Anti-choice activists and other social conservatives routinely argue that men are dogs whom women need to bring under control, usually by withholding sex in hopes of extracting a wedding ring. But this strategy is completely unnecessary, and there's no evidence it works.
The law, which will go into effect on July 1, places additional restrictions on abortions performed in the third trimester, and bans abortion at any point in a pregnancy if a doctor determines the fetus could survive outside the pregnant person’s body.
The Aderholt Amendment to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act bans the use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement funds to pay for abortion care for detained women, potentially further limiting immigrant women's access to care.
The exact cause of her death, which, according to the Associated Press, occurred "hours after she surrendered to serve a 48-hour sentence," is unclear.
Modeled after a Texas law that was signed last summer, HB 388 requires abortion providers to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic where they perform abortions, imposes a forced 24-hour waiting period on surgical abortions, and reduces the number of abortions a doctor must perform in a given year to be considered an abortion provider.
The anniversary of the Loving case on June 12 and Juneteenth on the 19th should remind us that, within the African American freedom struggle and broader movements for equality, there has always been a struggle to determine the right to marry, select an intimate partner of one’s choice, and to form the families that we want.
A recent Washington Post article put fault for abuse squarely on the shoulders of "women in unhealthy, unsafe relationships [who] often lack the power to demand marriage," as if the only thing standing between a belt and a bruised baby is a woman who didn't ask for a ring hard enough.
Those of us fighting trafficking as part of a broader human rights movement must recognize that failing to advocate for the use of these laws to punish both buyers and sellers serves to perpetuate very serious racial disparities in who we are deeming culpable and who we are criminalizing for trafficking.
![[Black and White Photo: Group of protesters, in foreground a Black woman holds a protest sign saying: Sterilization of Mothers violates UN Charter Afrticle 25, Vote No House Bill 20]](https://rewirenewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Sterilization_protest.jpg)
