Culture

Gutting Abortion Rights Would Be Devastating for LGBTQ+ People


 

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court gutted the constitutional right to abortion by allowing a six-week abortion ban to take effect in Texas. Prior to the devastating 5-4 ruling, there were already countless structural and legal barriers to abortion access in the United States. But for the first time since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, SCOTUS is directly considering bans on abortion before the point of fetal viability.

In addition to allowing Texas’s six-week abortion ban to go into effect in Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, Missisippi has also petitioned the Supreme Court to weigh in on the constitutionality of its 15-week abortion ban. In a July brief, the state’s attorney general, Lynn Fitch, formally asked SCOTUS to overturn Roe.

Amid these unprecedented attacks on reproductive rights, abortion is often framed in public discourse as a “women’s issue,” primarily a cis, straight women’s issue. But the Supreme Court’s abortion decisions have extreme and far-reaching consequences for LGBTQ+ people — including nonbinary people, transgender men, and queer women who need access to abortion care.

Simply put, abortion is a queer issue, too. And as more states rush to pass their own sweeping bans now that Texas has been given the green light, abortion care will become even more difficult to access than it already is for LGBTQ+ Americans.

Over 20 states would seek to ban abortion if Roe were overturned, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. Already, lawmakers in several other states have indicated their intent to pass bans similar to Texas’s law. Although people with economic means can travel to access abortion, low-income people across a wide swath of the country face a number of barriers that make getting out of their state extremely burdensome or impossible.

As Roe continues to be gutted — or potentially overturned — many people will have to self-manage their abortions or be forced to carry a pregnancy to term against their will. Self-managed abortion via medication is much more safe and accessible than it was in the past, but people who choose it can face criminal prosecution. Without access to the right resources, some may resort to unsafe methods.

LGBTQ+ people are already over-represented in this group. A 2019 survey of pregnant trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people published in the journal BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health revealed that a staggering 36% of respondents had considered trying to end a pregnancy themselves. Nearly one in five — 19% — had actually attempted doing so.

Many queer people lack the resources to access abortion care. LGBTQ+ people, especially bisexual and transgender people, face greater risk of poverty, which impacts people’s ability to travel and raise the necessary funds to obtain reproductive health care. Poverty rates are often higher in states that try to to ban abortion, so LGBTQ+ people in the South and West will be particularly vulnerable. 

Mississippi, for example, is already one of the poorest states in the country. There is only one remaining abortion clinic in the state, and patients are forced to make two trips there — with a waiting period in between — before they are able to have their procedure. People in Texas, the second-largest state in the country, are likewise forced to travel hundreds of miles to access care in other states.

Against that backdrop, abortion could be all but impossible for people living in poverty to access, including many low-income LGBTQ+ people.

A wave of new abortion bans would also make many queer people more uncomfortable with seeking medical care than they already are. LGBTQ+ people are not only more likely to be uninsured, but they also frequently face stigma and discrimination from health care providers, including misgendering and invasive questions about their sexuality or gender. These disparities are particularly stark for transgender people and people of color.

LGBTQ+ people often delay seeking medical care as a result of mistreatment. If abortion is banned at six or 15 weeks in various states, such delays could mean the difference between being able to access abortion and effectively being forced by the government to remain pregnant.



READ NEWS SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.