IT'S (BEYOND) TIME TO LISTEN TO BLACK WOMEN

It was pretty hard not to see this punch coming, even though when it landed, it did so with a thud. Indeed, the assault had been picking up steam for at least a decade, with each punch building upon, and intensifying, the damage delivered by previous blows. They have spent years putting in that work and doing whatever they can to weaken the opposition. Building up and tapping into a social movement dedicated to the advancement of their goals. Launching lawsuits. Encouraging the creation and passage of local laws that provided steam to propel their dream forward and keep hope alive. Working assiduously to establish themselves as the voice for the voiceless, and as the preeminent protectors of the vulnerable. And identifying and casting their ballots for politicos who shared their norms and, therefore, eager to advance their movement's agenda. Theirs was a mixture of jabs and body blows. Taps and headshots. They pulled out all the stops.

Their goal is taking a wrecking ball to Roe v, Wade. To eviscerate the possibility for women to terminate unwanted pregnancies. To abolish abortion.

And they're in it to win it.

IN IT TO WIN IT: FEELING ELATED

Right now, abortion opponents are besides themselves and, within the last few months, are undoubtedly feeling a heightened sense of confidence about accomplishing their ultimate goal of wiping the landscape clean of Roe v. Wade. Here's three quick reasons for the elation:

• Before this year was half over, state legislators had passed over 90 abortion restrictions.

• In May of this year, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving Mississippi's abortion ban, which prohibits abortions after 15 weeks, well before fetal viability At stake is Roe V. Wade, which ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy within the first six months-- a period within which the fetus is generally considered incapable of surviving outside of the womb. The Court's ruling on the Mississippi case should hit sometime in the Spring or Summer of 2022. Just in time for the mid-term elections.

And then there's this:

• As of Wednesday, September 8th, Texas became the state with the nation's most restrictive abortion law. S.B. 8 bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy and, among other things, empowers private citizens to sue anyone who "aids and abets" a woman in securing an abortion. If the plaintiff prevails, the defendant can be on the hook for at ten grand. That "aid and abet" thing is particularly serious. Provide a ride to a woman to a provider to get an abortion, you could end up getting sued and having to dig deep into your pocket. Pay for the bill and you could be on the monetary hook. Sitting in the waiting room to provide support to woman who has an abortion? Well, if you're successfully sued by a private citizen, you could find yourself trying to cough up ten large. And, by the way, there's no exception for rape or incest. The law essentially grants private citizens police powers over women's bodies, provides these citizens with an opportunity to collect a bounty, severely restricts a woman's access to an abortion, and delivers a gut punch to Roe v. Wade.

Again, all of this is putatively being done in the name of protecting the lives and well-being of women and the unborn. All of this is supposedly reflective of some kind of commitment to placing a hedge of protection around the voiceless. All of this, we're told, is akin to a battle between life and death, a struggle between the God-fearing and the Godless.

High-sounding stuff, for sure. The problem, though, is that it's gibberish. The problem is that, like other states planning and pushing restrictive abortion laws, Texas doesn't give a damn about the lives of poor pregnant women. Like other states trekking down this draconian path, Texas couldn't care less about Black lives. About the health of Black women and Black children.

Texas stays talking trash out the side of its neck.

TALKING OUT THE SIDE OF THE NECK

If the Texas legislature--61% of whom are White men-- truly cared about the health of women and children, then they'd spend more time on reducing the relatively high maternal mortality rate that's so characteristic of the state. Of all the developed countries, the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate, and Texas. The World Health Organization (WHO), by the way, defines maternal mortality "the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration or site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its mismanagement..." That mortality rate is 17.2 per deaths per 100,000 live births, almost six times as high in such countries as the Netherlands, Norway, and New Zealand

At 18.5 per 100,000,Texas' maternal mortality rate exceeds that of the nation as whole and ranks as one of the worst states when it comes to such mortality. What's more, the racial gap in maternal mortality rates is straight up stunning: The maternal mortality rate for Black moms (37.3 per 100,000 live births) is twice as high as that for White mothers (14.9 per 100,000) and, in Texas, while Black women account for only11% of live births, they represent 31% of all maternal deaths.

None of this evidence is consistent with a state that prioritizes the health and flourishing of moms and pregnant women, and it suggests a particularly cavalier attitude toward the well-being of Black women. And the picture only worsens when, for instance, you consider that Texas has a child poverty rate of 19.2%. That translates into about 1.4 million Texas children residing in families whose income is below the official poverty line. There's only eleven other states rocking a child-poverty rate greater than 19.2%.

If none of that convinces you that Texas politicos don't really care about the flourishing of women and children, if none of the foregoing persuades you that Texas us talking out the side of its neck, if none of the data induces you to believe that this state has a particularly callous attitude toward Black women and their kids, then throw this into the mix:

• One quarter of Black and Latino kids in Texas reside in poverty--three times as high as the rate for White children.

Or this:

• The infant mortality rate of Black babies averages about three times as high as that for their White counterparts. Black babies, then, are much more likely to die before hitting their first birthday.

Or this:

One-fifth of Black women of reproductive age--15-44 years old-- are uninsured. That's one and a half times the percent of White women.

Or, finally, how about this:

• Texas has gone to the mat to fight against an extension of Medicaid coverage that would provide a full year--rather than six months-- of postpartum care. The refusal to extend such coverage hits poor, non-White moms particularly hard.

You can say a lot of things about a state that tolerates such high maternal and infant mortality rates. That's willing to turn its eyes away from the large number of children residing in households gripped by poverty. That's doesn't go all out to ensure that poor moms are able to tap into the kinds of postpartum care they need for themselves and their kids. That exhibits such a cavalier attitude toward racial disparities in health care.

But what you can't say is this: You can't say that that's a state that prioritizes the health of moms and their kids. You can't say that that's a state that's committed to well-being of pregnant women. You can't say that that's a state that's got love for Black women or Black kids.

Any state that allows this, that refuses to do everything it can to eviscerate such hellish health conditions, has no authority--NONE-- to wag their wicked tongue about caring about life. Their words are straight up trash. They're talking right out the side of their neck.

LISTEN TO BLACK WOMEN

But there's reason to hope, and there's something that we can--that we must--do.

Listen to the voices of Black women.

It has been, and still is, Black women who've been organizing and leading the call for reproductive justice (for example, see here or here or here or here or here.) It has been--and still is--Black women who've have repeatedly agitated for linking reproductive and human rights. It has been--and still is--Black women who've persistently uplifted the importance of situating individual choice within the broader context of the struggle for social, economic, gender, and racial justice. They've been saying that we must trust women as moral agents capable of making wise decisions--but that those decisions ought not to be constrained by such ills as low wages, homelessness, joblessness, the lack of insurance, the dearth of affordable and high quality health care, and domestic violence. They've been constantly reminding us that, for genuine choices to exist, the context within which those choices are made must be cleansed of the socio-economic contaminants unleashed by anti-black, anti-women, and anti-poor policies. Here's how the National Black Women's Reproductive Agenda puts it:

"Reproductive Justice (RJ) means the right to control our sexuality, our gender, our work, and our reproduction. That right can only be achieved when all women and girls have the complete economic, social, and political power, and resources to make healthy decisions about our bodies, our families, and our communities in all areas of our lives."

Black women have been the prophets in the wilderness, proclaiming and fighting for the right of all women to (1) to have children, (2) to not have children and (3) to raise the children they do have in safe and healthy environments.

So, yeah, we don't need to sit around all befuddled, scratching our heads over how to respond the most recent attacks on reproductive rights and justice. We don't need males jockeying to grab the mic and thinking that they're "anointed and appointed" to provide some putative void with the presence of holy male leadership. No, what we need to do is to engage the leadership of Black women, to consult with them over how we can be supportive of their leadership, to give funds to the Black women led organizations fighting for reproductive justice and the right to raise our kids in environments that allow them to flourish.

What we need to do is to do something that far too many of us find difficult to do: Listening to, respecting, and following the leadership of women.

Especially Black women.

It's (beyond) time to listen to Black women.

They don't be talking out the side of their neck.