June 23rd 2023.
Justice + Joy National Collaborative, formerly National Crittenton, recently released the alarming findings of their study, In Our Words: The Impact of Overturning of Roe v. Wade on Girls, Young Women, and Gender-Expansive Young People of Color. The discussions with over one hundred youth aged fourteen to twenty-four from fourteen states with a range of reproductive rights revealed the damaging consequences of the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision.
To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the decision, a briefing will be held on Thursday, June 29th, 2023 at 11:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. PT.
Jeannette Pai-Espinosa, President of Justice + Joy, spoke on the significance of the findings. She said, “This is a fight for the health, safety, and autonomy of real people, and no one understands that better than young adults and people of color. They are the future of this country. They are a generation of young people prepared to usher in a wave of leaders committed to depoliticizing their bodies and protecting their rights.”
The report revealed that the Dobbs decision had a far-reaching impact. It not only restricted access to abortion services, but also other reproductive healthcare services such as STI testing, birth control, and routine exams. One young woman from Mississippi spoke of her experience, saying, “I’m from Jackson, Mississippi, and the Jackson Women’s Health Organization was the place I would go to receive STI testing. Last month, I tried visiting for my STI test, and the building is now closed. Now I don’t have any option.”
The Dobbs decision also worsened socio-economic disparities and maternal and child health outcomes. A young woman from Minnesota, a pro-choice state, spoke of the difficulty accessing reproductive care on reservations, saying, “I’m Native American. I live around a lot of reservations, and it’s really hard to access, you know, reproductive care up here or even abortion access. Even being in Minnesota, where it is a pro-choice state, it’s still really hard to get abortions when you live on reservations.”
Furthermore, the decision caused young people of color to feel anxious, unsafe, and fear prosecution. One young woman from DC/MD/VA said, “A girl I know told her best friend that she was getting an abortion. Her best friend’s mom found out, and she called the authorities since they lived in a state where abortion is banned. The police called to say they received information and they have to investigate if she received an abortion and she could now be charged. Ever since this, I have felt unsafe to disclose information because I don’t know if it could be used against me.”
The findings further revealed that many young people are making life decisions based on the status of state reproductive rights, which impacts cultural institutions and local economies. One young woman from California shared her experience, saying, “I also plan on going to an HBCU after graduating this year. But with everything going on in the south, I have this sort of anxiety to do anything that involves leaving California.”
Youth also fear losing other civil and human rights, especially access to contraception, marriage equality, interracial marriage, and gender-affirming care. An Idahoan shared her fear, saying, “I feel like the thing that has impacted me the most is not being comfortable to like, live my life, and do things I used to do. Like going to get birth control is scary now. I just fear, like, ‘oh, I’m getting birth control; is this going to be next?’”
The lack of bodily autonomy is causing anxiety and affecting mental health. A young woman from Virginia spoke of her experience, saying, “The decision affected my mental health. I had issues recently that I couldn’t speak out. I couldn’t tell nobody I wanted to have an abortion. I was stuck in shame and fear. I felt no one would understand me. I almost took my life.”
Additionally, youth want holistic sex education and access to reliable information and sources. A young woman from Alabama spoke of her experience, saying, “I haven’t heard anything about improving sexual education in schools or improving access to reproductive care for people. If it’s preventing people from having undesired pregnancies, for example, then they would improve access to reproductive care, and so people would really have sexual health and preventative education. But it seems like it was just a decision they made without thinking of the consequences.”
In light of the findings, young people of color are turning their anger into political activism. A DC/MD/VA native said, “I’ve learned that we can’t just expect the people in power to have our backs and support us. So I think we need to take the steps to use our power to elect our leaders and hold them accountable to bring change.”
Pai-Espinosa concluded, “Opponents of reproductive rights may see Dobbs as a watershed moment, but so do we. We stand with a growing movement of young people whose power is about to be felt by their elected leaders in a historic way.”
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