On June 24, 2022, many of us were glued to our newsfeeds where we witnessed with horror the U.S. Supreme Court eliminate the right to bodily autonomy and personal choice for individuals in our country.
One year later, we reflect on both 50 years of life with the protections of Roe v. Wade and simultaneously on the impactful year since the disastrous Dobbs v. Jackson decision that significantly dismantled the rights of individuals recognized under Roe.
In Dobbs’ wake, we continue to witness an ongoing expansion of anti-choice legislation across the country. The devastating impacts of this decision are both broad and deep, and are felt across the country. These include increases in maternal mortality, worsening overall maternal health, widening economic disparities, and a decrease in equitable workforce participation.
Those primarily affected are people who lost their individual choice and autonomy regarding pregnancy and their own reproductive health. People in their direct social and care circles are also impacted by the social, financial, and medical burdens posed by the abject loss of autonomy. This loss hurts everyone. Deeply.
The Dobbs decision also enabled a foot in the door to those seeking to limit individual freedoms, leading to an assault on a number of other liberties, such as access to contraception, freedom to marry, the free expression of gender identity, and access to gender-affirming care. Every day, we see headlines covering these acts of hatred-turned-policy on a broad range of reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights and more. We see incredible hatred directed at trans people, especially trans youth and their families.
Add in restrictions to school curricula and access to books, and we find ourselves in a very precarious state that is tipping towards fascism.
Yet in the face of policy rooted in hatred, there are levers we can pull, change we can make, and protections we can offer. In times like these, it takes many voices at all levels to turn the tide toward equity and justice. In the commonwealth, where a variety of reproductive and gender-affirming care is currently legal, activists and politicians on both the state and municipal levels are working overtime to hold our ground.
Massachusetts has an excellent record protecting these rights at a state level. Recent legislation offers a shield against punishment or extradition for those seeking reproductive or gender-affirming care who come to Massachusetts from states that have banned or restricted a number of reproductive and gender-affirming options.
On the municipal level, cities such as Somerville, Salem, Cambridge, and Framingham have taken local government action to protect access to legal reproductive and gender-affirming care. Other municipalities such as Amherst, Northampton and Easthampton are actively pursuing similar avenues to make sure that legally protected services are accessible freely and without deception or risk of legal action.
We are writing policy that ensures these protections are iron-clad and free of gaps, building on the foundation created by the state. The impacts of Dobbs are broad and deep, and our response must be the same.
Now is the time for courage and fortitude. As our rights are trampled on across the country, we in our small western Mass. communities have the opportunity and the obligation to lead by example. The only choice is to bravely push forward, undaunted by the hesitancy of those around us, standing tall in the face of those who seek to shrink our rights and silence our voices. If we do not, we will continue to lose ground.
We do not exist in a bubble; we must enact strict protections and we must lead. Amherst, Northampton, Easthampton and beyond, let Dobbs be a lesson and a call to action. Support local legislation like that introduced in the cities and towns we represent to protect our rights and access to reproductive and gender-affirming care by writing to your councilors and making public comment. Continue to back bills introduced at the state and federal level.
Do not lose your voice in this fight. Do not underestimate the power of your voice. Together we can hold the line as we continue the fight at all levels to gain back our rights and autonomy to our bodies.
Ana Devlin Gauthier is an Amherst town councilor, Rachel Maiore a Northampton city councilor and Owen Zaret an Easthampton city councilor.