Black women denounce Trump’s new hurdles to birth control access

For Immediate Release
October 6, 2017
Contact: Alexa Mauzy-Lewis, Camino PR
alexa@caminopr.com / 212-255-2575

Statement from In Our Own Voice Executive Director and Founder Marcela Howell
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Trump revoked an Obama administration rule that required employers to birth control coverage in employee health plans. Now, employers can refuse to cover birth control for any reason. Marcela Howell, founder and executive director of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, issued the following statement in response:

“Trump’s latest attack on women’s reproductive health promises to limit and impede access to birth control for countless women. It is a direct violation of women’s bodily integrity and reproductive rights and will directly harm Black women, who already face barriers to accessing health care.

“This unnecessary rollback of reproductive health care access and reproductive rights protections is outrageous but not a surprise. We knew that the candidate who bragged about sexually assaulting women would be a president hell bent on dismantling women’s rights.

Now, we must demand that employers respect women’s health and rights by continuing to cover birth control in employee health plans. We will not tolerate discrimination in the workplace – even if Trump will.

“Equal access to health care is only one component of a multidimensional, ongoing fight for reproductive justice. Our recent report, ‘Our Bodies Our lives Our Voices: The State of Black Women and Reproductive Justice,’ outlines an agenda for action to disrupt the systematic and institutional oppression of Black women. While the current administration will obviously not protect us, Black women will continue to hold employers accountable for discrimination and inequity.”

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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.