When the overturning of Roe v. Wade occurred, there was much commotion about the right of people (who can bear children) to choose whether they want to continue the pregnancy or to terminate. Inequities in reproductive health care have always existed for women, but these inequities are much greater for Black and Latina women. As several historians have noted, abortion bans since their inception have been used as a means for population control. In the 1800’s white American women were obtaining abortions at higher rates, yet soon abortion bans would come into effect, with the main purpose to increase the white American population but more broadly speaking were a tool to maintain white Americans' political power. You can apply this same example to our current political climate. White Americans know that in the next four decades they will be the numerical minority, with people of color becoming the numerical majority. This instills fear in some political leaders, especially the Republican Party, who want to maintain white Americans' majority status.

Thus, as several past historians have argued, passing abortion bans forces white women to have children and helps slow down these demographic changes. All under the guise that it is unfathomable to kill an unborn child, giving an unborn child rights, and not thinking about how banning abortion will also increase the population of non-white Americans. Additionally, lawmakers, citizens, and interest groups do not want to acknowledge that abortion bans maintain women of color in a cycle of social disadvantage.

When Roe v. Wade was overturned these issues came to mind, but so did nearly seven decades of forced sterilization suffered by Black women and Latinas in the U.S. from 1907 to the 1970s. This was a result of the eugenics movement in the United States that believed in superior genetics, which were linked to racial betterment and upholding white Americans as the superior race, and by limiting the biological reproduction of communities of color. UnidosUS features a piece on forced sterilization of Latinas in the United States and discusses how in the 1930s Puerto Rican women were forcibly sterilized as the only means for contraception without being informed that this procedure was irreversible. This abuse continued in 33 states. One account examines the abuse of Mexican women in Los Angeles at the USC medical center in the 1970s. Spanish-speaking Mexican women, upon giving birth, were given consent forms in English to sign to perform the sterilization. This abuse and continued need to control brown bodies continue today. One recent example is the forced sterilization performed not too long ago in immigration detention centers in Georgia in fall of 2020.

But moving beyond sterilization, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade more and more Latinas will be negatively impacted by the inability to access an abortion. Some notable examples of how government policy impacts women’s bodies in general are linked to two cases where a Black and white woman in Texas and Louisiana needed an abortion due to the fetus having medical complications. Both states have strict anti-abortion legislation, which led these women to seek abortions out of state. They also almost died due to having to wait for medical professionals to decide when it would be the best time to perform the abortion. NPR reported on both stories, in which both women had to wait until their bodies were ill enough to justify the need for an abortion to save the mother’s life. In the case of the woman in Texas, she needed the abortion when her medical provider knew the fetus was not going to make it due to a medical concern but could not perform the abortion, due to fear of being sued. Still the woman was asked to wait until she was very ill. The details state she had to wait until she experienced foul discharge. As a result of this long wait, this woman, as reported by NPR, might not be able to bear children in the future due to scarring in her uterus. The obstacles to obtain an abortion for a fetus that was lethally ill were also faced by the woman in Louisiana, who was denied an abortion to protect hospital personnel, once again creating barriers for these women. 

These accounts are not just physically damaging to a woman’s body, but also damaging to her mental health. Women experiencing this trauma are not just worried about the physical repercussions but are also experiencing a loss. That loss is losing a child they wanted to welcome into the world. Access to abortion is often clouded by ignorance and viewed as something teen girls do, when this is not the case, and several abortions occur between the ages of 20-35 for a variety of reasons that are not limited to refusing to start a family. As shown above women who are at risk of death need these procedures.

For Latinas, the overturning of Roe will be detrimental because as women of color they are already socially, structurally, and institutionally disadvantaged in American society. Illinois Latino Agenda 2.0 and Illinois Unidos are two organizations that argue that the overturning of Roe v. Wade will have devastating impacts on Latinas because this segment of the population already has trouble accessing health care, which includes reproductive health care, let alone abortions. Other consequences of this include the cost to travel out of state to get an abortion, the cost of an abortion out of state, medical care after the procedure, and other incidental personal costs. Additionally, shortly after these changes occurred there has been an increase in states that are forbidding residents to travel to another state to get an abortion performed. The changes in state laws, as well as the passage of new anti-abortion legislation, are creating even more barriers for Latinas.

More specifically, the National Partnership for Women and Families' states 6.5 million Latinas, which roughly equals 42 percent of Latinas between ages 15 and 49, reside in 26 states that have banned abortion. This makes Latinas the largest underrepresented minority group to be impacted by abortion bans and the overturning of Roe. Additionally, out of these 6.5 million Latinas, almost half are already mothers, and several have children under the age of three. For these Latina mothers, access to abortion care is not only impactful to themselves but has negative economic impacts on their existing children. Also, Latinos who live in these states face economic insecurity, which creates an even larger burden for Latinas who are low income. For these Latinas who already face economic insecurity when they are denied abortions, they are more likely to delve deeper into poverty. Latinas with disabilities are also negatively impacted and have even more burdens due to discrimination in accessing care as a Latina and disabled woman. Other barriers Latinas face are language barriers, which impact Spanishspeaking Latinas because they are unable to access care and face a lack of cultural competency from health-care providers.

These systemic issues are exacerbated by anti-abortion bans because as we know Latinas are already overrepresented in low-income wage jobs and face the largest wage gap compared to other non-Latina women. Due to the economic disadvantage and where Latinas live, banning abortion creates barriers to reproductive health care, economically continues the cycle of social disadvantage for themselves, their children, and their families, but also denies women the right to decide over their own health-care needs. Thus, the overturning of Roe v. Wade leads not only to barriers for all women, but especially for women, like Latinas, who are already vulnerable due to institutional racism.