Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani joins Cheddar News to discuss Roe V. Wade being overturned.

Between Bells

SCOTUS Eliminates Constitutional Right to Abortion

welcome back everyone, tensions are running high here in the U. S. After the Supreme Court overturned roe v wade earlier today. This ends 50 years of the constitutional right to an abortion. Joining us now to discuss is florida. State Representative ANna S. Kimani representative Welcome to the show. What's your immediate reaction to this decision? Devastating, absolutely devastating for women and americans and our collective freedoms around this country. Now, according to a research organization that supports abortion rights, 860,000 abortions were performed in the US in 2019. Almost a million, what does this mean for women seeking abortion care across the country now that this decision has come down But one in four american women in this country have made the personal private decision to end their pregnancy. Oftentimes they are already parents, they're navigating financial obstacles. They're just choosing what their destiny will look like. And right now in this country, 26 states are poised to move quickly to ban abortion, including 13 states that have laws that go into effect immediately with this devastating decision. So that's nearly half Of the women in this country of reproductive age, 36 million women who are potentially will no longer have the ability to decide what their futures look like. Representative. I want to talk about your state in particular for now, florida has one of the highest abortion rates in the country. What sort of reactions are you hearing from residents in your state? Complete despair and anger. You know, majority of flirty and over only support access to a safe and legal abortion and also believe in prevention. You know, expanding access to contraception, ensuring that Plan B is readily available and that we're educating our kids about healthy informed decisions. And so we look at our state and its poverty race. And so much of it's also driven by financial disparities tied to systematic barriers whether it's accessing health care, whether it's acting in good paying job, going to a good school. And so we have so many areas of common ground to actually reduce rate of abortion, banning it does not do that, banning abortion turns people towards unsafe means it does not actually end a person's desire to make that personal medical decision, which states can we expect that that are likely to be the first to restrict abortions now? Well, as I said earlier, we already have states that had pending litigations with the Supreme Court. Many states, of course, in the Southeast who are gonna be poised to ban abortion immediately with this decision, states like florida, I suspect antiabortion extremists will be looking towards the next legislative session, perhaps calling for a special session. It's important to note how important this decision is not just to our personal lives, but its ramifications in the midterms because majority of Americans and Floridians agree that abortion should remain safe and legal and this will have a ripple effect against those Republicans who have been plotting and scheming for 50 years now to ban abortion. House Speaker nancy. Pelosi is already saying she wants this To become a midterm election topic. Focus, we know 40 million women of childbearing age live in this country. What kind of abortion restrictions will now come into place? Because I think there's still so much confusion of what happens now. It's gonna be all out bands. You know, in the past, you would see efforts to restrict abortion that were very creative. For example, trap laws which stand for target regulation of abortion providers. So they try to make it more difficult to access an abortion, but they don't completely ban it. You also have these delay laws that force women seeking to end a pregnancy to go to a medical setting, Wait and come back after a certain period of time for no reason, just because they're being judged and shamed. And politicians are trying to get in between that decision with that woman and her doctor or what you're gonna see now is just all out bands, no nuance and the band in Florida at 15 weeks has no exceptions for rape, incest or human trafficking. So, it's gonna be a continued path of this extremism unless we stop it at the polls. We're seeing protests break out across the country. What can abortion advocates do to fight this? If anything, the fights must continue. So advocating at a state level, registering people to vote to turn the tide. This november, of course, support your abortion funds because the reality is that people will still need an abortion in states like florida, abortion is still legal. We are going to continue to see more people have to travel out of their states and that requires funds to support your abortion funds and please make this an election issue. We have to ensure that those republican politicians who have been a part of this coordinated effort to ban abortion are held accountable. A solid majority of americans support the right to an abortion. As you well know, Representative. The question that just comes to mind is how did we get here in the first place? Well, we're not here by accident. You know, this was a coordinated, well funded five decade effort by anti abortion politicians to overturn roe and stir people of the freedom to control their bodies, futures and lives. So much of this is tied to gerrymandering, which again, is why I reject the majority opinion that the electors can decide. I mean, the reality is that a state like florida, we have a gerrymandered congressional map on deck for this november that erases two black access seats that's not democratic. And so it's such a disservice to the people in this country to draw the assumption that politicians will make the right decisions when time and time again, a politician's focused unfortunately, has been on maintaining their own power and writing maps and putting voter suppression into play so that that majority opinion of the people that abortion should remain safe and legal has never actually heard in places like Congress and in state houses like mine. Some analysts are already saying that this ruling will impact poor women who choose abortion in certain neighborhoods across the country. We're also hearing the term trigger laws trigger states. Now, can you talk to me about that aspect as well? For sure. I mean the trigger states references the 26 states that are poised to move quickly demand abortion, including the 13 that have these trigger laws, which means that when a decision comes out like this, their bands go into effect. But I think it is important to center the conversation on those who are directly impacted, which is gonna be the working poor, low wealth folks, people of color, indigenous people time and time again, abortion bans impact every person, but those who already are so marginalized have the most to lose. And we look at data from studies like the turn away study 95% of women who made the decision to end their pregnancy felt like it was the right decision a decade later. And many times you look at the outcomes of those who were turned away from being able to access an abortion and their economic mobility is is much more decreased compared to their peers who were able to make this personal decision. So there are economic ramifications to have money, you'll find a way to end your pregnancy safely. But this, this type of decision. And these types of laws punish poor people for being poor. I want to go back to something you said just a moment ago, how this will affect the safety of many women who are seeking abortion. Now they will go the unhealthy route to Chicago planned parenthood just said, quote, women will die and they are concerned about illegal abortions in our country. Do you think that's the way it's gonna go now? I'm very concerned that women will turn and pregnant people will turn to unsafe means to access bodily autonomy. Now, there is a effort to expand self managed abortion care because again, this is something that that those who support abortion access have been waiting for, you know, roe v wade was the floor not the ceiling. So we have to go beyond road to begin with. But of course the situation is much more dire now because you're trying to reach people who often don't have the same access to information or resources as those of us with more privilege and more and more means. And so we are concerned that people are gonna turn to unsafe measures to end a pregnancy, which is why supporting abortion funds and helping to break abortion stigma is so important. You look at a state like texas where you have a vigilante system that if I ask someone for help to end my pregnancy. I they could they could call me out and get a financial award for that. And I could potentially be, you know, charged with doing something like that, or charge for helping someone end their pregnancy. So remember this is about privacy rights. And and and so how far will our government go to strip away our ability to make personal decisions, not just about a pregnancy, but about who we want to love and who we want to marry. All of these rights are interconnected. Absolutely. Just mentioned texas. I said this a moment ago. Attorney General ken paxton is actually declaring today an annual holiday because of the decision. Yes, my response was exactly the same. We really appreciate your time florida. State Representative on S. Kimani. We really appreciate it. Representative. Thank you.