We Asked 7 Reproductive Rights Organizations About The Alabama Abortion Ban & All 7 Denounced It

“We have been seeing increasingly more attacks to reproductive rights, like this inhumane law in Alabama, and what worries us the most about these bans is that communities with fewer resources, especially immigrant communities and communities of color, pay the highest price," Bethany Van Kampen, senior policy analyst for National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, tells Bustle via email.

"Those with resources will always find a way to get abortion access. But our community already faces so many barriers to seek[ing] reproductive services — they often work several jobs to make ends meet and live in under-served communities — they simply don't have the time nor the resources to go out of state to get an abortion. That is why contrary to news narratives that typecast the Latinx community as too conservative to support abortion access, eight in 10 Latinx voters believe that women should have the right to make personal decisions about abortion. Let’s be clear, they do not support this ban."

"As a physician serving the families of Alabama for 15 years, I know that abortion is health care. If the anti-abortion politicians leading our state of Alabama make the grave mistake of passing a bill that would criminalize those who provide abortion care, it would have a disastrous effect on the health and well-being of Alabamians. Physicians will be unwilling to help patients in need, even when continuing pregnancy is detrimental to a patient’s health, or potentially fatal, out of fear of being scrutinized by the criminal justice system," Dr. Yashica Robinson, a board member of Physicians for Reproductive Health, said in an email sent to Bustle.

"It is inappropriate for lawmakers to insert their own belief systems into complex, personal health decisions that could affect my daughter and the people I take care of in Alabama. We must protect the health and lives of our loved ones and the future generations of our families."

Ginny Ehrlich, CEO of Power to Decide, tells Bustle: "All people deserve unrestricted access to reproductive health services, and access to abortion is part of the full range of reproductive health services. This access is essential to achieve health equity. The recently passed Alabama law undermines women’s health by eliminating the opportunity all people deserve — regardless of who they are or where they live — to decide if, when, and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child."

"It’s not hard to imagine how abortion bans in the U.S. would affect women — we see the harrowing consequences in countries with strict bans every day. In El Salvador, more than 50 women have been prosecuted and imprisoned for suspected abortions, including women who have suffered miscarriages and stillbirths," Paula Avila Guillen, director of Latin America Initiatives at the Women’s Equality Center, tells Bustle.

"In Argentina, young survivors of rape and incest have been denied their right to a legal abortion and instead forced to risk their lives to continue the pregnancy or seek an unsafe, clandestine abortion. Make no mistake, the efforts in Alabama, Georgia, and other states to ban nearly all abortions will propel us toward this dire reality unless people across the country rise up and use their voice to actively protect our reproductive freedom."

"Extreme lawmakers in Alabama had a singular goal in mind with HB 314: to overturn Roe v. Wade and cut pregnant people off from accessing the care they need," Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, said in a statement emailed to Bustle.

"While Roe never was a guarantee of reproductive health and rights for pregnant people of color, an outcome where Roe is overturned, even in part, would be devastating to our communities and other communities [that] most likely to struggle with achieving full self-determination. AAPI women now call on the courts to stop this outrageous attempt to topple Roe by listening first and foremost to our voices and the voices of others most likely to be experience barriers to obtaining care with dignity."

"NAPAWF will not stop fighting for our agency to make decisions about our lives, our families, and our communities. We demand that the courts do the right thing and listen to communities of color to stop this draconian law in its tracks."

Laura McQuade, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of New York City says: "This degrading bill strips patients of their fundamental humanity and individual autonomy. Planned Parenthood of New York City will NOT stand idle while lawmakers use extreme and dangerous legislation as a jackhammer to dismantle abortion access and vital health care. PPNYC is doubling down on its mission for our current patients, and for all New Yorkers and people across the country who will need to find their way to our health centers."

She also says that the organization is expanding its services to help more people in need. "As part of that effort, PPNYC is moving forward to merge with four New York Planned Parenthood affiliates to provide more services, better care, and greater opportunities for our patients to make their own decisions about their reproductive health. It’s called Planned Parenthood of Greater New York. PPGNY and our sister affiliates across the state are human rights sanctuaries for all who need us."

"We are not surprised by these outlandish tactics by anti-choice politicians. They know the majority of Americans support safe and legal abortion access, which is why they resort to lies and misinformation to prop up their radical anti-choice agenda. We are thrilled to see Yellowhammer fund [offering funding for anyone seeking care at one of Alabama's three abortion clinics] uplifted and an outpouring of support. We want to see that support sustained," Yamani Hernandez, executive director of the National Network of Abortion Funds, tells Bustle.

"In 2017 abortion funds on average had only a fifth of the funding they needed to support the totality of people calling for help. Abortion Funds know that Roe v. Wade has never been a promise to actual access to an abortion and have been navigating a landscape of reduced access, heightened logistics, and impending criminality for decades. Abortion fund members haven't waited for the government to do its job to ensure people get to the care they need."

"From our perspective, there's three things people can do right now. They can donate to a local abortion fund. They can become a member and anchor to their local abortion fund for ways to volunteer and take action within our political and cultural agenda. They can remember that everyone loves someone who has had an abortion and that Audre Lorde said, 'Despair is a tool of your enemy.' Our movement is fueled by the love our people as we get them to care and power."

With seven states passing bills to severely restrict or ban abortions altogether, limiting reproductive rights will undoubtedly endanger the health of people seeking to terminate pregnancies.

The good news is that you can start fighting back by actively supporting and donating to groups that provide safe abortions. Because choice is empowerment. Period.