This Is What Happens When Abortions Are Deemed ‘Unessential’
Blocking access to reproductive health sacrifices the vulnerable to the “greater good” of the wealthy, white, and male.
The notion that an unwanted pregnancy isn’t an “essential” issue or problem has terrifying and tangible repercussions, yet here we are. The rhetoric around much of this pandemic has been a bastardized binary running a ragged line down the middle of our lives in which we’re asked to decide what is necessary and what is sacrificable for the “greater good.”
And as per usual, women — especially poor women in conservative states — are bearing the brunt of this societal fallout; access to healthcare, doctors, contraception, and any means of abortion, medical or surgical, has fallen squarely on the chopping block.
Of course, we all know it’s not only folks who identify as women who get pregnant, but also nonbinary and trans people as well; an estimated 1–1.4 million adults the U.S. identify as transgender, and this figure is believed to be an understatement. These communities are not only more likely than the general U.S. population to be uninsured and face discrimination in health care settings but suffer at the ignorance of clinician knowledge or open refusal to provide care.
