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remain, the right to abortion guaranteed under the Constitution has no meaning . Unfortunately, for a low-income woman, whether she will have access to abortion is determined both by where she lives and by her bank balance .
The Health and Rights of Pregnant Women and Mothers
Contraception and abortion are part of the continuum of women’s reproductive health care needs, and the effect of income inequality on other reproductive health outcomes unfortunately follows the same trend line as it does for abortion . Far from the headlines surrounding a new abortion restriction signed into law in Kansas, or a sneaky amendment passed in Congress, the United States has a maternal mortality crisis . Maternal mortality rates have more than doubled in the United States between 1990 and 2013 .37 This alarming increase is nothing less than a human rights crisis and is especially troubling given that during the same time period, an overwhelming majority of other countries saw maternal mortality rates decline .38 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least half of maternal deaths in the United States are preventable .39 Further, there are stark disparities when it comes to the populations most affected . Black women are four times more likely to die from pregnancy related complications than White women .40 As maternal mortality outcomes are closely related to women’s overall health and pre- existing conditions, low-income women are at a considerable disadvantage .
Working women, especially those working low-wage jobs, deserve to earn a living in a job that offers stability and benefits and allows for them to preserve their health and that of their families . Working mothers are the primary or sole source of income for 40 percent of families with children under the age of 18 .41 And women in the U .S . are working in low-wage jobs in large numbers; in fact, women comprise 76 percent of workers in the 10 largest low-wage job categories (such as child care workers, housekeepers, personal care aides and food servers); Hispanic women, Native American women, and Black women are all disproportionately represented among low- wage workers in the U .S .42 Yet women working low-wage jobs are less likely to have access to job protections should they become ill or pregnant, or if they need time off to care for a sick child or family member .43 With women as both primary family caregivers and the majority of low-wage workers, paid family and medical leave can be critical to their family’s economic survival and to their health .
37 reproducTive inJusTice: racial and gender discriminaTion in u.s. healTh care—a shadow reporT for The un commiTTee on The eliminaTion of racial discriminaTion, cenTer for reproducTive righTs eT al .12, (2014), available at http:// reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/CERD_Shadow_US_6.30.14_Web.pdf.
38 Id.
39 sTephen J. Bacak eT al., cenTers for disease conTrol and prevenTion, sTaTe maTernal morTaliTy review— accomplishmenTs of nine sTaTes 1 (2003), available at http://www.cdph.ca.gov/data/statistics/Documents/MO-CDC- ReportAccomplishments9States.pdf.
40 Francine Coeytaux et al., Maternal Mortality in the United States: A Human Rights Failure, 83 conTracepTion J. 189 (2011), http://www.arhp.org/publications-and-resources/contraception-journal/march-2011.
41 Wendy Wang et al., Breadwinner Moms, pew research cenTer 1 (May 2013), http://www.pewsocialtrends. org/2013/05/29/breadwinner-moms/.
42 Joan Entmacher et al., Minimum Wage: Women are 76 Percent of Workers in the 10 Largest Low-Wage Jobs and Suffer a 10 Percent Wage Gap, NWLC (April 2014), http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/women_are_76_ percent_of_workers_in_the_10_largest_low-wage_jobs_and_suffer_a_10_percent_wage_gap_april_2014.pdf.
43 44 Million U.S. Workers Lacked Paid Sick Days in 2010: 77 Percent of Food Service Workers Lacked Access, iwpr 2, (Jan. 2011), http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/44-million-u.s.-workers-lacked-paid-sick-days-in-2010- 77-percent-of-food-service-workers-lacked-access#sthash.UV6GZ4pU.dpuf (noting majority of workers in food preparation and serving and personal care services were not eligible for paid sick leave).
Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality