Greetings, 19th friends!
We’re thrilled to welcome two new hires: Deb Pang Davis, our product designer, and The 19th's social editor, Kassie Navarro.
Deb is a multidisciplinary designer currently based in Syracuse, New York. Previously, she was senior UI/visual designer for LensCulture, assistant professor of design at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and an independent digital designer working with photographers worldwide. Her first day is Monday, June 29.
Kassie comes to us from the LBJ Foundation, where she has led digital and social strategy for the LBJ Presidential Library for the past six years. A native of Laredo, Kassie has degrees in communication and global studies from St. Edward's University. She lives in Austin, and officially joins The 19th on July 15.
Please give them both a warm welcome!
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Abortion rights supporters rally as the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in June Medical Services v. Russo on March 4. (Alyssa Schukar/Center for Reproductive Rights)
A CASE TO WATCH
As the U.S. Supreme Court’s term draws to an end, the justices have yet to release one of their most anticipated decisions — one that could profoundly disrupt abortion access across the United States.
- The central question in June Medical Services v. Russo, a case out of Louisiana, is if states can require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.
- If the court upholds the Louisiana law, pro-choice advocates say that only one of the state’s three abortion clinics would stay open. There are around 10,000 women who obtain an abortion in Louisiana each year.
Abortion restrictions have impacts outside of reproductive health. Research shows a link between abortion access and improvements in economic outcomes for women.
- A study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research showed that abortion legalization in the 1970s increased Black women’s odds of graduating high school and attending college.
- The National Bureau of Economic Research found that debt more than 30 days past due increased by 78 percent among women who were denied abortions. Negative public records like bankruptcies and evictions increased 81 percent.
- In 2018, 20 percent of working age women in Louisiana were living below the federal poverty level — among the worst rates in the United States. Additionally, 30 percent of Black Louisianans were living in poverty.
The Supreme Court’s decision will have a ripple effect that extends much further than Louisiana, which experts call “the canary in the coal mine.”
- Pro-choice advocates fear that a win for Louisiana would spur other state legislatures — like Texas — to put more abortion restrictions in place.
- According to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion policy, more than 350 pieces of legislation restricting abortion were introduced across the country in 2019. — Abby Johnston
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Breonna Taylor's death looms over Kentucky primary election
By Errin Haines
More than 100 days ago, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman, was shot to death in her Louisville apartment by police officers serving a no-knock warrant in the middle of the night. Despite weeks of national attention and ongoing protests in the city, none of the officers have been charged, though one was fired Tuesday, and progress in her case has been painfully slow for her family and the larger black community grieving her death.
Frustration and heartbreak over the Taylor case loomed over Tuesday’s primary election in Kentucky, particularly in Louisville, home to most of the state’s black population. Female black organizers in Louisville say many voters told them that Taylor was on their minds as they cast their ballots.
“People are energized,” said Keturah Herron, the American Civil Liberties Union Kentucky policy director who drafted Breonna’s Law, legislation that would ban no-knock warrants. “It’s very unfortunate that it had to be on the back of a black woman’s death, but it’s also exciting to see folks galvanized in a way that I’ve never seen in my lifetime. I think it does send a message.”
The national reckoning on race is also the backdrop for the overall primary cycle in the pandemic. The killings of unarmed black people, the disproportionate deaths of African Americans related to the coronavirus and voting challenges in black communities in state primaries have turned the protest rallying cry into a question: Do black lives matter?
Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown was on the ground in Louisville and said local organizers have been working to transform protest into power, particularly among young voters.
“When we talk to folks, they seem like they’re real determined and committed to voting,” Brown said. “The Breonna Taylor incident has activated them. They want some justice. That’s motivating a lot of them to cast a ballot.”
Read our full story at the Washington Post.
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ANOTHER RECORD
This year marks a milestone: A record-breaking 54 Republican women have secured nominations in U.S. House races, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. This edges out the previous record of 53 GOP women in 2004.
By comparison, 114 Democratic women have won nominations in U.S. House races so far. The record for Democrats stands at 182, which was set during the 2018 midterms.
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 What we’re reading
Curated by May Olvera
Where the women aren't: on coronavirus task forces. Despite making up 70 percent of the world’s health workforce, women’s expertise has largely gone untapped on coronavirus task forces. As a result, women’s issues have become a blindspot in COVID-19 relief. (NPR, June 24)
The battle over Title IX and who gets to be a woman in sports: inside the raging national debate. Students, activist groups and lawmakers alike have long mulled the question of whether transgender student-athletes should be allowed to compete among peers who share their gender identity. A lawsuit in Connecticut raises questions about what it means to be a woman and what role sports play in young people’s development. (ESPN, June 23)
The alpaca ranch that’s creating a rural utopia for trans people. As unemployment spikes during the pandemic, trans people have become increasingly vulnerable to poverty and homelessness. But some have found refuge in Colorado’s Tenacious Unicorn Ranch, an off-the-grid Alpaca sanctuary and trans collective. (Vice, June 25)
NASA names headquarters after its first African American female engineer. On Wednesday, NASA announced it will be naming its Washington, D.C. headquarters after Mary W. Jackson, the agency’s first Black female engineer. Jackson joined NASA in 1958 and became part of a team of women who helped American astronauts reach space. (TIME, June 25)
A governor on her own, with everything at stake. For the past few months, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has juggled crisis after crisis alone from her living room. As she continues to turn panic into action in the face of each disaster, she is confronted by what it means to lead people who have lost faith in their government. (New York Times Magazine, June 25)
🎧 Listen: Black medical workers reflect on the front lines of covid and racism. Black medical workers talk about the dual pandemics they are currently facing. “My brown skin is protected by blue scrubs, by a hospital ID that says ‘Stanford,’ and ‘MEDICAL STUDENT’ in big blue letters. The black gunshot wound patients I meet in the trauma bay don’t have that luxury.” (KQED, June 24)
📺 Watch: The current state of women's sports. In the first episode of this eight-part series, women athletes sit down to share the challenges they face in a male-dominated industry and the strides they’ve made toward both gender and racial equity in sports. (The Players’ Tribune, June 22)
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