Resisting Federal Overreach in the Exam Room and on the Streets of DC

FROM THE ARTICLE

This Hyde anniversary, Dr. Jamila Perritt reflects on the culture of fear and self-determination in the nation’s capital.

The District of Columbia has been my family’s home for generations. I attended medical school in the District, became a board certified ob-gyn, and pursued a specialty in complex contraception and abortion care because I wanted to care for the community that has always cared for me.

DC has always been a community that is committed to self-determination and is animated and sustained by its people and culture. But true self-determination remains out of reach because DC occupies the precarious position of not yet being a state. DC residents live with the reality of disenfranchisement and are denied, on a daily basis, the autonomy and self-determination afforded to other communities.