Recent studies have shown that the number of abortions has risen nationwide since the reversal of Roe in 2022. These same studies also expose how women seek alternative routes for their care. For Black women, this search isn’t new.
Structural racism has made it so that generations of Black women struggle outside the system for reproductive care. Medical exploitation and discrimination have also created a deep mistrust in mainstream healthcare systems.
Natural remedies like cotton root, castor oil, and sadly, even more extreme measures have been used in our community for everything from inducing labor to causing an abortion, all because access to care has been criminalized, restricted or outright denied.
For Black women, it isn’t just about bodily autonomy. It’s also a matter of access. While we have used alternative routes for generations to get the care we needed, reproductive health care has never been the standard or readily accessible for Black women.
We have always been on the outside looking in. But we have also, throughout history, made a way out of no way. Just because we have found workarounds doesn’t mean we should ever stop fighting for the access to care that we deserve.