Message from National NOW President Christian F. Nunes
February 2, 2024
Greetings Feminists,
Last month we focused on the outlook for reproductive rights in 2024, considering where we are in the post-Dobbs, post-Roe era. I’m convinced that while the immediate future remains challenging, with states rushing to pass new abortion bans and more national politicians targeting women’s bodily autonomy, the tide is turning. You’ll be hearing more from me as we focus on how the next election will be our time to Vote for Women’s Lives.
But as we begin Black History Month, it’s important to remember that reproductive freedom is a racial justice issue. The anti-abortion care policies being advocated in Washington and voted on in the states have a direct connection to increases in infant mortality rates and maternal mortality rates, with Black women impacted worst of all.
In fact, Black women in the U.S. are three to four times more likely than White women to die from pregnancy-related causes, and Black women suffer from pregnancy complications known as “maternal morbidities” twice as often. A study of more than 2 million births by the New York Times found that regardless of wealth or socioeconomic status, Black mothers and babies “have the worst childbirth outcomes in the United States.”
From reproductive health to systemic racism, discrimination, daily racial micro aggressions, and the prejudiced response to people of color, we must dismantle the system of oppression that is a threat to women’s future and a danger to women’s lives. Ending racism is one of NOW’s six core issues, and we are working to build a genuinely intersectional future where our policy leaders are working to address the gender and racial inequities that have been ignored too long.
In solidarity,
Christian
