Concerned UUs filled the room on Sunday. The focus of the meeting was the intersection of Racism and Restriction of Women’s Bpdies. Two articles were recommended to read before the meeting. Participants-in the room and on line left the meeting with a broader understanding of the ways women of color, and  non-gender conforming individuals are being affected by the ruling-directly and indirectly.

One was an interview with Renee Bracey Sherman, founder and executive director of We Testify, an organization dedicated to telling the stories of people who have had abortions, focused the discussion on this larger issue and racism. The interview started with the following introduction: The calls of activists have forced a national reckoning with the legacy of white supremacy in our country. That reckoning has led us to examine the systems that exert control over and oppress Black lives, from policing to reproductive health care.There is a long history of the ways that reproductive freedom has been denied to Black women. There is also an important history of the ways that people of color, led by Black women, have built movements to liberate themselves and reclaim their bodily autonomy. Link here to the interview.

The second article was Abortion is also about racial justice, experts and advocates Say by Sandhya Dirks An excerpt: Colon is the founder of Shero, an acronym for Sisters Helping Everyone Rise and Organize, which helps fight for equal access to abortion in a state that famously has only one remaining abortion clinic. It’s the clinic that was at the center of the lawsuit that overturned Roe v. Wade.”We are here for all women and girls, all people, but our specific target — and we’re unapologetic about that — is Black and brown,” Colon says.Colon makes it clear that includes “non-gender conforming individuals and trans women. That’s what Shero is here for,” she says “because we have been left out.” Link here to the NPR article.