By: Natiece Ford In the words of Donald Trump, “I don’t care what she is…” The September 10, 2024 presidential debate between cur-rent Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump did not focus on the race or gender of either candidate. Rather, women’s rights, the Affordable Care Act, immigration, inflation, and foreign policy were major topics of discussion. Th e question is how do these common issues usually raised during election times affect the Black community, and will history repeat itself? Early in the debate, both candidates were asked about their stance on the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade and abortion rights. Former President Trump stated that he would make exceptions for cases of incest and rape while repeatedly claiming that the Biden administration would allow abortion in the “7th, 8th, and 9th months,” which was quickly debunked by moderators. When asked again, he never gave a clear yes or no answer to whether he would veto an abortion ban. Vice President Harris promised to sign a bill when passed by Congress to reinstate the protections of Roe v. Wade. The landmark Supreme Court case that began in Dallas County, Texas, in 1970 and was finally ruled on in 1973 made restrictive state regulation of abortion unconstitutional, although the ruling would be overturned in 2022, bringing women’s rights back to the forefront politically. In a journal article on “The Impact of Hostile Abortion Legislation in the United States” published by the National Library of Medicine in 2023, studies found that Roe v. Wade reduced the maternal mortality rate for women of color by 30% to 40%. In another study mentioned in the same article, if a total abortion ban were to go into effect, maternal deaths would increase by 33%. In other words, Black women die twice as oft en as their white counterparts from pregnancy-related issues countrywide, while states like New York report maternal mortality as high as five times. In an attempt to prevent postpartum maternal deaths, New York passed a law extending pregnancy Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months postpartum, coverage that […]
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