Reproductive Justice is Fundamentally an Economic Justice Issue

If you've ever had to request time off of work for a doctor's appointment and lost pay for that day, or remain one of the millions without health insurance because you can't afford it, or don't earn enough to pay for an annual pap smear that could be life-saving, then you deeply understand why reproductive healthcare is inherently an economic justice issue. Reproductive justice recognizes that women, particularly women of color and poor women, face intersecting oppressions based on race, ethnicity, cultural identity, class and gender identity that disproportionately burden them in most areas of their lives. These interfacing oppressions are often most visible in the economic lives of women of color, such as the struggle to find a living wage job in conditions free from discrimination and violence, securing dignified housing or accessing affordable healthcare. The inability of women to access adequate, affordable, and culturally and linguistically appropriate health care is fundamentally an economic justice issue for low-wage workers. Latinas have one of the highest poverty rates of women in the workforce at 12.1%, in large part due to low-wage jobs. Those jobs are often hourly, where workers are not paid for time off requested, including for healthcare visits. And for a community where as of a few years ago Latinas earn half of what white men make, any additional costs in accessing reproductive healthcare automatically become unduly burdensome. Cutting critical funding to ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news