Black Abortion Provider’s View on Postlow America

As a black woman raised in the South, I have seen how policies affect the ability of people left out of society to make choices about their body and reproduction. I witnessed my sister becoming a mother at the age of 16 and learned that my grandmother gave birth to a mother at the age of 14, which is the complex crossroads of unintended pregnancy and racism, sexism and classism. I knew well how it was used in challenges. Abortion morals. Anti-abortion activists often take the fact that black women are five times more likely to have an abortion than white women in the United States, and take advantage of this fact to characterize abortion as “black genocide.” increase.This claim contributes to nurturing the story of an imminent capsizing Roe v. Wade..

I’ve always known that this is a false story, and now, as a black gynecologist, I understand how deeply it is doing harm to our community.

As I grew up, I witnessed the consequences of limited access to reproductive choices: the perpetuation of poverty, the “curse” between generations, and the young who felt forced to give birth to a baby and gave up their dreams. The resentment experienced by women. Seeing black women in my community agree with these situations is the way I have reached the values ​​of my abortion. I wondered what life would be like if these women could decide when, when and how to raise their families.

Still, it wasn’t until I read the history of our country of black reproductive exploitation that I grew resolutely from my point of view. Blackbody crackdowns and duplications date back to centuries as part of the blackbody commercialization and parcels. Slavery has allowed black women to invade almost every area of ​​their lives, including the birth of babies for profit and labor. With the abolition of slavery imports from Africa, the reproduction of slavery in the United States was essential to the perpetuation of slavery as a useful system. For capitalist interests, white men (as well as doctors and slave owners) increased interference with the reproductive life of black women through forced breeding and rape.

In those history books, I see women in my community still suffering from the same generation of oppression, and the work of my life centered on creating the community and supporting us. Started to concentrate.

Faced with the potential of the post todayegg In the United States, we are thinking about forced childbirth in this population, which has the highest maternal mortality and mortality rates in the country. Black women are disproportionately affected by lack of access to abortion and are overestimated for pregnancy-related deaths. I think about our ancestors every time I support a black woman when choosing whether to give birth or not. Think of a young woman in my community whose life changes forever due to lack of choice. As a black female doctor, I aim to allow patients to make their own choices. I know I’m there to help patients, not exploit them for the benefit of someone else.

A few weeks ago I sat down with a patient who decided to end her pregnancy. From fresh new blades to love for Southern cuisine, there were many layers connecting us. I saw her, and she saw me — a multidimensional black woman. When I took her to her operating room, she asked me why I had an abortion. Suddenly, I explained this history. I reminded her of her power. I didn’t have to explain her “reason” to anyone. This procedure was her choice and I fully supported her. Knowing that she wasn’t alone, she softly thanked me. When I performed her abortion, I thought about its connections and its diversity and realized that the very facts of black abortion donors who indiscriminately support black women are revolutionary.

At that moment, I felt unwavering pride and joy intertwined with Blackness and its many challenges.

That’s why the accusations that access to abortion contributed to the “genocide” of my community shakes me at the heart of it. I also know what it’s like to roam the world as a black woman, so when I enter the room it’s impossible for the genocide to look like the relief of my patient’s face, reassuring the patient increase.

Forced birth and reproductive exploitation of the blackbody is a historical fact, and history is often repeated. When that happens, those left out of society usually suffer the most. As I read those history books, I felt the truth. I felt the truth when I was living as a black woman in the south. As I think about the post-egg America, I feel the truth. But those same history books, the South, and the United States of the future, also include advocates who understand non-negotiable reproductive freedom. We know the plight of blacks who have babies and have abortions, and we continue to fight without apology for the freedom to do both safely.