UPDATED ON JUNE 24, 2022

Disclaimer: As you are reading this, intense emotions might come up. Please note that LRP and QLaw are deliberately addressing the complexity of reproductive rights and how it relates to our experiences as gender diverse people.

On May 2, 2022, an unfinished brief from The U.S. Supreme Court leaked revealing that Roe v. Wade was likely to be overturned in the near future. Today, on June 24, 2022—right on the heels of our community’s Pride celebrations—it became a disturbing reality. Even though reproductive health care is still protected in Washington State, abortion is no longer considered a basic human right in the United States. As a result, our collective body autonomy is in grave danger. Predictably, social media has erased gender diverse communities from this conversation, and especially Black gender diverse folks. Reproductive health care is life saving for all communities—not just for cisgender white women.

Lavender Rights Project and QLaw Foundation ask you to consider the following before engaging further about what is coming for us all: 

1. Roe v. Wade was built on the right to privacy and bodily autonomy. Its ending will erode the basic human rights of marginalized communities, including the right to transition, access to reproductive care, and more. The future of trans youth and gender-affirming healthcare is deeply connected to the future of abortion rights.

2. This decision will disproportionately harm Black gender diverse communities. We must not forget that many trans men, trans masculine people, and non-binary folks need access to abortions and reproductive justice!

3. The fall of Roe v. Wade will drastically increase the criminalization and incarceration of Black gender diverse people. It WILL increase state control over Black bodies and terminate access to critical health care. Many more in our community will die as a result.

4. If we are going to ‘codify’ Roe v. Wade through Congress, Black, Brown, and Indigenous gender diverse communities must be at the table when writing and advocating for the legislation.

5. We must acknowledge that ending Roe v. Wade is yet another extreme wave of white supremacy in action. Black communities will not benefit from this decision. Justice Alito’s assertions otherwise are not only anti-Black, but straight-up racist af.

6. Reproductive rights are also a trans femme issue, and we must include trans girls, trans women, and transmisogyny-affected non-binary people in this discussion. 

In the coming weeks, Lavender Rights Project and QLaw will release a vision of what it means to truly have equitable, fair access to reproductive rights and health care. We look forward to sharing with you what is possible if we can work together for our collective liberation. Until then, please speak out against the cissexist whitewashing of our collective reproductive rights.

LINKS FOR LEARNING:

6 Tips for Making Your Conversations About Reproductive Rights More Trans-Inclusive
https://everydayfeminism.com/2018/10/6-tips-for-making-your-conversations-about-reproductive-rights-more-trans-inclusive/

Trans-Centered Reproductive Justice: Family Formation and Sustainable Living
https://www.pwn-usa.org/issues/policy-agenda/trans-rights-safety-justice/trans-centered-rj/

If You Really Care About Reproductive Justice, You Should Care About Transgender Rights!
https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/rj_and_transgender_fact_sheet.pdf

How the Promise of Roe v. Wade Left Women of Color Behind https://www.colorlines.com/articles/how-promise-roe-v-wade-left-women-color-behind-op-ed