The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the largest immigrant rights organization in California, stated it “stands strong” with women in the US and throughout the world after the US Supreme Court’s ruling ending federal protection for an abortion, and that women should have the right “to make their health care decisions” without government intrusion.
“We say this unequivocally: a government cannot protect life by making war on women,” the organization stated in a release. “We work daily with immigrant women whose human rights have been violated, both here and in their countries of origin. The criminalization of the right to an abortion is a principal reason women become refugees.
“So in upholding the civil and human rights of immigrants, we believe those rights include the right to decide when and with whom to have a child. Women’s rights, all women’s rights, are human rights.”
The organization stated further, “As a woman-led, progressive organization, CHIRLA must affirm women’s agency in these most private and personal of decisions. This decision, like many made recently by this Supreme Court, most hurts people on the margins of mainstream society — in other words, our community of immigrants and people of color.
“We recognize this decision as part of a barrage of political attacks that aim to disappear us. We refuse to disappear, and we will continue to fight for all women to assert their right to control their own bodies. We will work with our elected leaders in California to continue protecting abortion rights in this state and we pledge our support to women facing persecution elsewhere for seeking one,” the statement said.
CHIRLA Executive Director Angelica Salas was even more direct in disparaging the SCOTUS ruling that was handed down on June 24.
“This ruling is part of political conservatives’ long-running attacks on women and is [part of] their attacks on immigrants and people of color,” Salas said. “We stand on the other side of that line, and we do so resolutely and wholeheartedly. We believe immigrant women and all women of color, just like everyone else, are entitled to all of their rights, not just some. This includes the right to make their own health care decisions.
“Women migrate to the US to assert all their rights, including reproductive freedom. The Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization completely undermines them. And those who will suffer most are poor women of color, including immigrant women. The right to an abortion in this country, which women have had for nearly half a century, ends today, thanks to a decision clearly tainted with political bias and demagoguery.”
Salas went on to say the court’s decision on Dobbs, “will change life for women in the US, but this is not the end. We remain committed to fighting for every civil and human right that exists for immigrants, in principle and in deed.
“Times are difficult now, but we work and live for the day when women, men and children will not have to fear for any of their rights. It’s clear today that the US needs permanent solutions coded in law to ensure protections that would otherwise be tried and eroded in the courts. Congress must act now to protect safe and legal abortion.”