• Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • Paint The Polls Black
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · News

OP-ED: With The Future Of Roe On The Line, So Are Black Women’s Lives

With Roe v. Wade in the crosshairs of a conservative-leaning Supreme Court, Illinois’ Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, explain how Black women and girls are particularly in danger.
OP-ED: With The Future Of Roe On The Line, So Are Black Women’s Lives
By Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton · Updated April 8, 2022

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that safe and legal abortion was a federally protected right in the 1973 landmark case, Roe v. Wade, the backlash to dismantle this new constitutional freedom immediately ensued. Nearly fifty years later, not a day has passed since the Court’s ruling where anti-choice, far-right extremists haven’t tried to take us backwards.

As the Court readies their decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health this coming June, it will be on the heels of an unprecedented nationwide assault against bodily autonomy and women’s reproductive health. States like Texas, Florida, Missouri, Mississippi, Idaho, and Oklahoma are in the process of, or have already imposed, sweeping restrictions on women’s access to abortion — in many cases banning care before a woman even knows she is pregnant and without any exceptions for rape or incest.

Much of this legislation was thread through the fine needle of a bounty bill, which criminalizes any person who assists a woman in receiving an abortion and incentivizes citizens to act as vigilantes against those seeking reproductive care. The coincidence is not lost on anyone who knows the sordid history of government-sanctioned bounty hunting.

These actions from Republican-led legislatures across the country have struck fear in the hearts of millions of women and girls and forces us to envision a future without federal protections for abortion.

For women, a post-Roe America means losing access to vital health care.

For Black women especially, this threat could be fatal.

According to a recent study, in the event of a total ban on abortion, Black women will experience the greatest increase in preventable pregnancy-related deaths in the years to follow: over 30 percent. And if Roe is overturned, 26 states will either have pre-Roe abortion bans take immediate effect, or they will swiftly pass legislation banning the practice entirely.

Although Black women make-up one-fourth of all induced abortions in the U.S., the detrimental effect of Roe’s loss will hit us harder, leaving our most vulnerable, youngest, and least financially stable to choose between unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortion methods, or expensive travel across state lines.

If we combine the loss of safe and legal abortion access with the existing disproportionate health outcomes Black women face, emotional, physical, and economic disaster will surely follow.

As the lieutenant governor of Illinois, I am proud to have worked with Governor JB Pritzker to lead our state’s efforts to protect and expand access to critical reproductive health care. In 2019, my partner-in-governance signed the Reproductive Health Act, which enshrined reproductive rights into state law, protecting the freedom to choose from the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

This law repealed outdated laws that criminalized abortion and requires private health insurance plans to cover abortion alongside other pregnancy-related services to lower financial barriers to care. It also serves as our last line of defense against the ongoing Republican agenda to control women’s health care decisions.

In Illinois, we refuse to allow any person, organization, or cruel legislative attempt take our power away from us, and we’ve continuously demonstrated our commitment to women and girls. In my role as Chair of the Illinois Council on Women and Girls, I’ve fought for increased protections to ensure equal pay for equal work and prevent gender-based violence in our state.

We’ve made Illinois a safer and more compassionate place for survivors of assault and violence while bolstering our ability to hold those responsible for these heinous acts accountable and have implemented safeguards for employees who experience sexual harassment or workplace discrimination.

As we enter this new and uncertain future, it’s incumbent on leaders across the country to consider the women who will lose so much if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

This fight ahead is not new to any of us. Illinois women have a history of building communal power in restrictive conditions, and we will continue to do so moving forward. 

While I cannot promise that the reality we find ourselves in won’t cause further heartbreak, loss and suffering for the most vulnerable among us — I can promise that together, through our collective strength and courage, we will persevere and overcome. 

TOPICS:  abortion ban anti-choice reproductive rights roe v wade
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now