Last week, Dr. Jamila Perritt, ob/gyn in Washington DC and President & CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health, was invited to speak on a panel hosted by The Century Foundation, a non-partisan think tank that focuses on research, solutions, and policy changes to make people’s lives better.
Alongside Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Brittany Mostiller from We Testify, and moderator Elizabeth Dawes, Dr. Perritt emphasized the deep connections between abortion access, maternal health, and reproductive justice, highlighting the need to safeguard bodily autonomy and address health disparities affecting marginalized communities:
“When we think about the importance of abortion access, I think it is really critical to one, acknowledge the commonality of abortion, we know that ¼ people who identify as women have a need for abortion in their lifetime. Have an abortion in their lifetime. Many many more have a need for abortion. We also know that policies that restrict access to abortion care are often not simply limited to abortion care. We see the same states that have restrictions on abortion also have restrictions on access to contraception. Also, they have restrictions to access advanced reproductive technologies like IVF, for example. Also, have restrictions on access to care for young people. For gender-expansive folks. So abortion, although we talk about it like as if it were a separate and isolated issue, it is deeply connected to every part of our lives, and it is deeply connected to the desire to restrict and limit the bodily autonomy of folks whose fertility is not valued equitably.
“We see this play out across the board in theories and praxis, and practices like stratified reproduction, where we see the fertility of white, wealthy women valued differently than we see those who come from identities that are marginalized. So BIPOC folks, young people, LGBTQ folks, those living in rural communities, people living on low incomes.
“The fertility of folks who have marginalized identities is often devalued and we see that these are the communities that bear the brunt of these restrictions.”
The panel called for comprehensive policy solutions that prioritize maternal health, specifically for BIPOC, reproductive equity, and bodily autonomy. The panel also emphasized the importance of storytelling as a way to humanize abortion and mitigate some of the harmful effects of stigma. This conversation remains vital for understanding and addressing the ongoing challenges in maternal health today just after the 2-year anniversary of the 2022 Dobbs decision. Watch the full panel discussion here.