Right to Our Bodies, Right to Live: The Fight for Reproductive Freedom
Carol Chaya Barash, PhD
Building community through storytelling. Healing trauma, dissolving conflict, creating spaces where all people are safe, liberated, and free. Author ?? Speaker ?? Teacher ?? Coach
This week's newsletter confronts the devastating consequences of abortion bans as the severity of these restrictions becomes painfully clear. In this week’s newsletter, I reflect on my own experiences from when I was younger and the tragic death of Amber Nicole Thurman, who was denied critical care and a routine procedure due to the abortion bans in Georgia. Her death highlights the life-threatening reality many now face in states with bans.
Reproductive rights is not just a political issue—it's personal – and a matter of life and death.?
Please share this piece with anyone you know who may be struggling in these times we are witnessing today.?
? A story I told
After watching the presidential debate last week, I kept thinking about the number of people who do not have access to safe abortions. It was right around this time of year when I got pregnant. There were maybe one or two times we didn’t use condoms. I was so numb and depressed I really wasn’t thinking like a rational person. And, well, we were sixteen…
I originally published this story in July 2021, before the Supreme Court, in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), made it possible for states to curtail women’s reproductive freedom, including the right to safe abortions, this article was lightly edited in September 2024.
You can view the full article and the places this story took me here: “My 16-Year-Old Body in Texas Today”. ??
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? A story that inspired me
I have been devastated at the loss of Amber Nicole Thurman whose death was a direct result of Georgia's abortion ban. Georgia has one of the nation’s highest rates of maternal mortality and Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. Thurman’s death was 100% preventable and directly connected to the abortion ban that puts many women at risk. At least two women in Georgia died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state. This is more of ?Amber Nicole Thurman’s experience and the original article in ProPublica that published her story.??
Amidst the weight of the ongoing abortion bans, it’s been difficult to hold on to hope. I have at times found some hope in random pockets. I have been moved by the number of people and clinics that have moved states to be able to serve people who need abortions. NPR recently reported that since the ruling, 14 states have enacted bans with few exceptions, while other states have limited access. But states that do not have an abortion ban in place have seen an 11% increase in clinician-provided abortions since 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a national nonprofit that supports abortion rights. Over 170,000 people traveled out of their own state to receive abortion care in 2023, according to the institute. While not everyone has the financial means or access to travel out of state - knowing that many doctors and clinics have relocated to support has helped.
Other pockets of hope have come from Vice President Kamala Harris boldly blaming Trump for? preventable deaths. Just this week, Harris said, “We must pass a law to restore reproductive freedom. When I am President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law. Lives depend on it.”?
This feels like a promise from someone who truly understands the lives at stake. Her dedication gives me hope that we can soon overturn these racist, classist, and sexist bans. History tells us that limiting access to abortion does not lessen the number of abortions; it just makes them more expensive and less safe. Many of our bodies are at the heart of this debate.
? A storytelling tip
?? Whether you want to use storytelling to improve your writing or to go back to personal times that were challenging and rethink the stories you tell for healing, the best thing you can do is get a journal and write every day. Here’s an organizer you can use to keep track of your stories as you reflect on your own journey.
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