Choosing to have an abortion in an alleyway in Mexico as a teenager was a “personal and private” decision for California Rep. Barbara Lee, she says. But in the years before Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, leaving her home in El Paso, Texas, was her best option.
“When I was a teenager, there were very few options,” Lee said. “Then I had to leave the country, I had to go to Mexico to have an abortion, which was risky, because they were not legal there either. Fortunately, my mother’s friend knew of a clinic, and yes, it was a clinic in an alley with a good reputation, and that’s where I went. And luckily I survived. But during that period, many African-American women died from septic abortions.”
Lee’s history dates back to the 1960s, before Roe v. Wade, when abortions were illegal except in cases where the mother’s life was in danger and generally unsafe. The choice was often accompanied by a social taboo that made women seek drastic measures to terminate a pregnancy.
“It was very difficult for me because of the stigma, the trauma and it was nobody else’s business,” Lee stressed. “And that’s the point of the whole thing around Roe vs. Wade. It is a personal decision for an individual to make about his medical care, and it is his decision to have an abortion or not.”
Lee, the highest-ranking African-American woman in Democratic leadership, serves as co-chair of the Policy and Steering Committee. She shared her story with Yahoo News on Tuesday, a day before the Senate voted on legislation to codify abortion rights into law.
“We’re talking about the fact that women are going to have abortions, and we’re fighting to make sure they’re safe and legal,” Lee said. “States are moving towards the criminalization of women, which is egregious, to criminalize a woman who makes a personal decision to have an abortion. I mean, this is very dangerous.”
The vote is a reaction to a leaked draft opinion. obtained by Politico that suggests the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade. The draft was written by Judge Samuel Alito and signed by four other conservative members of the high court.
In the 98-page draft decision on Mississippi’s tough new abortion law, which bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, Alito called Roe’s ruling “grossly wrong from the start.”
“The inescapable conclusion is that the right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the history and traditions of the Nation,” he wrote.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group, about 1 in 4 American women obtain an abortion before the age of 45. A decision to overturn the ruling would allow individual states to restrict when and how women can terminate their pregnancies. Federal courts would no longer determine the legality of the rules. The group’s research also indicates that 26 states it is likely that prohibit or restrict access to abortion If Roe v. Wade. So-called trigger laws, which would ban abortions almost immediately after Roe’s reversal, are already in place in 13 states.
“When you look at the states that have trigger laws and in Mississippi, Texas, where everyone has tried to ban abortions, you have large populations of African-American women, indigenous women, brown women, and young women,” Lee said.
“So it’s going to disproportionately impact African-American women, because when you look at our salaries, we’re at the bottom end of the economic ladder. Traveling to another state is going to be very difficult, because we don’t have the money. So we won’t be able to travel, [find] babysitting, losing our wages for a day or two, finding a hotel, all of that is going to be so devastating. … We have to make sure that we use, right now, our anger and outrage to organize ourselves politically.”
Thousands of abortion rights advocates have already taken to the streets to protest the June Supreme Court decision, including outside the homes of Alito, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Reproductive rights groups (Planned Parenthood, Women’s March, UltraViolet and MoveOn) have also organized nationwide rallies that will take place in dozens of cities on May 14.
“I think this has galvanized so many people that Republicans never knew they were going to be galvanized,” Lee said, laughing. “I think now we’re seeing people coming together to support people.”
On Wednesday, the Senate will vote on legislation to codify abortion rights into law. Lee emphasized the need for this type of federal protection for women, calling it “essential.” The Women’s Health Protection Act: legislation introduced by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif. – would also ban restrictions on abortions, including “mandatory waiting periods, biased counseling, two-trip requirements, and mandatory ultrasounds.”
But Lee pointed to obstacles ahead for Democrats.
“Unfortunately, we still have the stonewalling,” he said. “The part of what is so upsetting to many is that we cannot drop the filibuster right now, not only for the Women’s Health Protection Act, but also for voting rights, for all issues. that they are taking away our fundamental, constitutional rights. And as for abortion, this is the first right that has been taken away from someone. That’s why we have to try to make it a federal law.”
Democratic lawmakers from California, where Lee has represented District 13 in the US House of Representatives since 1998, Announced who intend to “build a firewall” around reproductive rights, proposing a measure to enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in the state constitution, expanding access to reproductive health care, and offering abortions to women. women traveling to California from other states.
“California is a very progressive state and we believe in the right to privacy,” Lee said. “So now the right to abortion, the governor supports it. I think it will become a constitutional amendment. He will have to go on the ballot, but California is a pro-reproductive freedom state and people support [right] to make decisions about your health care. And I think we will.”
For now, abortions remain legal and clinics remain open, Lee said.
“What do you think? What do you feel? Ultimately, it’s their choice,” he said. “It’s your decision. And that is freedom. It’s about freedom, and that’s what democracy is supposed to be about.”
Lee added that ever since she opened up about her own experience as a young woman, she has received an outpouring of support.
“I find more men and women sharing stories with me that you wouldn’t believe,” she said. “Colleagues I have known for 30 years, friends I have known forever, have shared their stories, but never publicly. So I think it’s important for those who feel comfortable to do that, because they’re going to find out that they’re not alone, and well, that’s what I found out.”
Cover Thumbnail Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Reference-ca.news.yahoo.com