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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 2 Februari 2022

Minority women most affected if abortion is banned, limited

having moved home to es- Gipson, a Baptist minister were about twice as likely as
cape an abusive relationship. who is white, said he believes white infants to die during
Misled by advertising, she all people are created in the the first year of life in Missis-
first went to a crisis pregnan- image of God and have an sippi, according to the March
cy center which tried to talk “innate value” that starts at of Dimes.
her out of an abortion. By the conception. Mississippi leg-
time she found the abortion islators were trying to protect Across the country, U.S.
clinic, she was too far along women and babies by putting Census Bureau information
to have the procedure. limits on abortion, he said. analyzed by The Associated
Press shows fewer Black and
Torres said historically, an- To those who say that forcing Hispanic women have health
ti-abortion laws have been women to have babies will insurance, especially in states
crafted in ways that hurt low- subject them to hardships, with tight abortion restric-
income women. She pointed Mississippi Attorney Gen- tions. For example, in Texas,
to the Hyde Amendment, a eral Lynn Fitch, a white Re- Mississippi and Georgia, at
1980 law that prevents the publican, said it is “easier for least 16% of Black women
use of federal funds to pay for working mothers to balance and 36% of Latinas were
(AP) — If you are Black or Fund, which provides finan- abortions except in rare cases. professional success and fam- uninsured in 2019, some of
Hispanic in a conservative cial support for women seek- ily life” than it was 49 years the highest such rates in the
state that already limits ing abortion, said women of She also cited the 2021 Texas ago when Roe was decided. country.
access to abortions, you color in states with restric- law that bans abortion after
are far more likely than a tive abortion laws often have around six weeks of pregnan- Fitch, who is divorced, often Problems are compounded
white woman to have one. limited access to health care cy. Where she lives, near the points to her own experience in states without effective ed-
and a lack of choices for ef- U.S.-Mexico border in the of working outside the home ucation programs about re-
And if the U.S. Supreme fective birth control. Schools Rio Grande Valley, women while raising three children. production. Mississippi law
Court allows states to further often have ineffective or in- are forced to travel to ob- But Fitch grew up in an afflu- says sex education in public
restrict or even ban abor- adequate sex education. tain abortions and must pass ent family and has worked in schools must emphasize ab-
tions, minority women will in-state border patrol check- the legal profession — both stinence to avoid pregnancy
bear the brunt of it, according If abortions are outlawed, points where they have to factors that can give working and sexually transmitted dis-
to statistics analyzed by The those same women — of- disclose their citizenship sta- women the means and the eases. Discussion of abortion
Associated Press. ten poor — will likely have tus, she said. flexibility to get help raising is forbidden, and instructors
the hardest time traveling to children. may not demonstrate how to
The numbers are unambigu- distant parts of the country Regardless of what legisla- use condoms or other contra-
ous. In Mississippi, people to terminate pregnancies or tors say, Torres insisted, the That’s not the case for many ception.
of color comprise 44% of raising children they might intent is to target women of minority women in Missis-
the population but 80% of struggle to afford, said Rob- color, to control their bodies: sippi or elsewhere. Advocates Outside the only abortion
women receiving abortions, erts, who is Black and once “They know who these re- say in many places where clinic operating in Missis-
according to the Kaiser Fam- volunteered at Mississippi’s strictions are going to affect. abortion services are being sippi, protesters hand out
ily Foundation, which tracks only abortion clinic. They know that, but they curtailed, there’s little sup- brochures that refer to abor-
health statistics. don’t care.” port for women who carry a tion as Black “genocide” and
Amanda Furdge, who is baby to term. say the late Margaret Sanger,
In Texas, they’re 59% of Black, was one of those But Andy Gipson, a former founder of Planned Parent-
the population and 74% of women. She was a single, member of the Mississippi Mississippi is one of the hood and a proponent of eu-
those receiving abortions. unemployed college student Legislature who is now the poorest states, and people in genics, “desired to eradicate
The numbers in Alabama are already raising one baby in state’s agriculture and com- low-wage jobs often don’t minorities.” The brochures
35% and 70%. In Louisiana, 2014 when she found out she merce commissioner, said receive health insurance. compare Sanger to Adolf
minorities represent 42% of was pregnant with another. race had nothing to do with Women can enroll in Med- Hitler and proclaim: “Black
the population, according to She said she didn’t know passage of Mississippi’s law icaid during pregnancy, but lives did not matter to Mar-
the state Health Department, how she could afford another against abortion after the that coverage disappears soon garet Sanger!”
and about 72% of those re- child. 15th week. That law is now after they give birth.
ceiving abortions. before the Supreme Court in The Mississippi clinic is not
She’d had two abortions in a direct challenge to Roe v. Mississippi has the highest affiliated with Planned Par-
Why the great disparities? Chicago. Getting access to an Wade, the court’s 1973 rul- infant mortality rate in the enthood, and Planned Par-
Laurie Bertram Roberts, ex- abortion provider there was ing that legalized abortion U.S., according to the Cen- enthood itself denounces
ecutive director of the Ala- no problem, Furdge said. But nationwide. ters for Disease Control and Sanger’s belief in eugenics.
bama-based Yellowhammer now she was in Mississippi, Prevention. Black infants

NAACP urges federal charges in Laquan McDonald’s killing

(AP) — The NAACP, the and nine months. Van Dyke his handling of the case, de- in prison, a series of breaks
nation’s oldest civil rights was convicted of murder in cided not to run for reelec- But unlike Chauvin, who for Van Dyke resulted in a
organization, on Tuesday October 2018 in the killing tion. was sentenced to 22 1/2 years much shorter sentence.
urged Attorney General of McDonald.
Merrick Garland to bring It was also a landmark case
federal civil rights charges The 2014 shooting prompted that illustrated the power
against the white Chica- massive protests in Chicago of video. Before video of
go police officer who fa- after a judge forced the city to white Minneapolis police
tally shot Black teenager release video that showed Van Officer Derek Chauvin kill-
Laquan McDonald. Dyke shooting McDonald ing George Floyd in 2020
16 times. Many of the shots by kneeling on the Black
A letter to Garland, sent by came when the 17-year-old man’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes
NAACP President Derrick was already on the ground. sparked massive protests and
Johnson, comes days before The police superintendent helped convict the fired offi-
former Officer Jason Van was subsequently fired, the cer of murder, Van Dyke be-
Dyke is scheduled to be re- county’s top prosecutor was came the first Chicago police
leased from prison Thursday voted out of office and Chi- officer convicted of murder
after serving less than half his cago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, for an on-duty shooting in a
state prison term of six years who was widely criticized for half century.