Last month, Bloomberg compiled stories from ten women about what their decisions to terminate their pregnancies meant for them and how the Supreme Court’s Dobbs Decision will affect women’s abilities to make choices about their lives. CLPHA Board Member Ivory Mathews, executive director of Home Forward, shared how her medically necessary abortions saved her life, and how her mother’s lack of reproductive healthcare affected the trajectory of her life.
Ivory concluded by connecting the Dobbs Decision to housing authorities’ work to improve the lives of low-income families. “Working in affordable housing, I don’t see my job as just brick and mortar,” said Ivory. “Like, those are people that live inside of these units: people with stories, people who need access to health care, who are always on the wrong end of decisions like the Dobbs decision. I see all of the barriers that disenfranchised communities face, and access to reproductive health care is at the top of the list.”