Last month the Supreme Court issued a decision that many believe is the turning of the tide in reaffirming the right to seek an abortion.
Whole Woman’s Health vs. Hellerstedt overturned many of the provisions of Texas’ House Bill 2, a law that resulted in closing more than half of the state’s clinics. It also put politicians on notice if they are looking to propose sham laws designed to shame and criminalize providers and put abortion care out of reach.
We are already seeing challenges to medically unnecessary restrictions. Several lawsuits were filed in Louisiana, legal challenges are being considered in other states, and others are pushing back on attempts to defund Planned Parenthood.
One of the most long-lasting and positive effects of the ruling will be on low-income women and women of color. The fact is that these kinds of TRAP laws (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) like the ones in Texas and other states disproportionately burden women who have less access to abortion care because they can’t afford it or have to travel long distances to obtain one. By shuttering clinics through unscientific and medically unnecessary regulations and imposing waiting periods, forced and unnecessary ultrasounds and other barriers, anti-choice politicians make it harder for women without means to get health care.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is right. She said,” “We will never see a day when women of means are not able to get a safe abortion in this country.” The war on women is fundamentally a war on poor women. Women with means could get abortion care both before abortion Roe vs. Wade, which affirmed the legal right to seek an abortion. And women with money can get services now even in the face of incredible obstacles. It is the women going to clinics who have to drive hundreds of miles and wait for days, take unpaid time off, and be subjected to politically mandated lectures who are least able to access care. And this has to stop.
People who provide abortion care and advocates who have spoken out with women have said time and again that these kinds of laws have nothing to do with health or safety. Supreme Court Justice Breyer wrote, “We conclude that neither of these provisions offers medical benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes. Each places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, each constitutes an undue burden on abortion access, and each violates the Federal Constitution … the two requirements erect a particularly high barrier for poor, rural, or disadvantaged women.”
We couldn’t agree more. Every Colorado woman, regardless of income, should have access to abortion care. Itap why the Colorado version of the Hyde Amendment, a provision in our state constitution banning state funding for abortion care for poor women, needs to go. And it is also why we are urging our state’s leaders to stop introducing a slew of these TRAP bills every year. They have been defeated over and over because they are not in line with Colorado’s strong belief in the right to privacy and support for personal decision making.
By firmly returning the right to an abortion back where it belongs — as fundamental to health care — we hope the courtap decision will stop politicians playing games with our constitutional rights. We urge our state leaders to stop pushing these shame laws and instead focus on advancing legislation that actually supports families and ensures access to the full range of health care that people need.
Cristina Aguilar is executive director of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights. Former state Rep. Karen Middleton is executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado.
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