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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
A trip to Brazil showed me how Tennessee can invest in reproductive health care
In May, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Brazil with a group of state lawmakers from across the country to learn how another nation — one with different geography but similar struggles — approaches reproductive healthcare and maternal justice. This trip, organized by the State Innovation Exchange and the Women's Equality Center, was deeply personal for me. As a Black woman, a mother and a state senator from Tennessee — a state that has turned its back on reproductive freedom — I carry this work in my bones. More: Tennessee's London Lamar brings child care, political representation and her son to Senate In many ways, Brazil mirrors modern America: a country where abortion is restricted, yet people are still fighting every day to protect their rights. But Brazil, even under a ban, still provides exceptions in cases of rape, incest and fetal anomalies. Tennessee? None of that. The only time you can legally access abortion care in our state is if you're about to die. Full stop. But the biggest difference? Brazil invests in public healthcare. They have a national system that provides contraception, maternal care and support — even for women navigating pregnancies under incredibly difficult circumstances. Meanwhile, in Tennessee, we haven't just banned abortion. We've slashed funding for family planning clinics, refused to expand Medicaid and passed law after law aimed at controlling women, not caring for them. During our visit, we sat down with doctors, nurses, nonprofit leaders and community organizers. We heard directly from women — especially Black and Indigenous women — who are fighting to survive a healthcare system stacked against them. While there, I couldn't help but think of my sisters back in Memphis. Because the truth is, whether you're in Brazil or the American South, Black women are dying at alarming rates from preventable pregnancy complications. That's not just a policy failure — it's a moral one. But what I saw in Brazil wasn't just struggle — it was resistance. More: Tennessee bill to make abortion pill providers liable for 'wrongful death' goes to Senate Women organizing. Healthcare workers standing up for their patients. Communities pushing back against disinformation and political control. It reminded me that this fight for reproductive justice is global — and that we are not alone. What stuck with me most was the strength and dignity of the women we met. They're not asking for pity. They're demanding a system that respects their lives, their choices and their families. And that's exactly what we need to be creating here in Tennessee. We need to build a system that works for the people, not against them. That means fighting to restore access to abortion care, expanding Medicaid, funding maternal health services and writing policies that protect — not punish — those who need care the most. This trip lit a deeper fire in me. Because while I'm proud to represent Memphis, I refuse to accept that this is the best we can do. Black women, poor women, rural families — our people — deserve better than a state government and healthcare system that treats them as an afterthought. Reproductive healthcare is a human right. Period. And we shouldn't have to cross oceans to be reminded of that. More: Amid high maternal mortality rates, Tennessee has stopped releasing quarterly reports. Health officials won't say why I came back from Brazil even more committed to the fight here in Tennessee. This work isn't just about politics — it's about survival. And I won't stop until our state honors the dignity, autonomy, and humanity of every single person it serves. State Sen. London Lamar represents Memphis and parts of Shelby County in the Tennessee Senate. She also serves as chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee can learn a lot from women's healthcare in Brazil | Opinion
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The reality of navigating immigration enforcement and abortion bans as a pregnant migrant
President Donald Trump's efforts to significantly restrict immigration have extended the presence of immigration enforcement officers to schools, churches and hospitals. The administration is also rolling back funding for organizations that provide services for immigrants, as well as states and cities with legal protections. These policies have raised the risks that immigration restrictions and limited abortion access present to the health and well-being of pregnant undocumented people. As a result, people in fear of deportation may avoid hospitals when they face pregnancy complications, or they may attempt to move to another state with protections for reproductive care, which could further put them in the crosshairs of immigration or law enforcement officials. The 19th spoke to Paula Ávila-Guillén, a Colombian human rights lawyer and executive director at the Women's Equality Center, about the intersections between abortion access and immigration, the effect of the second Trump administration so far and how national abortion groups can elevate the perspectives of immigrants. Her group, which is based in New York, focuses on supporting reproductive justice work and messaging in Latin America and the Caribbean — work that also affects people in the United States. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Candice Norwood: It's been almost three years since federal abortion protections were overturned. What are some of the ways that you have seen state abortion restrictions affecting undocumented pregnant people? Paula Ávila-Guillén: There are multiple layers. We are already seeing data that's coming out of Texas that there is a spike in sepsis, which is a condition that starts creating an infection in your entire body and is one of the main causes of maternal mortality across the world. Sepsis is something that unfortunately we see often in countries that have total abortion bans and significant restrictions. So, one consequence is death from sepsis, or maybe you don't die, but you can develop other health issues because you are afraid to go to the doctor for treatment. Then there's the threat of family separation. Most people who have abortions have children already, so if you are in a situation where you are forced to go to a hospital because of pregnancy complications, and if the hospital happens to have an immigration officer, you might get deported and your family is separated. In other cases, you might not be able to access abortion and could be afraid to order abortion pills online because you think that will reveal your immigration status. Your only solution might be to travel out of the state to be able to get that care. But you might not have a driver's license if you are undocumented and live in a state with strict immigration laws, so you might not be able to drive or take a plane. If you're lucky enough that you have a community that helps you to leave the state, you are also going to have economic and legal consequences of having to travel undocumented and find another job in another state. We're finding a lot of immigrants right now are relocating, going from very hostile states to states that might be more welcoming, but there are all these extra barriers if you don't have proper documents. There's been a lot of discussion about government surveillance as it relates to reproductive care. How is the monitoring we see in the criminal legal system converging with patients' health care when it comes to undocumented people? This is something we are seeing a big shift with in the Trump administration. The moment that the Trump administration is allowing immigration officers to enter hospitals, to enter health care centers, the administration is immediately converting emergency waiting rooms into possible interrogation rooms. This is something that is going to make a person who is already afraid and doesn't have documents to not seek health care. Something we have seen in the case of El Salvador, which has a total abortion ban, is that at one point there were over 165 women in prison, the large majority because of miscarriages. At the moment that they were being interrogated by a cop in the hospital bed, they were not giving the perfect answers to the police and therefore, immediately that made them suspects. The police opened a case that didn't allow the women to go anywhere. They would go from the hospital to prison. So, for immigrants in the United States who fear this, the response is 'Well, I am not going to seek health care because the risk is I may be deported and separated from my family.' In 2017 there were court battles over the Trump administration's attempt to restrict abortion access for pregnant people in federal custody. Do you know if the current administration has made any changes to how it will treat pregnant people who are detained? I don't have any specifics on that, but regardless of whether there's a policy or not, because of the level of pressure that the administration is putting onto ICE agents in terms of numbers, I am certain that the reality is that they're going to do whatever is necessary to reach a quota. They have a certain number of people they want to detain per day. There's a lot of talk about President Obama detaining a lot of people, but the narrative that was coming out at the time was not a narrative that was necessarily anti-immigrant. It was not a narrative to say that immigrants were bad people, that we needed to take them out of this country, that immigrants are the reason why the economy is not working. That narrative from the Trump administration makes a big shift because it creates the hostile conditions in which abuse usually happens, abuse by officers who feel encouraged and protected by the administration to do whatever they think is necessary to fulfill their needs. But it also creates a level of fear that brings immigrants to say, 'I am not going to a hospital right now.' I also think it's relevant to highlight that with the [attempted] cuts of U.S. aid and all the funding in Latin America and Africa, what they're going to do is they're going to create an exacerbation of migration. And if that's the case, I imagine that a number of those migrants could be pregnant. As scary as the journey across the border could be, many women try to travel pregnant because there is a belief that if they are pregnant they will avoid being raped. This is one of those tales sold to immigrant people. There's also the thought that if you have a baby in the United States then the baby is going to be a citizen, right? So that adds an extra layer. Are there any other things you are going to be paying attention to during the Trump administration when it comes to immigration policies and reproductive rights? One is that even people who are undocumented have different levels of privilege depending on where they live. And I think that that's going to have a direct impact on those who live in some states versus others, and that's going to cause a bit of internal migration. Another thing is that abortion access right now is popular across public opinion polls and support has increased. That is not the case for immigration. So I think it's important for us as an abortion movement, as a reproductive justice movement, to work alongside our immigrant communities and use our voices to highlight how these policies are having a disproportionate impact on immigrant communities. I think that the movement has a duty to use its growing popularity to also advocate for those who maybe don't feel in the same situation. The post The reality of navigating immigration enforcement and abortion bans as a pregnant migrant appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Latin American activists warn of pushback on reproductive rights
By Sarah Morland and Natalia Siniawski MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Latin American rights activists on Thursday warned of growing political threats to reproductive rights across the region, as the United States rolls back access to abortion. "What we are seeing is a lot of backlash of progress after many years of human rights struggles," Paula Avila-Guillen, executive director of the Women's Equality Center told a conference. "What happens in one country has repercussions." See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Latin America has a patchwork of policies on reproductive rights. El Salvador has one of the world's strictest abortion laws, imposing homicide sentences for what rights activists say are miscarriages, while a top Colombian court ruled in 2022 that abortion is for up to 24 weeks from conception. Many countries in the region limit access to women or girls who can prove their pregnancy carries life-threatening risks or resulted from rape - often causing long delays past gestational week limits. In Argentina, where abortion is legal, activists pointed to funding cuts by the government of libertarian President Javier Milei, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, that have effectively cut off access to abortion and restricted supplies of contraceptives. "For us not having contraception is taking us back to the 1960s. It's a really, really, really significant rollback," said Amnesty International Argentina's executive director Mariela Belski. Belski said state cuts had left a national helpline for gender violence nearly completely unmanned. Provinces were already reporting shortages of misoprostol and mifepristone, essential drugs for safe abortion, after the government froze funding for new purchases. Milei argues that abortion and feminism are part of a "nefarious ideology" and that the state should not spend money on related services. Argentina is one of a handful of Latam countries that allow abortion for up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, without needing to prove rape or serious medical conditions. Milei's party last year presented a bill to criminalize abortion, less than four years after a previous government legalized it, but the measure failed to gather the necessary support. The World Health Organisation has estimated that 5% to 13% of maternal deaths worldwide are due to unsafe abortions, and that three in every four abortions in Latin America are unsafe. In the Dominican Republic, where abortion is banned entirely, Natalia Marmol, a Women's Equality Center program lead, said grassroots movements are looking to ease criminal penalties in a country with some of the region's highest maternal mortality and teenage pregnancy rates. "We're going to have setbacks," Marmol said. "We need to remember this is just a moment and we need to continue to fight so it does not gather more strength."
Reuters
06-03-2025
- Health
- Reuters
Latin American activists warn of pushback on reproductive rights
Summary After US, other countries in LatAm looking to reverse abortion rights, activists say Region split between gov'ts easing and tightening reproductive laws Argentina cuts causing shortages in contraceptives, medical services MEXICO CITY, March 6 (Reuters) - Latin American rights activists on Thursday warned of growing political threats to reproductive rights across the region, as the United States rolls back access to abortion. "What we are seeing is a lot of backlash of progress after many years of human rights struggles," Paula Avila-Guillen, executive director of the Women's Equality Center told a conference. "What happens in one country has repercussions." Latin America has a patchwork of policies on reproductive rights. El Salvador has one of the world's strictest abortion laws, imposing homicide sentences for what rights activists say are miscarriages, while a top Colombian court ruled in 2022 that abortion is for up to 24 weeks from conception. Many countries in the region limit access to women or girls who can prove their pregnancy carries life-threatening risks or resulted from rape - often causing long delays past gestational week limits. In Argentina, where abortion is legal, activists pointed to funding cuts by the government of libertarian President Javier Milei, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, that have effectively cut off access to abortion and restricted supplies of contraceptives. "For us not having contraception is taking us back to the 1960s. It's a really, really, really significant rollback," said Amnesty International Argentina's executive director Mariela Belski. Belski said state cuts had left a national helpline for gender violence nearly completely unmanned. Provinces were already reporting shortages of misoprostol and mifepristone, essential drugs for safe abortion, after the government froze funding for new purchases. Milei argues that abortion and feminism are part of a "nefarious ideology" and that the state should not spend money on related services. Argentina is one of a handful of Latam countries that allow abortion for up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, without needing to prove rape or serious medical conditions. Milei's party last year presented a bill to criminalize abortion, less than four years after a previous government legalized it, but the measure failed to gather the necessary support. The World Health Organisation has estimated that 5% to 13% of maternal deaths worldwide are due to unsafe abortions, and that three in every four abortions in Latin America are unsafe. In the Dominican Republic, where abortion is banned entirely, Natalia Marmol, a Women's Equality Center program lead, said grassroots movements are looking to ease criminal penalties in a country with some of the region's highest maternal mortality and teenage pregnancy rates. "We're going to have setbacks," Marmol said. "We need to remember this is just a moment and we need to continue to fight so it does not gather more strength."
