In a commentary post for The Daily Yonder, Carolyn Campbell traveled through rural Mississippi and Texas as state governments began banning or restricting abortion and reproductive rights. What she found was rural women, from conservative to liberal, young and old, angry and organizing to fight back.
From the commentary: “Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO) sits on a knoll above the street. The Pink House, as many call it, is the only remaining clinic offering affordable abortion care to women living in or traveling to Mississippi.
There was no welcome table here. No flowers. No name tags.
Instead, at the corner, a man held a sign saying, “Dr. _x_ does abortions here.” Due to death threats, only out-of-state doctors perform abortions here. Up the gravel drive, two men in rainbow-striped vests directed a car pulling into the clinic. As the young woman stepped out, an older woman called out, “God loves your baby. Don’t you love your baby?” Escorts whisked the woman inside. A man wearing a “proud abortion witch” mask told me about a Texas couple that had driven first to Louisiana, then here searching for a clinic. “There are so many women coming from Texas, we added more doctors. We’re juggling hard to get enough help out here.”
As the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments regarding Roe v. Wade, and more states consider passing reproductive laws like Texas, it is has come down to women, rural and urban, to make a stand for their own health care, and reproductive health care.
To read the rest of the commentary on the Yonder, click here.
SOURCE: www.dailyyonder.com
