Op-Ed: Abortion Bans Are Killing Us—Our Community Must Fight Back Against These Attacks On Our Bodies  – Essence

Last month, ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, reported on the tragic deaths of two Black women resulting from Georgia’s six-week abortion ban. While the circumstances surrounding their deaths differ slightly, two truths remain: the deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller were entirely preventable, and both women should still be with us today. 

When Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp signed the six-week abortion ban into law in 2019, I knew Black women would suffer the most and that the ban would eventually kill us. The law–one of the most restrictive in the country–bans abortion at approximately six weeks of pregnancy and threatens clinicians with criminal penalties for providing medically appropriate care for someone amid a miscarriage. It forces Georgians to travel out of state for essential care at great expense or to have to continue pregnancies against their will, facing medical risks and life-altering consequences. My organization, SisterSong, a Georgia-based national reproductive justice organization, fought tirelessly to prevent this ban from taking effect, serving as the lead plaintiff challenging HB 481. Still, ultimately the courts ruled against our freedom.

Make no mistake, while the ban is hurting Georgians today, it is also part of a well-coordinated, nationwide white supremacist agenda meant to restrict our ability to manage our health care and protect our bodily autonomy. The overturning of Roe v. Wade gave anti-abortion lawmakers the green light to insert themselves into deeply personal healthcare decisions and dismantle all aspects of pregnancy-related healthcare. Since then, we have witnessed a crusade to control our bodies, with nearly half of the states now banning or severely limiting access to abortion. When elected leaders choose control over freedom, effectively putting our safety, lives and futures aside, they create an environment where life-saving abortion care is not only difficult to access but criminalized. 

For generations, Black folks have been forced to navigate a healthcare system steeped in structural racism, and these recent attacks on abortion care have only added fuel to our maternal health crisis. Black women face a maternal mortality rate three times higher than white women, and Black mothers and babies are more likely than any other demographic in America to die during childbirth. Black women are also more likely to live in “contraception deserts,” use Medicaid, which does not cover abortions, and live in states with abortion bans. We deserve the right to choose whether or when to parent on a timeline that aligns with our lives. These bans strip us of the autonomy to make decisions that are best for ourselves and our families.

Whether Black women are afraid to seek care or providers are fearful of treating patients due to criminalization, everyone suffers. Amber and Candi deserved better. Georgians deserve better. Our people deserve better. 

For thirty years, Reproductive Justice activists have pushed for a world where everyone has the right to safely have children or not and raise the children we do have in sustainable, safe communities. We have been on the front lines, pushing back against anti-abortion legislation and centering the leadership and lived experiences of our people. Now more than ever, we need the Black community to show up in this moment with us. 

On September 28th, which was International Safe Abortion Day, Reproductive Justice leaders, including SisterSong and our national Trust Black Women campaign, rallied at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta to demand accountability for the preventable deaths of Amber and Candi. We asked those in power to Trust Black Women in 2019 when we started fighting HB 481, but now we are demanding it.

I have dedicated my life to organizing for liberation. I have taken to the street to protest state-sanctioned violence that has robbed my brothers and sisters of their futures. I have led Queer liberation work and fought back against the prison-industrial complex. I witnessed the more than 40,000 Black women who showed up to support Vice President Harris’ presidential bid. I am saying this because I can say without a doubt that I have witnessed the power of collective action. The fight for our freedom isn’t new to us. Now, we need to show up for Amber and Candi and the thousands of Black lives that are on the line each day these abortion bans are in place. What that means in Georgia is calling for the passage of the Reproductive Freedom Act, which would expand access to abortion care for all Georgians and repeal HB 481. What that means nationally is educating ourselves on the issues and showing up big to vote for candidates that will allow us to control our own reproductive futures. Our lives are literally on the line.

What lingers with me since learning of these heartbreaking deaths is the plea from Amber’s mother, Shanette, to Vice President Harris: ‘Don’t let my daughter die in vain.’ We cannot allow the lives of these beautiful Black women to be reduced to tragic losses. Their names deserve justice, their stories demand action and their stolen futures cannot be forgotten. Their legacy must be one of change, not inaction. 

Monica Raye Simpson is the executive director of SisterSong, the southern-based national Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. Monica is a proud Black queer feminist & cultural strategist who is committed to organizing for LGBTQ+ liberation, civil and human rights, and sexual and reproductive justice by any means necessary. She was also named a New Civil Rights Leader by Essence Magazine and one of TIME 100’s most influential people of 2023.