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Supreme Court decision on abortion creates concern in minority communities

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — There’s growing concern about what the Supreme Court’s new decision on abortion could mean for minority communities who already face disparities in health care.
Some fear this will broaden the problem.

I spoke to representative Cherrish Pryor with the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus. She says mothers and mothers to be are already stretched thin. With Black women ranking highest in maternal mortality rates, it’s highly likely we’ll see that number spike.

Healthcare for many is seen as a privilege and not a right, and for many, the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe vs. Wade give that notion credence.

“There is a cause-and-effect to everything that we do, and this is a seismic shift,” Pryor said .

Pryor represents district 94 and is a member of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus. She says the state will have a lot of work to do to counter what this decision could bring.

“The number of kids that are going to be in poverty is definitely going to increase. The number of families that are going to be in poverty,” Pryor said.

When the Supreme Court decision memo leaked in early May, Kit Malone with the ACLU says she knew this time would come, adding that the people making the policy won’t feel it’s impact.

“We know in Indiana where we have the nations’ third worst infant mortality rate, and we know that this is even worse for Black women,” Malone said.

Women4Change executive director, Rima Shahid, also points out the healthcare disparities in marginalized communities. Shahid adds that in Indiana, many health and maternity care deserts exacerbates the issue. Bringing up the case of a Black IU Health doctor who died while giving birth, wealth doesn’t always matter.

“Make no mistake about it. It’s taking us 50 years to get here. It is going to be a long hard battle for us to really gain those rights that they have now eviscerated quite frankly, but we are not going to stop,” Shahid said.

The ACLU says non-binary and trans men in this conversation also face the harms of poverty that all minorities experience, and they’ll also be disproportionately impacted.