Pinthouse Pizza
Don't Worry, We Got This
RECEIVED Wed., Aug. 26, 2015
Dear Editor,
I’ve been watching with increasing anger as the videos in the smear campaign against Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health care providers have been released, including one that included heavily edited and manipulated footage from inside a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic. Now that they’ve gone after Texas providers, this is personal.
We Texans are already living with the aftershocks of some of the most regressive reproductive health policies in the nation, and as a reproductive justice advocate here, I can tell you that doing this work is a beast of its own. I don’t just look at whether we have access to contraception or abortion, but whether people of color can choose to become parents without fear for our children’s lives. Will they be racially profiled or even killed by police? Will bearing children threaten our own lives, given the increased maternal mortality rates in the United States? But as with other issues that predominantly affect communities of color, these are often left out of the conversation. Some days, it’s daunting. But most days, it just makes me fight even harder.
I’m a millennial Latina from the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, and when I see attacks on the health and well-being of my community, I take them very seriously. I’m proud to stand with Latinas and young people across the country already leading the way for change in supporting the EACH Woman Act – bold legislation that would lift the bans that deny abortion coverage to low-income women.
The stories of young and Latina women in Texas are not a reason to feel sorry for us. We are strong, and the Valley has been organizing for a very long time. We’ve got this.
I’ve been watching with increasing anger as the videos in the smear campaign against Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health care providers have been released, including one that included heavily edited and manipulated footage from inside a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic. Now that they’ve gone after Texas providers, this is personal.
We Texans are already living with the aftershocks of some of the most regressive reproductive health policies in the nation, and as a reproductive justice advocate here, I can tell you that doing this work is a beast of its own. I don’t just look at whether we have access to contraception or abortion, but whether people of color can choose to become parents without fear for our children’s lives. Will they be racially profiled or even killed by police? Will bearing children threaten our own lives, given the increased maternal mortality rates in the United States? But as with other issues that predominantly affect communities of color, these are often left out of the conversation. Some days, it’s daunting. But most days, it just makes me fight even harder.
I’m a millennial Latina from the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, and when I see attacks on the health and well-being of my community, I take them very seriously. I’m proud to stand with Latinas and young people across the country already leading the way for change in supporting the EACH Woman Act – bold legislation that would lift the bans that deny abortion coverage to low-income women.
The stories of young and Latina women in Texas are not a reason to feel sorry for us. We are strong, and the Valley has been organizing for a very long time. We’ve got this.
Nancy Cardenas