Some worried the overturning of Roe v. Wade will disproportionately impact Black women

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Some experts believe the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will have damaging consequences on women of color.

“It’s going to hit our communities pretty hard,” said Deon Haywood, executive director of Women with a Vision.

According to 2021 data from the Louisiana Department of Health, 65% of abortions were performed on Black women.

In a 2019 CDC report, Black women are four times more likely to get an abortion than white women and are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related complication.

“This is going to be mentally challenging to women,” said Gayle Griswold from the NAAC Baton Rouge Branch.

Experts say Black women also fall behind in other socioeconomic categories that could affect their ability to have a child, and care for it.

“Most Black women are heads of household in this state, and many of them are living below the poverty level, and yet this is just another added problem for them to have to deal with,” Haywood said.

Haywood said she is worried this will create mental health challenges in communities where access is already limited. Grisworld believes this will lead to a rise in both unsafe abortions and domestic violence-related incidents.

”It hurts to me to think about the things that could happen,” Grisworld said.

The goal is to now empower women through education and have tough conversations to stay prepared.

”Don’t be afraid to have the conversation about what would we do, what would I do, what will my daughter do, what can we do in the community to make sure that we’re holding each other in the moment that it’s looking to be very difficult for us moving forward,” Haywood said.

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