In recent weeks the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has conjured debate on her legacy, in regards to what she has done for women’s rights and concern over women’s autonomy in the wake of it. There is no question that RBG has had an effect on the feminist movement and has made changes for women, but she is not the “icon” that many feminists throne her to be. As it happens often with decisions involving women, it has to be questioned what demographic of women benefit from certain policies. RBG’s legacy cannot be the embodiment of feminism if it is not intersectional.
The most prolific decision RBG was involved in was Roe V Wade, granting women rights to abortion and choice as a whole. Roe V. Wade was monumental in its time for granting women autonomy to their bodies. It allowed women to choose regardless of where they worked. You could not be fired for wanting to have children. Arguably, however, this decision helped white women more than it did Black women and Immigrant women. Abortion is an expensive service that can range anywhere from $300-$950, which benefits a large white and middle class demographic. It’s imperative to note that Black women and other women of color are disproportionately less wealthy, and at this time would not have as much access to these services as their middle-class counterparts. Marginalizing these women even further in this regard happened due to the Hyde Amendment.
Roe V Wade was passed in 1973, but the Hyde Amendment was passed in 1976 and intentionally discriminated against poor women of color. This amendment blocked women who relied on Medicaid for health insurance to be granted access to abortion services. While RBG may not directly be responsible for this amendment, it is pure respectability politics if this amendment is not brought up in conversation with Roe V. Wade. The Hyde Amendment and Roe V. Wade must be discussed synonymously. Roe V. Wade benefited predominantly white women, and as a result, harmed Black women and women of color because of this amendment.
Women of color are more likely demonized, stereotyped, and targeted for choosing what to do with their bodies. As we’ve seen in regards to reproductive health Black, Indigenous, and other women of color, were left behind in this law. In response to clinics offering these services, fake Crisis Pregnancy Centers opened up. These fake centers are an unseen reality when talking about reproductive health. They are specifically set up in low-income neighborhoods and attempt to target Black women and women of color. Because women of this demographic are more likely to rely on Medicaid for health services, these CPCs show up in Medicaid’s listings offering reproductive services. Deceptively they offer, free ultrasounds and abortion services, however, they do not live up to what they are meant to provide. A lot of women report being judged and humiliated for their circumstance, talked into not receiving an abortion, and are dissuaded from receiving birth control.
A few days before RBG’s passing, Dawn Wooten became a whistleblower regarding how the US performs mass hysterectomies on women in the ICE centers. A hysterectomy is a procedure that removes all or part of the uterus, impairing the ability to have children. Women in these centers reported going in for a regular check up, only to come back a few weeks later with massive pain. Dawn Wooten reported this out of concern for the large number of women who were getting referred to have this procedure. The story made headlines forcing people to reflect on mass sterilization of immigrant women at the hands of the US government. The US has a history of doing this before to Indigenous women forcibly in the 70s and to Puerto Rican women. More than 70,000 women have been sterilized forcibly since the 20s. Just days after Dawn Wooten became a whistleblower and there were social media pleas to protect her as it is plausible she would be targeted, RBG passed on September 18th, 2020. The news about the mass hysterectomy was revealed on September 14th, 2020.
Just days after learning about what is happening to women in the ICE centers, the story was swept under the rug, and debate of RBG’s legacy took a prominent hold. Predominantly white women took to social media to express how this loss threatens women’s autonomy, abandoning women of color once again. There were two extremes in these spaces, both operating from various privileges. One side hailed RBG as a feminist icon, while the other criticized her decisions not only in regards to Roe V. Wade but also misinterpreted statements regarding her opinion on Colin Kaepernick’s protest. There was also legitimate criticism of her decisions involving Indigenous women and their land (rightly so). The conversation still misses the overarching point in how predominantly Black, Indigenous, and women of color have always had their bodily autonomy threatened in the US.
As long as women’s bodies are politicized in this way, women are unable to truly have freedom of choice over their bodies. Black, Brown, Indigenous, and women of color will continuously stand to have the most to lose in terms of autonomy. Choice should not be a debate, it should be a given. Women should be able to choose regardless, and the idea that this must be debated shows how there was never a right to choose in the first place. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not your “Feminist Icon”, because her decisions were not truly intersectional in allowing all women the right to choose. While it is inaccurate to simply label her as a pillar for “white feminism”, it is still critical to view her impact on all women. You cannot discuss reproductive rights in regards to RBG, without also considering the US history behind mass sterilization, analyzing how it affects BIPOC women disproportionately, and how it continues to happen.