Lessons on Freedom After Roe • NC Newsline

When Roe v. Wade When I was knocked over, my teenage daughter came out of her room crying and begging me to do it Stop working for a minute And Just listen. She said she knew that if she ever needed an abortion, I would make sure she had access to it. “But what about my friends?” she asked. She was shocked and angry about the Supreme Court's decision and said she felt the country was going backwards.

The same thoughts ran through my mind just 30 years ago. When I was a teenager in the Pacific Northwest, my unplanned pregnancy occurred while I was struggling with my own personal and family issues. As a 19-year-old full-time student and new U.S. citizen, I was fortunate enough to recognize and leave an abusive relationship. I was also fortunate to live in Washington – a state with very few restrictions on access to abortion care.

My friend Gabby supported me through every step of my abortion: from decision-making to scheduling an appointment to aftercare. The clinic offices never shamed me. Although I was nervous, I trusted the medical staff caring for me and wasn't worried about a 72-hour wait or unnecessarily invasive ultrasounds. The office was professional and compassionate – unlike many “anti-abortion centers” that now operate without pictures of babies and families to inflict unnecessary guilt on an already difficult day.

As a queer, Latin American mother, I cannot stand idly by while my daughter's generation has less freedom than me and when they are forced into the future, they do not decide for themselves. To be clear: the criminalization of contraception, the restriction of sex education, the weaponization of access to life-saving health care, and ongoing coercion and sterilization are these not the civic or public health traditions that I want to pass on to them.

What I am passing on to my daughter is the history and importance of the Green Wave movement – ​​the global Latin American reproductive rights movement that enabled access to abortion in Mexico, Argentina and Colombia. The Green Wave reiterates that Latinos have been performing abortions for centuries. We shared medicines and teas and passed on our rituals and approaches outside of Western medicine. Our heritage breaks the taboo and disrupts the shame that silences us as women, as queers, as pregnant immigrants. There are many of us.

My daughter, now a student, is my moral compass. My goal is to create a better world for her and the generations after her. And as the election approaches, I want to say to her, and perhaps to all of us: Don’t lose hope – do more than just vote.

Across the country, a growing number of states — including Iowa, Florida, Arizona, Texas, South Carolina and Georgia — are imposing strict restrictions on early abortions that are profoundly affecting women, particularly in the Latino community. The disciplinary measures against Dr. Caitlin Bernard of Indiana in 2023 also illustrates how federal sanctions have serious impacts on patients and providers across state lines. In North Carolina, SB20 limits abortion care to up to 12 weeks, while other strict but vague laws create confusion about medical care for pregnant people, endanger mothers, force them to give birth in unsafe places and suffer miscarriages in public restrooms. Combined with immigration-focused bills like HB10, these appear to represent an attack on the lives of Latino populations.

Since autumn roeAbortion access has had the greatest impact on Latino communities in the United States through the intersection of state legislation, geographic density, and age. Criminalization, punishment, and stigmatization will only continue to endanger our lives, limit our economic opportunities, and endanger our self-determination. Even after the harm caused by denied care, we are denied justice – as in Texas vs. Zurawski. Generations of Latino voters are being activated by the racism and sexism perpetuated by state laws, and we demand a new beginning for our entire country.

We must stand together on the path to access to quality, medically necessary care. We must rise up to become part of a transnational, multilingual, racial and cultural movement that combats machista culture and the dangers of Western conservative patriarchy.

Stigma and criminalization should have no home in health clinics. The right to legal, safe and shame-free reproductive freedom and care is needed now! Our call to action is clear: no fear in healthcare. May our voices at the ballot box, on social media and at our kitchen tables be the Green Wave we need and deserve.

La Marea Verde no paragraph. The Green Wave doesn't stop.