Abortion Explained!
Disability Justice
Disabled people deserve abortion access.
People living at the intersection of multiple identities and experiences are disproportionately impacted by abortion bans and other barriers when it comes to accessing abortion, especially disabled people. State and federal restrictions on abortion like insurance coverage bans, multiple appointments, and government-mandated delays only make abortion access more difficult to navigate for disabled people. The way society treats us and doesn’t support our disabilities and needs may contribute to our financial or housing insecurity, lack of accessible transportation, and lack of necessary support from people in our lives while getting an abortion. Disabilities that impact our motor function, physical movement, vision, hearing, speech, cognitive abilities, or mental health and emotions mean we may need additional assistance making an appointment, getting to the clinic, reviewing consent forms, physically accessing the procedure room, and leaving the abortion clinic among other things. Some of our disabilities may also require additional lab testing and care from clinic staff, which unfortunately can both increase the amount we have to pay and the time we spend waiting to have our abortion. It’s imperative that we ensure everyone—including disabled people—are able to access the abortion care we desire.
Disabled people have abortions, and we all deserve inclusive and compassionate healthcare that considers our specific needs.
“I’d been cycling so quickly between mania and depression that I was not suicidal, exactly, but I was so reckless with my life that I didn’t care about what happened to me...Having an abortion allowed me to seek the mental health help I needed because I was able to try different medications. I eventually found the medication that I needed, but that was a long, arduous process that was pretty debilitating. If I’d had a child at that time, I don’t think I would have made it through that.”
— Aimee Arrambide, We Testify Storyteller
History of reproductive coercion and disability justice.
Our nation has a dark history that can’t be ignored. For centuries, the government has exerted control and coercion over our bodily autonomy and reproduction, particularly for disabled people, people living on low incomes, incarcerated people, and people of color. This, unfortunately, is a history that shapes the reproductive experiences of disabled people even today.
Before our rights as disabled people became more protected through policies and healthcare reform, many laws prevented disabled people from having children by forcing reproductive sterilization on people whom state governments and medical providers deemed “unfit” to parent. As many as 70,000 disabled people, people of color, and women were forcibly sterilized in the 20th century as a result of these eugenic ideologies. Disabled people were committed to state institutions for the mentally ill without their consent, and these institutions routinely housed people who were only institutionalized as a result of inadequate access to healthcare and mental health stigma.
Sometimes, disabled people are coerced into pregnancy decisions they may not choose for themselves because of the ableist myth that people with disabilities cannot parent or cannot decide to terminate their own pregnancies.
Even today, whether or not we can consent to abortion (or contraception, pregnancy, or adoption) as a disabled person can still be determined by a judge since no laws currently protect that right for disabled people, which is particularly troubling considering disabled people are twice as likely to experience sexual assault. For many of us who are disabled, our reproductive health decisions are left up to judges, state governments, legal guardians, family members, and other people who may not have our best interests at heart and make decisions based on ableist beliefs and assumptions. In cases of medical conservatorship, parents or guardians of disabled people who are of legal consenting age can still make medical decisions on behalf of their adult children, which may not be the pregnancy decision the person would make for themselves.
Abortion Reason Bans.
Politicians trying to ban abortions exploit ableism and misinformation to dictate who can have abortions and for which reasons, all under the guise of supporting people with disabilities without actually making sure our nation has adequate safety net systems. So-called disability abortion bans do not actually protect or support disabled people.
Across the country, state legislators have pushed legislation, “reason bans,” that would require abortion providers to refuse to offer abortion care to patients who are choosing an abortion because of a health indication or diagnosis. These laws would limit the ‘reasons’ that someone can have an abortion, and particularly aimed at people who might choose abortion because their pregnancy has been diagnosed with a lethal fetal anomaly or another genetic disorder where the fetus may not survive the pregnancy and it may put the pregnant person’s life in jeopardy. These laws require patients to continue the pregnancy, despite the impact on their and their fetus’ health—which is dangerous.
Abortion Bans and Disability Justice.
Like abortion stigma, ableism is pervasive throughout our society and shapes the way people think about and treat disabled people. Unfortunately, language and messaging about disability and abortion are also influenced by ableism, both in the movement for and against abortion access.
Common anti-abortion propaganda insists that abortion causes depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or “Post Abortive Stress Syndrome”, despite several studies dispelling that myth. Not only is this medically inaccurate, but it also contributes to the stigma of mental illness. By claiming that depression is caused by abortion it negates the very real reasons people have depression—whether because of their body’s makeup or as a result of trauma, for example—and blames their mental health on their reproductive decisions. This is ableist and wrong.
Those who are attempting to ban abortion, particularly later abortions, exploit the lives of disabled people as a reason to restrict abortion and further stigmatizes the realities we experience. Reason bans are introduced to restrict the cases of disability-related abortion, most recently and specifically Down Syndrome or Trisomy 21, for example. Some people seek later abortions because of pregnancy diagnoses of the pregnant person or a diagnosis (or likelihood of a diagnosis) that can affect the development of the fetus. With some of the diagnoses, a pregnancy can continue and a fetus can be born with a disability and continue their lives, while others the pregnant person may choose to terminate the pregnancy. All decisions are unique and valid. What is a challenge is how we discuss it—which must not include ableism as some have when supporting a person’s right to abortion.
Historically, advocates have appealed to those who might want to ban abortion in most cases but not all by establishing the notion that abortions after a certain point are only performed when it comes to specific conditions that could affect a disabled person’s “quality of life.” But this argument is harmful.
The idea that abortion is inherently acceptable in cases where the fetus would not develop in an able-bodied way is rooted in ableism—the mistreatment, prejudice, and discrimination towards disabled people and disabilities. Regardless of disability being a spectrum, how able-bodied we are is not a measure of our ability to thrive, love, and live a happy and fulfilled life. And yet, when we argue abortion is okay (or only okay) because disability is involved, we reinforce the way institutionalized ableism harms communities that are most vulnerable. Establishing criteria of diagnoses that are excluded from abortion restrictions implies people with those disabilities are a burden on society. Abortion is a valid decision, but our argument cannot be at the expense and well-being of disabled people.
Arguing that abortion is acceptable in cases of disability only allows those who want to ban abortion to push legislation that further restricts abortion on the basis of that specific medical necessity, while also banning abortions in most cases and only allowing it in cases where a patient is nearing death.
No one should be forced to be a parent if they don’t want to, but we must fight for a world where access to abortion isn’t further complicated by our disabilities. No matter what, people should be able to make that decision for themselves, with evidence-based medically accurate information and people they trust, like their medical provider and loved ones.
Using a reproductive justice framework, the answer is not further restricting abortion but actually improving access to healthcare for people with disabilities, ensuring families have support, and our society provides the necessary therapy and specialty care needed to ensure children (and adults) with disabilities are able to thrive in our communities.
Our society has a problematic tendency to measure a person’s quality of life by how able-bodied we are, even though disability is a spectrum and what determines our quality of life is entirely subjective; not for our government to weaponize to restrict abortion access. It is not up to lawmakers to decide the quality of life of a person based on our disabilities, and the only person who should be deciding the outcome of their pregnancy is the person who’s pregnant.