Roe v. Wade overturned: Reactions from Black women leaders

Good morning, fam!

Hope you had a great Juneteenth weekend! I had a great time continuing tradition and getting a chance to relax.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade in a 6-3 vote.

Roe v. Wade was a 50-year-old precedent that protected a woman's right to have an abortion. In May, concerns about Roe's future were heightened after Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion was leaked to the public.

"It broke my heart because I'm thinking about the people who today found out they were pregnant, who found out they were pregnant a few weeks ago and are trying to figure out what to do," St. Louis Congresswoman Cori Bush said after hearing the news of the ruling. "To restrict people's right to their own bodies and decisions, it broke me down."

Bush spoke in court in September about being sexual assaulted at 17 and then having an abortion after finding out she was nine weeks pregnant.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to a crowd in Chicago about what this decision means for the future.

"For nearly 50 years, we've talked about what Roe v. Wade protects. Today, as of right now, as of this minute, we can only talk about what Roe v. Wade protected."

"This is a health care crisis," Harris continued. "Millions of women in America will go to bed tonight without access to the health care and reproductive care they had this morning, without access to the same health care or reproductive health care that their mothers and grandmothers had for 50 years."

In Tennessee, state lawmakers including House Minority Leader Karen Camper, Sen. Raumesh Akbari and Sen. Brenda Gilmore were among those who tweeted their disappointment.

"I personally believe that we don’t spend enough time on finding solutions to the reasons why some people have to have abortions," Camper said.

"This is so personal that it should not be left to the courts," Gilmore tweeted.

Meanwhile, Akbari wrote: "I'm honestly in shock ... And scared for women in states like #Tennessee where abortion will be illegal in the next 30 days."

What Black Tennessee Voices are talking about this week:

The conversations around the SCOTUS decision have sparked a lot conversations about women's reproductive rights and child care.

I want to take this time to invite you to share your thoughts in a personal essay. You can send your work to the email in my signature below. I recommend your entry be 300-400 words.

Have a great weekend, and be sure to stay cool!

Blessings!

LeBron Hill is an opinion columnist and editor for USA TODAY Network Tennessee and the curator of The Tennessean's Black Tennessee Voices newsletter and Facebook group. Email him at lhill@gannett.comor tweet to him to @hill_bron or find him on Instagram at @antoniohill12.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Roe v. Wade overturned: Reactions from Black women leaders