Will Abortion Rights Energize the Latino Vote?

This is Latino USA, the radio journal of News and Kurture Latino USC Latin Latino USA. I'm Mariainojosa. We bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered to you, overlooked by the rest of the media, and while the country is struggling to deal with these, we listen to the stories of black and Latino studients United Latino Front, a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of the movement.

Just makes me angry that somebody would make me seem so callous and so so hateful.

Britney Wants is a thirty four year old black woman living in Ohio. This January, a grand jury in Ohio declined to indict her after she was arrested and charged with the quote unquote abuse of a corpse after she suffered a miscarriage. This is Brittany speaking about the moment when she went to seek care right after she lost the pregnancy.

The nurse comes in and she's rubbing my back and talking to me and saying everything's going to be okay. Little do I know the nurse that was comforting me and saying that everything was going to be okay was the one who called the police.

I had a mother who had a delivery at home and came in without the baby, and I need to have someone go find the baby or directly what I need to do with the lib or not. She says she didn't want to look. She didn't want the baby, and she didn't look.

The Warren City Police proceeded to then go to Brittany Watt's home. They took her toilet apart, they retrieved the fetus and used it for forensic evidence. This story is escalo friante. It's bone chilling, but perhaps it's not that surprising.

Pregnancy criminalization has been accelerating, and we released a report last September that shows that pregnancy criminalization is happening in most states to various degrees.

This is Lurdis Rivera. She is president of Pregnancy Justice, a national organization dedicated to defending the rights of people who are pregnant.

Between two thousand and six and the Dobbs decision in twenty twenty two, we found close to fourteen hundred cases of pregnancy criminalism, and we know this is an undercap The majority of the cases in our data are related to people who are accused of using drugs during pregnancy, which using drugs in and of itself is not a crime, its possession is the crime right. But because the person is pregnant, prosecutors have been very creative and interpreting laws

Food media, and PRX. It's Latino Usa. I'm Marienno Posa. Today we continue our special election coverage for twenty twenty four, the Latino Factor, how we vote. We're going to be talking about one of the top mobilizing issues for Latino and Latina voters, abortion and reproductive rights. Since the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion, voters across the country have overwhelmingly shown up in support of abortion rights.

The abortion access is the law of the land.

In Ohio.

The right to an abortion is now officially part of California's state constitution.

And Latina and Latino latinx Latine voters are no exception. Currently, Latinas represent the largest group of women of color impacted by state abortion bands, and the community is sensitive to the issue. When researchers ask Latinos and latin that's why abortion policy was important to them, they responded that banning abortions puts women's lives at risk. This election, over thirty six million people in the Latino community are eligible to vote.

We cannot do well in America if the Latino community doesn't do well.

Historically, the Democratic Party has had an advantage with Latino voters. Do you know what they're out?

Gore?

Yeah, Center Obama.

Do you believe Latino voters will not vote for a black candidate?

Not I Illinois, they all voted for me. Still, Former President Trump has his own edge among Latino voters, specifically men. So this election, the stakes are high on so many intersecting fronts because study after study shows that when abortion access is taken away from people, it's women of color who suffer the most, and all over the country, from Colorado to Florida, Latinas are coming up with forms of

Whens dast this depending on where we're at.

So welcome all of you to Latino USA. But before we jump into the conversation, I just want to go around the room, as it were, to get us temperature check on all of you, because the three of you are literally on the front lines of the issue of reproductive justice. So just quickly, what's your temperature check? Like, how are you feeling? And we're going to start with you America. Ah, that's a tough question.

I think.

I think for a lot of repro workers, we're just the.

Right like we're still trucking along but Valle la Pena, so we're still doing the best that we can. Even in the spaces like Colorado where we know that there's at least some sort of protections, we still have a ways to go.

Ludez, what's your temperature check?

You know, this is a really tough time in our movement, But I have to say that when I'm feeling discouraged, I channel Ma Abuela Carmin. Her family worked on a sugar plantation in Puerto Rico. She had fourteen pregnancies, She gave birth to ten children, and nine of whom grew up into adulthood. So I do this work in her name. I do this work in the name of the Puerto Rican women of my mother's generation and so many others who were sterilized without informed consent, and who were robbed

Stephanie, what's your temperature check?

We're feeling focused and hopeful about what our future looks like because we firmly believe that our future is in our hands and not in the hands of the state or politicians who are more interested in using abortion as an issue of political fodder than protecting the rights for us to live a future with bodily autonomy.

So it appears that there has been a major shift in Latino Latina public opinion about the issue of abortion. As recently as the year twenty twenty, studies showed that only five percent of Latino voters said that abortion was one of their top issues, but when the fall of Roe v. Wade happened, those numbers significantly changed. Today, abortion is one of the top ten concerns for Latino and Latina voters. Stephanie, you work in the state of Florida, America.

The Florida abortion landscape has changed most drastically and significantly than it has in over twenty five years.

Today of Judge World, women looking to get an abortion must pay twenty four hours after an initial doctor's visit before getting the procedure. Governor Ron Desantas signing a bill and to law Thursday that bans most abortions after fifteen weeks.

Florida lawmakers have given final approval to a six week abortion band, paving the way for a tider grip on abortion access in the state.

So wow. Florida was viewed as a quote abortion haven for many states in the South that had even less access. Now people are forced to leave the state and we are now weeding on pins and needles every week to hear what the State Supreme Court of Florida has to say about our right to continue to access abortion care.

Amiti, guy, you're in Colorado. It was for a long time considered to be a swing state, but since two thousand and eight it has been pretty much a democratic and liberal stronghold. And that coupled with last year's laws expanding abortion access in Colorado, abortions appear to be politically safe in Colorado. Amedic Gay, you are on the ground, so can you just tell us what that looks like in your state? Yeah?

So even though there's a lot of talk that Colorado is very progressive and although we have very few restricts and abortion, we knew that Roe v. Wade was not enough for our communities, and when Roe was overturned, we didn't have a state law that would expressly protect abortion, and so that was when we signed the Reproductive Health Equity Act in twenty twenty two, right before the Jobs decision.

So we talked about criminalization at the top of the episode. In the case of Brittany Wattson Ohio, and I just briefly want to give Amitiica and Stephanie the opportunity to jump in here and to give their perspective on this issue. So America to.

Go a little bit further about the criminalization, I mean to also think about folks that are undocumented or young people who are already in those margins. We get a lot of concern of even wanting to get routine procedures done or routine care because of things like being criminalized. We've talked to young people who are in high school that don't want to go to states that don't protect abortion for college because they don't know what will happen

How about you, Stephanie.

I think a way that we're seeing this happen in Florida is this past year a law was passed that requires hospitals ask on their admission forms whether a patient is lawfully present in the US. And what we're seeing is now people who are immigrants, who may be undocumented, are not getting the healthcare that they need. We're seeing increased police presence in front of abortion clinics, We're seeing

And this is moat of this. If I can just add one other point, the overturning of ROW and the rolling back of abortion rights. This is part of a larger agenda to dismantle the games that have been made by the women's rights movement, the civil rights, LGBTQ rights, and workers' rights movements.

This is no simple reform.

It really is a revolution.

We want to breathe by any means there.

Well, lesbians and gay men have always been in the vanguard of struggles for liberation, and just in this concrete it's.

Not a Democrat or Republican thing. It's a workers thing. The people are the ones that make these corporations go. It's not the other way around.

We're demanding that the federal government do something to legalize abortion now that waiting until November is not enough.

Coming up on Latino USA, what abortion allies and advocates can learn from the green wave in Latin America and will young voters show up to the polls come November stay with us, say.

Yes, hey, we're back.

Before the break, Nordes Rivera, Stephanie, Lorraine Bigneto, and America Amides gave us a snapshot of what the two years since the fall of Roe have been like. Now we're going to expand on the new possibilities post row when we take the shame out of abortion. So let's get back to the conversation. Stephanie, you actually call yourself an abortion storyteller. I'm sure that some people are saying, wait, what, so,

So an abortion storyteller to me is someone who is reclaiming the narra about abortion and telling their story on their own terms. For me, I've had two abortions, one of them from a sexual assault in another because of needing it, and both happen as a minor, and both even today I would still not be able to access because in Florida you need parental involvement to access an abortion. If not, you have to go through a judicial intervention called a judicial bypass and get permission from a judge.

Even though I haven't Stephanie called myself an abortion storyteller, I have talked about the fact that when I was in college, I had two abortions, and at this point, I mean, I don't have any shame. I'm thankful that I was able to have those abortions. That's why I talk publicly about it. But I want to ask you, Stephanie, because on the one hand, storytelling is all about making this public right, But on the other hand, the central issue around Roe v.

Wade.

I'm not a legal scholar, but I believe is about the right to privacy. And yet in your case, Stephanie, you had to go before a judge to get this judicial bypass is so public and that was what allowed you to actually be able to get access to an abortion. So for you, where does privacy enter into the conversation.

I am also not a legal scholar, but that is where I feel that our abortion rights and legal scholars have more to grow. And absolutely we all deserve our right to privacy about the decisions that we make around our healthcare and around our bodies. But we continue to have these repetitive, circular conversations about privacy and whether who

For me, when I ended up having to tell my mom and my dad about the abortions, you know, I was so scared and the reaction from my Mexican parents. My mom was like, Amihita, I would have wanted to be there with you. You should have told me. I would have held your hand.

One last thing I just want to add, because you've brought up your mom and I just think it's so beautiful. When I needed an abortion when I was sixteen, my mom was not supportive and that was unfortunate because my mom was my biggest ally in so many other ways.

So America, about the question of again, things evolving, what has changed? I think a lot about terminology. When I was growing up, when we got to the term reproductive rights, it was a big deal to talk about reproductive rights. The term now that you use to describe your work is the framework of reproductive justice. So why do you think it's essential to understand reproductive justice in the context of this particular political moment.

If we look at reproductive rights, that's the legal protections that protect the right to reproductive health care services, which is usually focused on abortion and contraception. Reproductive justice is based on a human rights framework, saying that it doesn't matter where you are, who you are, what you look like, where you're from, how much you make, you deserve these

And what America described is really the true right to life. And we have to stop giving the abortion opponents a free past to claim the mental of life when their focus on fetal rights is causing harm to the health and lives of people were pregnant and ripping families apart, when maternal and infant mortality is on the rise in this country. It's the highest among all industrialized nations, in

One of the things that has come out of this particular moment in the United States is this interesting turn towards Latin America. And in Latin America you have this movement it's called the feminist Green Wave, and they've had major reproductive justice wins in countries like Mexico and Argentina

So unlike in the US where we now joined Poland, Nicaragua and then Salvadora in going backwards on abortion rights, countries like Mexico, Colombia, Arendina, Chile have made strides. And it's because of a combination of many different strategies, including the legal strategy, but also organizing on the street, public health, narrative change, all of this coming together to make progress.

Heldado zumpas somas in la lucha historica or dad or surignia il sicio.

So the Mexico Supreme Court gets it two bad hours, doesn't.

And I think i'd also like to add that there is a myth that Latinos who might also identify as religious Catholics or cultural Catholics. I think that ends up bleeding into one which is also not true. Latino support abortion. We've been having abortion since the beginning of time. This is not something that is only exclusively happening in one area. Access and care is important to all of us, and so we are seeing these countries are part of this movement.

Young voters are making it really clear that they're quite dissatisfied with President Joe Biden because of his support of Israel's war on Gaza and last month, although Biden did win the Michigan primary, there were almost fifty thousand votes for the uncommitted option on the Democratic ballot. And in Virginia, during a speech on reproductive rights, young protesters came out to voice their frustrations.

No, have you killed.

Women? Have you killed Pala America? Can you tell us what you're hearing on the ground in Colorado? In terms of young voters, I think young.

People honestly are looking for representation to align with their values and that's just difficult to come by either way. We know that there's a lot of support for abortion within the state, and we have part of our polling to be able to support that. It's difficult to say whether or not they're going to go one way or another. In terms of the presidential election, but we do know that it's still important for us to talk to them

And Stephanie, how are you and the Florida Access Network engaging specifically with young voters in your state.

You know, we organize in a few different communities around Florida, and we are involved with Amendment four putting abortion on the ballot in Florida, and young people are voting with their values, and right now they don't feel like they are being represented, especially not on the executive level. So the concern is that folks are distracted. They're not interested in voting down blue no matter what, which is the

Stephanie, can you say a little bit more about what's happening in Florida right now in terms of abortion being on the ballot.

So right now we are in a legal battle trying to make sure that abortion is able to get on the ballot.

This court has until April first to make the ruling, and so if this does make the November ballot, it'll take sixty percent of voters to pass it and put it in the Florida Constitution.

With political changes and with changes to the makeup of the state Supreme Court, the supermajority Republican legislature has been able to pass anti abortion laws back to back with the hope of getting a reinterpretation of this state constitutional protection for abortion rights. So now what the opportunity to have voters vote directly for putting abortion on the ballot

Bring us up to date in terms of what's happening in Colorado with the dulying efforts on abortion there.

Yeah, so we're currently in the process of collecting petition signatures for our ballot measure that we are running. So it's a constitutional amendment.

This pro abortion initiative would take protections here in Colorado one step further by adding abortion rights to the state's constitution. But this anti abortion initiative would identify a human being from the moment of conception, making abortion illegal here in this state.

So right now we're going through the process of making sure that it gets on the ballot. But we know that when abortion is on the ballot, abortion wins. We've been seeing this since the DABS decision, and so we're really trying to work towards that same thing. But ensuring that we're working towards that access, that's what's really important for us. This isn't the end all be all. This is just one part of the puzzle in order to

So when you say working, it really is a lot of hard work. Frankly, decades upon decades of work by women and allies on the issue of reproductive justice, and a lot of that time it can be dark sometimes. So to end, tell us what gives you hope, what brings you joy. We're going to start with you, America. What is something that brings you joy or hope? In twenty twenty.

Four, my job is really working within the realm of youth leadership, and so it brings me a lot of joy to work with other young Latinas who are passionate about the issue, equipping them with the same tools, the same mentorship that I was able to come up with, and to be able to see really the stars and their eyes of really the hope that they have to be a part of that change or part of that impact.

And so I have a lot of hope. Thank you, Luda. This is what brings you some joy or hope these days.

I'm really taking the long view, and the overturning of ROBE was devastating in many respects, and I think we're seeing the consequences of that, and at the same time, it is also an opportunity to create a different vision for reproductive rights and justice. And what gives me hope also is that we're able to help people in their darkest hour and that we're a resource with so many

Us, take us out. Stephanie.

What's giving me hope is modeling sustainable leadership for my team, because if we can't continue to live and thrive, there is no movement. There is no way we are frontline workers. And what else brings me joy is enjoying the outdoors and enjoying Florida before it drowns. There's so much beauty here, like there's springs, there's beaches, there's just so much the sun.

Thank you so much, Stephanie America and Luris. Thank you for joining us on this roundtable as we delve into politics and Latino and Latino voters and the issues that matter to us, which has got to say us. Thank you for joining me on Leatino USA. Thank you for.

Having us, Thank you, thank you so much for the congo.

This episode was produced by Monica Morales Garcia. It was edited by Victoria Strada. It was mixed by Stephanie Lebau. The Latino USA team includes Renaldo Leanos, Junior Andrello Pez Cruzado, Lori mar Marquez, Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Nor Saudi and Nancy Trujuillo. Benileiramidez is our co executive producer. Our senior engineer is Julia Caruso. Our marketing manager is Luis Luna. Our theme music was composed by Sege Rubinos. I'm your

Funding for Latino USA is coverage of a culture of health is made possible in part by a grant from the Robert Wood Foundation. Latino USA is made possible in part by the TAU Foundation and W. K. Kellogg Foundation, a partner with communities where children Come First.