The Vice President of the United States, kamala harrismet this Friday with Latina state congresswomen to defend the right to abortion, which has become a campaign issue for the November legislative elections since the Supreme Court annulled the federal protection that shielded it.
On June 24, the Supreme Court cleared the way for each state to decide whether to allow or prohibit abortion in a ruling applauded by Republicans and criticized by Democrats.
Kamala Harris thanked the Latina congresswomen for “an extraordinary job on the front line” of the fight for the right to abortionin comments prior to the round table, which took place behind closed doors.
It’s about, Harris said, “learning about the work that’s being done on the ground, but also furthering our goal of ensuring that no woman feels alone or ignored in our country on this issue.”
She added that “the government should not make these decisions for women” because “they are smart enough to do it, they have the agency to do it.”
The impact of the Supreme Court decision on Latinas is greater, Harris noted, due to “particular issues” such as the fact that “there may be a language barrier” and access to health care since they are less likely to have private insurance.
Raquel Cruz-Juarez, of the Family Planning Action Fund, confirms it. “Even before the Supreme Court struck down the federal constitutional right to abortion, Latinos, in addition to Blacks and Native Americans, already faced barriers to accessing abortion and health care in general due to systemic racism and inequalities,” he says in a statement.
Kamala Harris also mentioned misinformation in Spanish.
“We look at the fact that there has been, we believe, selective misinformation and misinformation” and we need to examine what can be done to “emphasize accurate information, so that people are empowered to make decisions based on facts and not in misrepresentations.”
The congresswoman who represented the state of Utah, Angela Romero, insisted on the social determinants of health because many women “especially those of color do not have access to even basic health care services or contraceptives.”
Texan legislator Gina Hinojosa, a Catholic, and Arizona legislator Alma Hernández, a Jew, believed that it is not a religious issue but rather that it is about giving women the right to choose.
According to the latest polls, about 60% of the American population supports abortion rights and, although there are significant partisan divisions, almost 40% of Republican voters support it.
