Video

Kelly Baden on abortion bans at #IWPR Power+ Summit 2024
Kelly Baden (Vice President for Public Policy) reflects on the difficulty of celebrating wins amid widespread abortion bans and recent tragedies, emphasizing that these harms stem from systemic racism, criminalization, and restrictive policies beyond abortion alone.

Transcript: I was tasked with talking about wins and to be frank, it’s sometimes a struggle to think about them. How do we celebrate when we have lost so much? Fourteen states now have total abortion bans, while others have six-week bans, twelve-week bans, fifteen-, twenty-, or twenty-four-week restrictions—the list goes on—and they’re not stopping there.

On top of these, decades of laws have made abortion more expensive, harder to access and more stigmatized. How do we talk about wins when women are dying? The devastating news last week about Amber Thurman and Candy Miller is heartbreaking.

Their stories are not just about abortion bans, because abortion bans are never only about abortion—they’re about so much more. These are stories shaped by medical and structural racism, chronic illness, fear of criminalization and a hostile climate. All of these harms are created or worsened by abortion restrictions.