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🔥June’s Hot Topic🔥:
Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
The U.S. Supreme Court has done exactly what we expected: overturned the landmark case of Roe v Wade, which had solidified abortion as a constitutional right since 1973. Nearly 50 years later, the Supreme Court has now erased those constitutional protections for abortion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022).
Anti-abortion lawmakers have already begun enacting “trigger laws” and pre-Roe abortion bans. As of June 29th, abortion is completely banned, or will soon be banned, in 16 states; in seven others, abortion access is severely threatened. Some states like Louisiana, Utah, and Texas have had abortion bans blocked temporarily – so abortion services have resumed in those states for now! You can (and should!) read Health Not Prison’s statement.
No matter what the Supreme Court says, abortion is health care and a human right! For folks who need an abortion, please visit iNeedanA.com. This site will let you know the status of abortion legality in your state and where you can access an abortion provider nearest to you. Medication abortion is still an accessible option for folks as well.
We are seeing many states taking measures to ensure that abortions rights are protected. California, Oregon and Washington have pledged to protect abortion access post-Roe, calling their states “a safe haven for all people seeking abortions and other reproductive health care services.” Similarly, New York and New Jersey are preparing to become abortion safe havens. Local abortion funds help provide support (financial and otherwise) to folks who need abortion access. They are, and will continue to be, a lifeline for people who live in states that restrict abortion access and perhaps need to travel out-of-state for care. Visit the National Network of Abortion Funds to find out more. Donate if you can!
The Court won’t stop with decimating abortion access. Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurrence made clear that the Supreme Court has a duty to “reconsider all of th[e] Court’s substantive due process precedents.” This means that the Court could dismantle other fundamental rights, such as the right to birth control and to sexual activity and marriage for same-sex couples, next.
In the dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Justice Elena Kagan disagree with the majority and stated that “whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of [the] decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens.”
We will not stop fighting until we are all free! At PWN we understand the importance of uplifting and fighting for Reproductive Justice and we expect and encourage the rest of the HIV movement to do the same. Quoting co-executive Director, Naina Khanna’s piece published by Poz Magazine titled Roe Fell: Now What?, “we are in this for the long game and we are not confused about the connections between attacks on Black, Latinx, Asian and Arab people; repro rights; trans and queer liberation; immigrant rights, safety and dignity; and policing and surveillance of our communities. We are clear that white Supremacy and patriarchy will stop at nothing to ensure their own survival….Ride with us if you want to survive.”
Other Updates
The “hot topic” (above) is a deeper dive into one of the most pressing policy-related issues each month for people living with HIV and our communities. But a lot happens each month! Below we list some other important updates relevant to PWN-USA’s intersectional policy agenda.
Access to Healthcare
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was wrong to cut billions of dollars from the federal 340B Medicare Drug Pricing Program, which helps fund hospitals and clinics that serve uninsured and underinsured folks.
The U.S. could have saved 338,000 lives from COVID-19 by enacting Medicare For All. The U.S. has a fragmented, inadequate and financially burdensome healthcare system. Because of this, uninsured and underinsured folks faced barriers to care that delayed COVID-19 diagnoses and exacerbated transmission.
House Bill 4430 passed in Illinois which allows pharmacists to dispense pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) without a doctor’s order or prescription.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched the “I am a Work of ART” campaign geared toward encouraging people living with HIV to seek care, stay in care, and achieve viral suppression. Here’s more information about the campaign! While biomedical tools such as antiretroviral therapy (ART), PrEP and PEP are important, the U.S. People Living with HIV Caucus continues to encourage the federal HIV responses to value and create concrete metrics for emotional, mental, psychological, spiritual, and physical wellness – irrespective of viral suppression.
Ending Violence
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down New York’s concealed carry permitting law this month. In doing so, the Court broadly interpreted the scope of the Second Amendment and made it more difficult for states to regulate who can carry guns in public. This was a blow to gun control advocates, especially in the context of increasing mass shootings in the U.S.. Others note, however, that the law the Supreme Court struck down was invariably used to criminalize Black and brown people and fuel mass incarceration.
Ending Criminalization
- The Massachusetts Senate and House came together to override a veto by Governor Charlie Baker and now Massachusetts is authorizing driver’s licenses for undocumented folks starting July 1, 2023!
- The U.S. Secretary of Defense issued a memo updating the Department of Defense’s policies on armed service members living with HIV. Service members with an undetectable viral load will now be able to deploy, commissioned as an officer, and cannot be discharged because of their HIV status.
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people cannot sue a police officer for failing to inform them of their Miranda rights, such as the right to stay silent or to an attorney. This decision grossly undermines police accountability for Miranda violations and disrupts a person’s right against self-incrimination.
- The U.S. Supreme Court issued two rulings that make it harder for undocumented folks in the carceral system to challenge their detention by declaring that 1) those who have been held for more than six months in immigration custody are not entitled to bond hearings and 2) undocumented folks are prohibited from coming together to file class-action lawsuits demanding bond hearings.
LGBTQ Rights, Safety, and Justice
The Biden Administration proposed a rule for Title IX that would protect trans students from sex- and gender-based discrimination by tightening the definition of sexual assault and harassment, requiring schools to conduct live disciplinary hearings, and other efforts to solidify protections for transgender students.
Louisiana becomes the 18th state to enact a transgender athlete ban barring trans girls and women from female school sports teams. Ohio has also pursued similar legislation requiring forced inspection of student’s “internal and external reproductive anatomy.” Read this comprehensive brief from Interrupting Criminalization to learn more about privacy and surveillance issues that arise when policing trans children.
Texas legislators have adopted a new forty-page platform that considers homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice” and “opposes all efforts to validate transgender identity.”
Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) announced that it plans to end Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care, like hormone treatment and puberty blocking medication, for patients of all ages.
Professional sports world governing bodies for swimming and rugby have voted to restrict transgender women from competing in women’s matches. FINA, swimming’s governing body, states that they will seek to create an “open” category for some swimming events.
