Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this piece are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the position of Positive Women’s Network – USA.

by Tana Pradia

August 14, 2019

As a young Black woman growing up I remember the men in my family saying a woman’s place was in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant. For generations men made the decisions for what women could and could not do in my family. I was always told I would have a house full of children. I had my first child at 16 years old and my third at 21. I had my tubes tied after my third child. I had to give up my dreams of going to college. My father wouldn’t allow me to finish my higher education due to me having a baby at 16. It was a hurtful feeling having to give up a scholarship to college in fashion. 

It wasn’t easy as a young mother, but I fought really hard to give my children a life that I didn’t have growing up. I didn’t have a mother in my life, so it was important for me to give my children a mother figure. As a young black mother I went through a lot trauma from mental illness and working several jobs to feed them. My husband wasn’t a lot of help. I had a good paying job, but it seemed there was something missing. I was always unhappy. I realized from all the abuse and disappointments that I was afraid to stand up for myself. I felt I couldn’t say how I truly felt about things going on in my life. Today, I voice what I don’t agree with when it comes to women of color. When it comes to a woman’s body she has the right to make choices that are healthy for her. It’s important for us as women to fight for the right to make decisions about what’s best for our own bodies and our own lives.

As a Black woman, I have a right to decide whether or not I want to have children or not. If the domestic gag rule goes into effect, there would be over 4 million Americans that would lose health care in this country. When we look at intersectionality for me I’m a: 

  • Black woman,
  • Survivor of family and intimate partner violence,
  • person with mental illness,
  • person in recovery from addiction, and
  • a sex worker.

Being a black woman, I lacked the resources for health services and the knowledge of what services were available. When this ruling goes into effect, it will take away women’s rights to safe, legal abortions, counseling, birth control and the right to choose. This rule is damaging to women, women of trans experience, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, gender non-conforming community, and low income communities of color.

For me as a black woman, this ruling will take away my right to decide what is best for my life as a woman. This is just another form of violence dictating what a woman does with her body. This ruling is so inhumane to me as a black woman living in 2019. What will be next from this Administration to take from me as a black woman trying to make a better life for herself?