to trick women in order to prevent them from accessing legal abortion services. Low-income women, women of color and young women who seek low-cost health care are now more vulnerable to the deception of these fake clinics. The justices have now given these abortion opponents permission to promote their own anti-abortion political agenda disguised as health care.

“Every woman deserves to have access to accurate health information. Every woman should be given all of her legal medical options when she seeks health care services. This decision further weaponizes health care – affirming it as another tool in the anti-abortion arsenal.

“Black women and all women of color will suffer the most as a result of this decision. We already face systemic barriers to accessing health care – especially reproductive health services – we don’t need another hurdle. And we won’t stop fighting until every woman has full and equal access to affordable, quality healthcare – including birth control and abortion.”

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In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda is a national reproductive justice organization focused on lifting up the voices of Black women at the national and regional levels in our ongoing policy fight to secure reproductive justice for all women and girls. Our eight strategic partners include Black Women for Wellness, Black Women’s Health Imperative, New Voices for Reproductive Justice, Sisterlove, Inc. SisterReach, SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW, The Afiya Center and Women With A Vision.