Photo by Aiden Craver on Unsplash
“For, if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.”
These were James Baldwin’s closing words in his 1971 opening letter, published in the New York Review to a friend and fellow activist- Angela Davis. In simpler terms, it means, if you’re not safe I’m not safe either. While this line was written in the 70s amidst the civil rights movement as a reaffirmation to Davis, (who at the time was facing murder charges) the relevance of that simple yet meaningful line still stands today whenever it comes to the possibility that any of our basic rights may be taken away from us. And never has it been more relevant than in the last year.
On 24th June 2022, five Supreme Court justices made a decision on behalf of more than 300 million people in America and overturned the right of an individual to continue or end the pregnancy. (Nina Totenberg, 2022) Since the ruling, protests have erupted all across the country with comparisons to the recent state of women’s rights in America being compared to the dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale. And while women’s rights in America are without a doubt at a very dangerous threshold right now, the reversal of Roe v Wade affects another community just as much.
Recently a clip of a senate hearing focusing on the abortion policy went viral. An icy argument erupted between Senator Josh Hawley and Berkley law professor, Khiara Bridges. (Yurcaba, 2022) In it Hawley almost mocks Bridges for using the phrase ‘people with the capacity for pregnancy’. When Bridges noted that he was being transphobic by limiting abortion to a women’s issue, Hawley was not pleased and nor were Republicans. On social media Bridges had to bear the brunt of republicans who called her sensitive, and foolish and questioned her capacity as a professor.
But Bridges wasn’t being either. She was although the only one with any actual knowledge in that room about the far-reaching effects of banning abortions. According to a report published by the Centre For American Progress (Medina, 2021), nearly half of the transgender people and 68 percent of transgender people of colour reported having experienced mistreatment at the hands of a medical provider including refusal of care, and physical and verbal abuse. And this was BEFORE the reversal of Roe. In a climate already so adverse and clueless to the treatment of transgender folks, forcing transgender men to carry their child to term is one of the biggest hits to their health. Thousands of transgender people will have to travel to states where abortion is legal seek out medical providers in absolutely unknown areas and then wait as the provider in question provides judgment on whether they’re up to the task of giving them the help they need. This doesn’t even begin to include the question of whether these medical providers would be able to provide follow-up tests, the proper knowledge, and the basic support one needs when undergoing something as life-altering as an abortion. While this all sounds horrible in itself, it is also the only option as it has nothing on how dangerous it would be to carry a baby to term as a transgender man. Forced pregnancies have a huge impact on gender-affirming care and the basic transitional process. Laura Erickson Schroth, a psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical states that while it is possible to get pregnant on testosterone; it has to be stopped during pregnancy because of the defects it may cause. Testosterone is not just extremely vital in the transitional process but also for the emotional health of Trans men. Stopping it will cause a return of several gender-related health issues that previously may have been resolved. A testosterone-based transition will have to cease for nine whole months. Make no mistake, this is forced de-transitioning. A way, in the eyes of those supporting the reversal, to shoot two birds down with one stone.
There is a culture of transgender people earning less than their cisgender colleagues for the same work. (Medina, 2021) This frequent workplace discrimination often leaves them with a lower income. Forcing transgender men to have children will only fan the flames of this cycle of poverty. Add to the above, the impact a pregnancy will have on their mental health. A pregnancy even at its most smooth is an extremely taxing process. Now, if Senator Hawley’s words and its subsequent response give us any indication, it is that we view pregnancy with a much-gendered approach- a process carried out by the woman. Rarely are Trans men and non-binary folks included in this conversation. Now when cis women themselves are at increased risk for violence during pregnancy, the chances for Trans men don’t fare out well. Their chances of getting attacked increase owing to societal ignorance and rampant transphobia. (Medina, 2021)
It’s important to note that Reproductive Justice is not just a women’s rights issue. It’s also a Racial Justice issue. Why? Because it will unequally affect non-white and immigrant people who will be criminalized for their basic need to seek adequate reproductive health. (Alfonseca, 2022) It is a queer and Trans issue. Why? Because even in 2022 whenever we have a conversation about reproductive rights, we fail to include non-binary people and Trans men, failing to recognize how similar to women it is also them who are having their rights being taken away. It is an Abolitionary issue. Why? Because like slavery, it intends to take away our power, our voice. Because like war, it intends to take away our right to live peacefully. Because like gun violence, it intends to take away our lives.
Poet and Civil rights activist Audre Lorde famously said there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle as we do not live single-issue lives. When we exclude trans men from the conversation, we divide ourselves into factions. Abortion is healthcare and healthcare is a human right.
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