As the country heads into the midterm elections, The Root spoke with Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson to discuss what’s truly at stake for reproductive rights. Reflecting on the expiration of a year-long funding ban passed under President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, Johnson highlighted the devastating impact the resource drain has had on women across the country who rely on local health centers for basic care and potentially life-saving screenings.
“The majority of Black women live in states with abortion bans, and as we know, abortion bans have made pregnancy more dangerous. We know that defunding Planned Parenthood has impacted health centers all across this country, even in blue states where many of us live. And that means defunding things like STI tests and access to contraception and cancer screenings,” Johnson said.
Access to safe and reliable reproductive healthcare is particularly important to Black women, who have a maternal mortality rate three times higher than other groups.
Johnson says politicians need to hear the stories from Black families who have struggled to receive the care they need.
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“I can’t think of anything more horrific or egregious than Black women dying. I think those are the stories that we are hearing: women who’ve been sent to parking lots to wait for sepsis to set in to get basic access to life-saving medical care. Black men talking about the experiences that their partners are having being ignored because we have an incredible maternal mortality crisis that’s only gotten worse. Every time the rest of the country gets impacted by care, we catch the worst version of that. We catch the flu, we catch pneumonia, and that’s essentially what’s happening with Black women in reproductive health care,” she said.
Johnson believes increased restrictions on abortions could have a severe impact on an already devastating maternal health crisis affecting Black women. She says the government needs to act now to ensure women’s right to healthcare is protected under the Constitution.
“There’s been a 234% increase in maternal mortality for Black women in states with abortion bans. So we think this is just about a medical procedure; what we are talking about is the impact on the entire medical care system that is abandoning Black women at a time when we most need access to care,” Johnson added. “We need federal legislation to codify reproductive freedom, and we need to fight for a constitutional amendment, you know, years from now.”
Going into this midterm election, Johnson wants to ensure that the financial barriers that prevent women from screenings and treatment are removed.
“We need to make sure that we have comprehensive research that centers all women, but particularly Black women’s lived experience. We need to ensure that Title X remains a strongly funded program so we get access to contraception for low-income communities,” Johnson continued. “I think we have to reimagine what reproductive health care and freedom look like with our bodies and our lives at the center of that policy to ensure that we can take care of everyone.”
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