Reproductive Justice = Climate Justice
by Sonam Velani Fighting climate change isn’t just about stopping greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also about changing entrenched systems - primarily the way in which economic and policy decisions are made, and by whom they are made. It’s about centering on the rights of humanity at large, and understanding how each of our actions affect others and collectively building a future we want to live in.
Washington Square Park, New York. Photo by Chris Yakimov
The decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and take away reproductive rights from millions of women across this country is an assault on the rights of humanity at large. It impacts half of our society, and in particular, the lowest income groups among us who suffer from economic and environmental injustices daily. It’s in communities like that of Baytown, TX where these decisions by a politically entrenched judicial body impact the lives of those most vulnerable.
Thousands of miles from New York, Dr. Carmen Rocco, a brilliant and caring pediatrician shares stories of patients with anencephaly, a birth defect that produces babies born with an opening in the skull with the brain outside it. Baytown is lined with small factories, refineries, and barrios without clean drinking water or even septic tanks. For decades environmental groups like Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services have fought to clean up the air and water, reduce emissions, and ban toxic chemicals. The ExxonMobil refinery “emits chemicals like benzene, toluene, and xylene that cause developmental and reproductive issues in human bodies,” says the group’s outreach director, Nalleli Hidalgo.
A fire burns at an ExxonMobil plant in Baytown, Texas in 2019. Photo by Lao Chengyue, Getty Images
Those who live close to pollution centers - from oil and gas fields or traffic on roads and highways - suffer worse maternal health outcomes than those further away. The rate of maternal mortality is 2.1 times higher for the Black women who live in these communities across Texas. Given the high rates of pregnancy complications due to these environmental hazards, a lack of access to safe abortions will only exacerbate these issues.
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, “trigger” laws will automatically ban abortion in Texas and 25 other states mostly in the South and Gulf Coast with histories of environmental injustice, discrimination, and poor access to healthcare. These are also the same places where family planning services are limited, where there is a severe lack of health insurance, and maternal health resources are abysmal. This is just one of many examples of how environmental and reproductive justice issues collide in “fenceline” communities.
The issues of reproductive justice are inseparable from climate justice. As an immigrant woman of color, I ask all the men reading this to join us in this wake up call: mobilize, speak out, and fight together with us hand in hand.
Donate to an Abortion Fund: The Yellowhammer Fund serves the Deep South, especially Alabama and Mississippi, and the Indigenous Women Rising has an abortion fund open to all Indigenous people in the US. You can also donate to Planned Parenthood, which provides sex education and reproductive care around the country.
Support Reproductive Justice Organizations: Some reproductive justice organizations doing education, advocacy, and support work include: SisterSong, the largest multi-ethnic reproductive justice collective; the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice; and the Texas-based Afiya Center, founded to assist marginalized women at risk of contracting HIV/AIDs.
Speak With Your Legislators: Pressure your local government to take legislative action to protect reproductive rights. Here’s a guide to calling your congressperson and demanding change.
by Sonam Velani