Restrictions on abortion access: The continued campaign of government control over the bodies of women of color

Women of color have long struggled against government attempts to control their bodies, reproduction, and sexuality. This paper examines the impact that current state legislation, such as abortion bans and restrictions on access to abortion care, are having on poor women of color. Specific analysis includes how the prevention of Medicaid funding for nearly all abortions, the near-elimination of abortion providers in individual states, the proliferation of crisis pregnancy centers, and the enactment of mandatory delay laws has resulted in a significant erosion of access to abortion care for poor women of color. The paper argues that these restrictions have created a two-tiered system of reproductive access in which poor women of color do not have the same freedom to make decisions about their bodies as women of means, and that these restrictions have made Roe v. Wade's federal constitutional protection for abortion ring hollow. Also, included in the paper is a discussion of how anti-choice laws disproportionately impact poor women of color and how the most severe abortion restrictions are found in states with high populations of poor women of color. To illustrate this point, the paper focuses on three states: Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Dakota – all of which are among the poorest states in the country, with large populations of poor people of color, and extremely restrictive abortion laws. Finally, the paper examines state legislative strategies for trying to combat these laws and what further restrictions advocates and providers should anticipate.