I recently attended the Jessie Daniel Ames lecture, which was given by Silvia Henriquez, the executive director for the National Institute for Reproductive Health. The lecture was entitled, “Advancing a National Movement for Reproductive Justice,” a title that did not at first make me want to attend. In hindsight, I am very happy that I did attend, as the speech was very informative and well-executed to show exactly how reproductive rights are being affected by the national discourse surrounding illegal immigration. In addition, I am glad that I have waited until now to write this post, as our national government is currently facing the prospect of a shutdown due to the House of Representative’s inability to come to an agreement on the new budget and one of the main issues surrounding this is the Republican-proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood provides free gynecological/obstetrician services and abortions, in addition to their counseling and family planning services. The topic of abortion is why the Republican Party wishes to defund Planned Parenthood as they say taxpayers should not be funding these procedures. Henriquez’ words ring extremely true now and I can’t help feeling that attacking the ideological issue of abortion is a simply a ruse to defund a program that provides medical services to individuals without health insurance, a large portion of whom are minorities, including Latinas.
Henriquez referenced the anti-immigration bill that Arizona passed and the rhetoric that emerged from that bill. She made the claim that the anti-immigration rhetoric of the bill became, essentially, anti-Latino rhetoric. She also referenced bills currently in the works in many southwestern states that seek to abolish the granting of U.S. citizenship to babies born to mothers living in the United States illegally, the so-called “anchor baby” bills. Not only would this be a violation of the U.S. Constitution, but also a major blow to the reproductive rights of all women in the United States. These bills are clearly aimed at Latino individuals, who having the highest birthrates of any demographic group in the country.
These bills are happening on a state level obviously, but supporting these bills while also supporting the defunding of Planned Parenthood seems counterintuitive to me. If Planned Parenthood is defunded, not only would many women without health insurance not be able to obtain proper medical attention during their pregnancies, but they would also lose the place that can provide them with free birth control as to prevent unwanted pregnancy in the first place. Henriquez was right when she stated these bills have turned blatantly anti-Latino, and I would go so far as to label anyone who supports these bills as racists.
If Planned Parenthood is defunded, the message our country would be sending is that we don’t care about babies. We would leave thousands and thousands of women without proper pre-natal care and depriving their unborn children the care that is offered to every pregnant woman with health insurance. In essence, because of the abortion issue, we would not only be endangering the life of the unborn children, but also the lives of the pregnant mothers-to-be. I am ashamed at this moment to think that there are people in this country who would use an ideological, personal belief as a basis for deciding the fates of countless underprivileged individuals. Though I found the prospect horrible upon first hearing it at the lecture, now that it is a tangible reality, I am sick at my stomach. Whoever reads this, please take the time to contact your congressman and demand that he support the reproductive rights of American women. I’m not sure how much good it would do if the Republican-proposed budget is already passed upon your reading of this post, but I do know that it can never hurt to stand up for something you believe in.
Brady
UPDATE: Budget passed before midnight, Planned Parenthood funding intact :)
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