[Updated June 24, 2022]
The Portland State University School of Social Work supports sexual and reproductive rights. Continual restrictions against these rights in the United States include various states’ recent and mounting constraints on reproductive health care, the Hyde Amendment, the Weldon Amendment, and the recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Our organization’s values are informed by the Social Work Code of Ethics and the National Council on Family Relations’ Ethical Principles and Guidelines for Family Scientists. These principles call for us to advocate for living conditions conducive to the fulfillment of basic human needs, to promote liberatory values that realize social justice, and to show concern for the general welfare of all individuals and families in society. As such, it is our professional and moral duty to support sexual and reproductive rights.
In Oregon, we still have the right to safe and legal abortions. This remains true in the vast majority of states in our country. Do not cancel your appointments. In Oregon, you can visit the Oregon Health Authority for help finding reproductive care.
The United States’ Congress should codify reproductive justice, but that extends beyond abortion law. SisterSong frames our understanding of reproductive justice as "the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the child we have in safe and sustainable communities." Thus reproductive justice includes attention to the adoption and foster care systems to ensure environments that support the right to raise a child. We saw the crises of reproductive injustice during the COVID-19 pandemic reflected in the lack of availability of child care, living wage jobs, and adequate health care.
Here in Oregon, the Reproductive Health Equity Act (RHEA) “provides expanded coverage for some Oregonians to access free reproductive health services, especially those who, in the past, may have not been eligible for coverage of these services.” Yet restrictions in neighboring states like Idaho will diminish access to those services for many Oregonians, particularly those in rural areas.
Seeding Justice — the administrators of the RHEA — cite statistics showing that if, as expected, an abortion ban goes into effect in neighboring Idaho, Eastern Oregonians who rely on Boise as the closest health center could see an up to a 35% decrease in access to care. Further, the Guttmacher Institute estimates a potential 234% increase in people traveling to Oregon for abortion care. Reduced access also means financial and logistical barriers like longer travel, extended wait times and the lack of paid sick leave. With these looming consequences, those communities need increased telemedicine access to provide equitable resources.
These restrictions won’t end with abortion rights. They are part of a larger effort to restrict our bodily autonomy, setting a dangerous precedent to overturn decisions on marriage equality, sexual self-determination, contraception, and transgender or disability rights.
While these rights are not explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, they are considered by many to be unenumerated rights, linked to personal privacy, autonomy, dignity, and equality. We call on our community to stay vigilant, engaged, and alert, while actively resisting efforts to remove reproductive rights and working toward reproductive justice.
[Image courtesy of Governor Tom Wolf – CC BY 2.0]
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