Week 3: July 13, 2020
On July 8, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled against access to contraception in a case argued by our state against the Trump administration (Trump v. Pennsylvania). Under Obama’s administration, some employers who did not want to cover contraception access in their healthcare plans were given an opt-out option, in which the government would help cover the fees. However, this new decision has made it so some nonprofits and for-profit organizations no longer have to tell the government that they are not providing coverage, meaning that the government will not step in to help pay anymore.
Not only will this decision disproportionately impact poor people and POC, but will work alongside with increasingly restrictive abortion access in denying people with uterus the control over when and how they choose to conceive.
Also, we want to acknowledge the fact that reproductive rights do not just affect people who identify as women, but rather people with a vagina. This is not addressed in these articles which is problematic, however, we still thought there was value in reading them as long as there was recognition of the cis-centered perspective.
Here are two articles we found that explain the case - take 5 minutes to educate yourself.
NPR article - brief, general overview
Inquirer article - slightly longer, but with a more in depth explanation of the impacts of the decision and the local politics involved
Query:
-How do factors such as religion, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc affect a person’s reproductive rights. Which of these factors are not commonly discussed when considering reproductive rights?
-How do these factors relate to how you experience reproductive rights issues?