Abortion Access is a Class Issue. Where Do We Go from Here?

co-authored by Joshua Alba, Workers’ Rights Organizer and Caroline Ognibene, Office Administrator

What’s going on? 

With the predictable failure of Wednesday’s Senate vote on The Women’s Health Act, it now seems inevitable that the majority conservative Supreme Court is sure to overturn the abortion care precedents decided in the 1973 and 1992 landmark cases Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. As we process this news as a community, Mass. Jobs with Justice wants to help orient our activist network and encourage you all to take direct action.  

First things first, abortion care is still legal and accessible in Massachusetts, and that will not change any time soon. The number of advocates and supporters here are overwhelming. Check out this poll that says that “85 percent of voters agree that Massachusetts should be a leader in ensuring that a woman who has made a decision to get an abortion is able to get safe, supportive, respectful care in her community.” Even a 77% majority of Christian voters in the state say that Roe should stand.  

What are the stakes? 

The leaked draft may seem shocking, and its openly oppressive rhetoric certainly is, but the reality is that this comes as no surprise. The war to overturn Roe, led by Republicans and watched largely passively by Democrats, has been waged relentlessly across the country for decades. Even under Roe, the right to an abortion has never truly been fulfilled. Though enshrined as a concept, the actual access to reproductive health is already incredibly limited, particularly for low-income people, people of color, and LGBTQ+ communities. Structural impediments exist everywhere: high costs; unfeasible distances to travel; employer healthcare discrimination; mandatory and medically unnecessary waiting periods; restricted insurance coverage; mandatory biased counseling; parental consent; and many more state-level legislations. 

You may have seen it in a meme, but we’ll say it here: They can’t ban abortions. They can only ban safe abortions. The rich and powerful will always have access to abortion. It’s transparent. Restricting access has always been about propagating cycles of poverty and oppression. An American Public Health Association study found that forcing people to carry pregnancies to term after they have sought an abortion makes them four times as likely to live below the federal poverty line.  

At Mass JWJ, we fight for economic, racial, and immigrant justice because these issues are inextricably linked at every level. Although abortion rights will likely remain in place here in Massachusetts, abortion access may remain limited or even be curtailed for marginalized communities throughout the state. Gig workers, unemployed workers, undocumented workers, workers of color, and transgender workers face boundaries to healthcare under the oppressive forces of a corporate employer-dominated society. 

The impact of this decision will be far reaching. While gender justice is certainly at the frontline, reversing Roe is a governmental violation of bodily autonomy, personal dignity, racial and economic justice, and democratic human rights. Healthcare services for LGBTQ+ and transgender people are already under attack, and this reversal has the potential to release a current of further discriminatory policies. By setting the precedent that bodily autonomy is not protected by the Constitution (because it’s not specifically mentioned), the Supreme Court paves the way for other unenumerated rights to be repealed.  

What can we do? 

The Republican Party hasn’t been shy about their reactionary politics and systematic plan to reverse Roe v. Wade, but it’s become painfully clear that we cannot rely on the Democratic Party to protect these fundamental rights either.  

Restricted abortion access and forced carrying to term are pervasive entrenchments of gender, racial, and class inequity. The stakes are too high: we can’t wait and hope that elected officials from either party will prevent this injustice. 

But that doesn’t mean we’re alone. 

Many organizations, like Reproductive Equity Now, Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Mass., the ACLU Massachusetts, and others have seen this coming, and they have steadily been taking action on the federal and state levels. JwJ is currently developing plans to get involved. Let’s collaborate! Now is the time to organize collectively, empower local groups, and share resources to protect each other from systems of oppression.  

As Monica Simpson, executive director of our coalition partner SisterSong wrote in ‘To Be Pro-Choice, You Must Have the Privilege of Having Choices,’ published April 11, 2022, “It’s not enough to just show up when an anti-abortion law reaches the Supreme Court – we need to bring that energy to our local school boards, state legislatures, attorneys general offices and every election.” You can donate to SisterSong here, and read the Jobs with Justice Reproductive Justice statement on our website.