Help Us Fight Back Against Efforts to Roll Back Gender Justice
Extremist judges will not stop endangering the lives of pregnant people or people who may become pregnant—overturning Roe v. Wade, attacking medication abortion, threatening the future of IVF, and this week at SCOTUS, emergency abortion care.
Our lawyers are waging strategic fights that make clear what is at stake for people who can become pregnant and seek to bolster our fundamental rights to control our lives, futures, and destinies.
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6 Ways States’ Response to COVID-19 Centers Gender and Racial Justice
It’s hard to keep up with all the bad news from the federal government, fromthe botched COVID-19 public health response tothe childcare industry left on the brink of collapse.What’s worse, this pandemic is disproportionately ravaging communities of color and women—the majority of essential workers—but theyare not centered in the federal COVID response. Fortunately, I found a beacon of hope instate lawmakers who are centering equity in their policy responses as they recognizehowwomen of color bear the brunt of this crisis. Here are sixways state lawmakers arecentering gender and racial justice duringthe pandemic:
1. Ensuring Workers Have Access to Paid Sick Leave (During andAfterthePandemic)
Although Congressenacted emergency paid sick and family leave protections this spring, millions of workers were left out of those protections. This impacted women of color particularly hard as they are overrepresented in low-wage jobs without these critical protections andshoulderthe majority of caregiving responsibilities. Working people need access to paid sick days all the time,not just during a pandemic.New Yorkenactedemergency paid sick leave to fill the gaps in the federal responseandpermanent paid sick leave in April,providing the right to earn up to 56 hours of paid sick time.Coloradofollowed suitin June, providing all employees up to six paid sick days annually,as well as two weeks paid sick leave during a public health emergency.
2. Supporting Immigrant Communities
Despite immigrant women facing an outsized risk of being financially and physically impacted by COVID-19, immigrant communities havelargely beencarved out of federal stimulus packages and unable to access supports forthosewho areunderemployed and unemployed. Californiais implementing programs liketargeted foodassistanceand$500paymentstoall residents, including undocumented families.Connecticut also opted for animmigrant-inclusive recovery plan, piloting a public-private partnership that provides economic relief for undocumented residents through a 4-CT Card, a state-sponsored debit card.
3. Expanding Access to ReproductiveHealthcare
Going to the doctor these days is difficult, so it is crucial that every person has access to critical reproductive care when they need it. South Carolinarecently enacted a law so that people on Medicaid can get a year’s supply of birth control pills. West Virginia enacted a similar requirement forboth public and private insurance so people have easier access to birth control during the pandemic and beyond.
4. Increasing Access to High-Quality, AffordableChild Care
States have supportedchildcare programs through multiplepoliciesmeant to stabilize thechild care market for families and child care workers, who are disproportionately Black and brown women. Minnesotaprovided grants to child care programs serving essential workers, Vermontcreated a statewide stabilization program for childcare providers that closed during the pandemic, and Michiganaims to provide grants to all providers, whether open or closed. While states have taken important steps to assist the child care sector, they rely on federal funds to help support these efforts—and will need more federal investments to continue.
5. Assistance with Housing
The federal partialeviction moratorium expired inlate July andmillions of people risk eviction and utility shutoffs.Mass evictions will overwhelmingly burden communities of color and women, in particular Black women. Several states, including Massachusetts and Oregon, extended eviction moratoriums through the fall and others extended them for several weeks after the public health emergency ends.Several statescreated rental assistance programsto helpprotect rentersfrom eviction now and after moratoria expire, including Pennsylvaniawhich recently unveiled a $175 million rental and mortgage assistance plan.
6. Establishing State Workplace Safety and Health Standards
The Occupational Safety and Health Agency received more than 6,000 complaints about unsafe work conditions,but hasn’tenacted a “Temporary Emergency Standard” requiring all employers to provide COVID-19 specific safety protections for workers. The agency’s failure to act endangers millions of frontline workers, many of whom are women of color. Virginiatook charge to address this void by becoming the first state toadopt its own enforceableEmergency Temporary Standard.Fourteen other states have passed temporary safety guidelines to ensure physical distancing, handwashing, and disinfecting procedures. These states give me hope that when this global health crisis is over, we will look back and see thatourpre-pandemic paradigm hasshifted to center the lived experiences of women and communities of color.