For Immediate Release: April 3, 2025
Contact
Lasamee Kettavong, media@napawf.org
Catherine Lozadae, media@latinainstitute.org
Kindeya Chiaro, inourownvoice@berlinrosen.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Yesterday, leaders from Intersections of Our Lives (Intersections), a collaborative of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda (In Our Own Voice), and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice (Latina Institute), rallied in front of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) during oral arguments for the Medina v. Planned Parenthood case.
“This case asks a simple question: Do Medicaid patients–people with low incomes, people of color, and immigrants–have the right to challenge a state when it illegally takes away their healthcare provider? The answer should be obvious: Yes, of course they do. But South Carolina wants to say otherwise,” said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of NAPAWF. “Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women and gender-expansive people already face some of the greatest barriers to care. Many of us–especially immigrants–rely on Medicaid for essential care. This case could make an already dire situation even worse. We will not stand for it. The Supreme Court must affirm what we already know: Healthcare is a human right. Medicaid patients—just like anyone else—deserve the freedom to choose where they get their care.”
“The courts have already ruled on this issue three times. The law is clear: states cannot interfere with Medicaid patients’ right to choose their healthcare provider,” said Lupe M. Rodríguez, Executive Director of National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice. “We demand that the Court uphold that right once again. To the politicians and extremists trying to take away our freedoms: We see what you’re doing. We will not let you win. To our communities, to our allies, to every person who has ever relied on Planned Parenthood for care: We will fight for you, We will fight with you, We won’t stop until we have true reproductive justice for all.”
“This case before the Supreme Court is exactly what it looks like: yet another attack on Planned Parenthood and the critical health care services they provide to our communities,” said Dr. Regina Davis Moss, President and CEO of In Our Own Voice. “However, it’s so much bigger than this one case–this decision will have devastating impacts on Black women, girls and gender-expansive people, people with disabilities and low-income folks who rely on Planned Parenthood as one of the few providers that accepts Medicaid. Anti-choice politicians have made it clear that they will stop at nothing to strip us of our bodily autonomy–but we will fight with everything we have to push back and ensure that doesn’t happen. In Our Own Voice and our partners will continue to hold our elected officials accountable and double down on our efforts to advance policy solutions rooted in Reproductive Justice.”
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Intersections of Our Lives is a collaboration of In Our Own Voice: National Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda (In Our Own Voice), the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice (Latina Institute), three women of color-led national Reproductive Justice organizations with both a federal and statewide presence. For more information about Intersections of Our Lives visit: IntersectionsofOurLives.org.
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