Looming abortion bans in Florida and Arizona could have dire consequences for Black reproductive health, exacerbating existing disparities in access to care and maternal mortality rates. Florida’s six-week ban, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year, is set to take effect on May 1, while Arizona’s Supreme Court has paved the way to reinforce a Civil War-era law criminalizing nearly all abortions.
Over half of the country’s Black population resides in the Southeast, where many of the strictest abortion laws have taken hold, backed largely by Republican lawmakers. Ciné Julien, a reproductive justice organizer for Florida Access Network, stated, “Pretty much in the South, abortion care is null and void.”
Alexia Rice-Henry, co-executive director of ARC-Southeast, an abortion fund covering many southern states, described the ban as “shrouded in white supremacy” and “another attempt to take away our autonomy.”
Advocates are pushing to educate Florida residents and encourage them to vote on a November ballot amendment that would enshrine abortion protections in the state’s constitution. As the deadlines approach, organizers are working to disperse information about the impact of the ban and the importance of voting.
The impending abortion restrictions in Florida and Arizona threaten to worsen the already alarming disparities in Black maternal health outcomes, leaving Black families particularly vulnerable.
