Texas Policy Harms Undocumented Women

Undocumented women in Texas often do not seek needed health
care for fear of being stopped at checkpoints, while others are refused care
due to their undocumented status. But in an
op-ed in the Houston Chron, Center vice president of U.S. policy and
advocacy Angela Hooton and National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
executive director Jessica González-Rojas speak out about ways to address the
disproportionate harms to women and immigrants inflicted by Texas policies.

Hooton and González-Rojas advocate a human-rights-based
approach to health policy:

Reproductive health care should be
treated as a fundamental human right in our state. This means Texas should
strengthen the investment in preventive care so clinics can serve women in all
parts of the state, not just those in urban areas. It means expanding affordable
reproductive health services so women never have to choose between paying for
contraception and feeding their families. Further, it means training and
recruiting health-care providers to treat all who come through their doors with
respect and dignity.

The article coincides with a new
report detailing how the state of Texas has systematically created a human
rights crisis for women and immigrants.