WCAPS Statement on the U.S. Supreme Court Overturning of Roe v. Wade

WCAPS Statement on the U.S. Supreme Court Overturning of Roe v. Wade Statement for immediate release POC: Shalonda Spencer, sspencer@wcaps.org Washington, D.C. – Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation provides a statement on the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

On Friday, June 24, 2022, five Supreme Court Justices overturned the longstanding ruling of Roe v. Wade. This reversal of 50 years of constitutional protection struck a chord amongst women across our nation, raising concern for women's reproductive health rights and sounding alarms in realizing that the government ultimately has more control over our bodies than we do.

To many, this is a devastating moment and attack on the human rights, civil rights, and bodily autonomy of women across our country. The U.S. has set an abhorrent example across the globe of what it looks like to defend the rights of and ensure adequate health care services for women.

Women's health and wellness should not be a politically polarizing topic. Our great nation should be built on laws and policies that all Americans resonate with and should never be crafted around a few individuals' religious, political, or personal belief systems. This democratic backsliding will affect all women in the United States, to include women of color, indigenous populations, poor women, and women in middle America and appalachia. This reversal will create a new healthcare crisis, along with exposing systemic inequities, with women traveling across state lines for care, overwhelming available service providers, performing dangerous at-home abortions, and by straining an already fragile healthcare system. This reversal also stands to exacerbate devastaing maternal moratlity rates for women of color, namely black women, and will potentially punish women by either forcing them to live with the aftermath of a rape or incest or by plunging them into poverty by being forced to keep an unwanted pregnacy.

Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation grieves with women across our nation and believes that women should be trusted and afforded the opportunity to make decisions about their own bodies. We will always fight for Reproductive Justice.

"As we fight for the right of reproductive health, as we fight for the right of an abortion, as we fight for voting rights, we know that it's going to be at the state level." Stacey Abrams