Ruth Bayan
Northwest Asia Weekly
A pregnant protester wears a shirt with a message in support of abortion rights during a march in Seattle on June 24. (AP Photo/Stephen Brasher)
Several Asian American leaders and civil rights groups criticized last week’s historic Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade as “devastating” and “regressive.”
The 6-3 vote essentially overturned a five-year-old court case that gave women the constitutional right to an abortion.
Sital Kalantry, a Seattle University law professor, an expert on human rights and feminist legal theory and an Indian-American, said: “As Roe v. rights have been questioned. In Justice Thomas’ concurring opinion, he noted that in future cases they should reconsider women’s rights to contraception, homosexuals’ rights to intimacy, and non-heterosexuals’ rights to marriage.”
The Japanese American Citizens Union condemned what it called the “heinous decision.”
“This ruling marks a dark turning point in our nation’s history, furthering the notion that women and those with female reproductive organs remain second-class citizens,” it said in a statement.
“The effects of this bill will not only affect cisgender women, but also the trans community, communities of color, and many others who are affected by systemic oppression and rely on rights not expressly granted by the Constitution. SCOTUS not only takes away a constitutional right , and sentenced millions of people to inhumane living conditions and, in some cases, the death penalty.”
A day after the Supreme Court ruling, a large group of Asian Americans gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for a multicultural march in support of racial justice and reproductive health rights.
The March for Solidarity includes more than 50 Asian American nonprofits and other diverse groups. The DC event was billed as the first national rally led by an Asian American.
Anh Nguyen, 17, a member of the Asian American advocacy group OCA-Greater Houston, held signs that read “Proud to be Asian” and “Climate Justice = Reproductive Justice.”
Parade spokesman Paul Cheung said the overturning of Roe v. Wade would hit the Asian American community particularly hard.
“This is another example of how the rights of historically marginalized communities like Asian Americans have been weakened,” Zhang told NBC News. “This is not the end. The Solidarity March calls for action to advance meaningful change for Asian Americans and other historically excluded communities to keep all of our communities safe, secure and prosperous.”
Poor or low-income women account for 75 percent of abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.
Isra Pananon Weeks, interim executive director and chief of staff of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), said many Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women work in low-wage frontline service jobs without health insurance or paid sick leave.
Abortion care is “riddled with language barriers, cultural stigma and low insurance rates among our most vulnerable community members,” and travel and abortion have been “difficult, if not impossible,” Weeks said.
“Gutting Roe cuts off access to abortion care and puts the well-being and financial stability of millions of AAPI women and families at enormous risk,” Weeks said.
John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said his organization filed an amicus brief with NAPAWF in the case “because we care about Asian Americans. and the wider immigrant community. Given that Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing populations in the nation and nearly two-thirds of the population are foreign-born, we take a serious view of the impact this decision will have on our community worry.”
“We need to come together and find a way to support our communities while exploring every course of action to restore this fundamental human right,” Yang added.
King County Attorney Dan Satterberg has joined more than 80 other prosecutors across the country in not prosecuting abortion.
“As King County’s attorney, I want to assure the people of King County that my commitment to reproductive rights is unwavering,” he said in a statement. “I have never – and never will – use my discretion to criminalize personal medical decisions. As a privacy-conscious citizen, I will also continue to support other organizations fighting for human dignity and fundamental privacy , so that the government does not interfere too much in our lives.”
Sutterberg and other like-minded prosecutors — who collectively represent nearly 87 million people from 28 states and territories and the District of Columbia, including nearly 27 million from 11 states that now ban or may ban abortion — in A joint statement argued that using limited criminal justice resources to prosecute individuals’ health care decisions runs counter to their obligations to pursue justice and promote public safety.
Ruth can be reached by Editor @nwasianweekly.com.
