From HealthNewsDigest.com

Women's Health
For Women of Color, Access to Vital Health Services Is Threatened
By
Jul 27, 2017 - 9:49:18 AM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Across a broad range of issues, the policy priorities of the Trump administration and conservatives in Congress are likely to have a devastating impact on many Americans. One group at particular risk from current efforts to undo the Affordable Care Act (ACA), gut Medicaid and slash domestic programs are women of color, their families and communities.


Women of color have long experienced stark health disparities in areas like cervical and breast cancer, unintended pregnancy, and pregnancy-related complications. The root causes stem from a long history of racism and discrimination, including lack of access to high-quality, affordable health insurance and care and, for some, a lingering mistrust of the medical community. And yet, even in the face of these many challenges, women of color in recent years have seen marked improvements, such as increases in insurance coverage and declines in unintended pregnancy.

These gains, incomplete as they may be, are now acutely threatened.

Read the full article on The Hill’s Congress Blog.

Marcela Howell is the Executive Director of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda.

Ann M. Starrs is President and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute.


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