Recognizing the importance of intersectionality for abortion access.

Bill: 118-hres-555
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Watson Coleman, Bonnie [D-NJ-12]
Introduced: 2023-06-23
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Subjects: Abortion

Racial and ethnic relations

Sex and reproductive health

Women's health
Latest action: action_date: 2023-06-29
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-06-23
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This resolution recognizes that women of lower socioeconomic standing face the greatest risk when abortion is restricted and acknowledges that women of racial and ethnic minorities, particularly Black women, are at highest risk when abortion is restricted.</p>

tv_txt: IV 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 555 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 23, 2023 Mrs. Watson Coleman (for herself, Ms. Kelly of Illinois , and Ms. Clarke of New York ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce RESOLUTION Recognizing the importance of intersectionality for abortion access.

Whereas 1 in 4 women in the United States will have an abortion before the age of 45; Whereas approximately 22 million women and girls of reproductive age live in States where abortion is heavily restricted; Whereas over 1 in 3 women, plus more trans and nonbinary people, have lost access to abortion in their home States; Whereas the most common reason to end a pregnancy is due to potential interference with education, work, or the ability to care for dependents; Whereas nearly 50 percent of abortion patients have incomes below the poverty level; Whereas women living in poverty have a rate of unintended pregnancy that is five times higher than those with middle-class or upper-class incomes; Whereas unintended pregnancy remains the most common among poor women, women of color, and women without a high school education; Whereas Black women are twice as likely to have an unintended pregnancy than White women; Whereas Black women account for 38 percent of all abortions; Whereas Black women founded the Reproductive Justice movement in 1994 to address the lack of intersectionality and racial justice in the existing abortion rights movement; Whereas Black women are almost three times more likely than White women in the United States to die from childbirth; Whereas the risk of dying in childbirth is 14 times higher than the risk of dying from a safe abortion; Whereas the impacts of maternal mortality and increasing abortion restrictions are closely related to each other and both rooted in persistent structural racism and sexism; Whereas LGBTQI+ individuals experience major disparities in abortion and reproductive care; Whereas an estimated 16 percent of individuals having abortions do not identify as heterosexual women; Whereas several hundred transgender and nonbinary individuals obtain abortions annually at facilities that do not provide gender-affirming health care; Whereas abortion care and gender affirming care are both fundamental to the bodily autonomy of LGBTQI+ individuals; Whereas the banning and restriction of abortion around the country has created abortion-provider deserts, where some providers can only offer medication abortion rather than both medication and surgical abortions; Whereas medication abortion is the most common form of pregnancy termination and accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States and increased access to abortions; Whereas medication abortion is under threat by antiabortion advocates utilizing junk science; and Whereas decisions from the Supreme Court and Federal district courts are threatening to the availability of abortions: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) recognizes that women of lower socioeconomic standing face the greatest risk when abortion is restricted; (2) acknowledges that women of racial and ethnic minorities and particularly Black women are at highest risk when abortion is restricted; (3) acknowledges that surgical and medication abortions are safe and any developments in science that affect abortion care should be reviewed by scientific and medical experts; and (4) calls upon the Federal Government to protect the right to abortion across the country.