Activism

COMMENTARY: Right Wing Judges Put Millions’ Rights and Access to Health Care at Risk

Don’t ever forget that the judges who are willing to sacrifice reproductive freedom are usually just as eager to allow states to restrict voting rights. The right-wing judges who vote to eliminate individuals’ right to privacy and health care are often the same judges creating new “rights” to protect corporations’ ability to buy elections, get away with harming workers and communities, and discriminate against some of their employees.

Published

4 years ago

December 8, 2021

Oakland Post

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way. Jealous has decades of experience as a leader, coalition builder, campaigner for social justice and seasoned nonprofit executive.

By Ben Jealous, President of People For the American Way

The political and legal movement to criminalize abortion in the U.S. is on the brink of its biggest victory in 50 years. Most at risk are those who are already among the most vulnerable in our country: Black and Brown women and LGBTQ people who will be denied access to potentially lifesaving health care.

On December 1, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of a Mississippi abortion ban. That law was written by a right-wing legal group. It was part of a long-term strategy to get the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that recognized that pregnant people have a constitutional right to make decisions about whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.

Groups that want to eliminate access to abortion like to describe themselves with terms like “pro-life” and “pro-family,” but those are deceptive. If we eliminate access to family planning and abortion services, the health of millions will be compromised. Some will die needlessly. Their families and communities will suffer.

Futher, the same groups call themselves “pro-freedom,” but they are aggressively trying to restrict people’s freedom to make decisions about their own health and families.

If you want a sense of how much parents’ and children’s health and well-being mean to backers of the abortion ban, take a look at Mississippi. When the state’s previous governor signed the ban, he declared that he wanted to make Mississippi “the safest place in America for an unborn child.” The current governor has used similar language, saying he made a commitment to God and to voters that he would do everything in his power to make Mississippi the safest place for an unborn child.

But what kind of commitments have these politicians made to children and their parents?

When the Mississippi law was signed, the state ranked 50^th in the health of women, 50^th in the health of children, and 50^th in the health of infants. It was the worst state for infant mortality.

Things haven’t changed much since then. Mississippi is also the state where Black people make up the biggest percentage of the population. During oral arguments at the Supreme Court, the attorney for the health clinic that challenged the law talked about a deadly reality: she noted that “it’s 75 times more dangerous to give birth in Mississippi than it is to have a pre-viability abortion. And those risks are disproportionately threatening the lives of women of color.” This is about political power and the corruption of our courts.

When Donald Trump ran for president, he promised conservative white evangelical leaders that he would put judges on the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Don’t ever forget that Senate Republicans refused to even consider President Barack Obama’s last Supreme Court nomination for a year.

They abused their power to create a Supreme Court vacancy for Trump to fill. Then these same shameless politicians took advantage of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death to rush Trump’s final nominee onto the Court a few days before the 2020 election — as voters were already casting ballots to dump Trump out of the White House.

And don’t ever forget that the judges who are willing to sacrifice reproductive freedom are usually just as eager to allow states to restrict voting rights. The right-wing judges who vote to eliminate individuals’ right to privacy and health care are often the same judges creating new “rights” to protect corporations’ ability to buy elections, get away with harming workers and communities, and discriminate against some of their employees.

Like the right-wing campaign to restrict voting, the campaign to eliminate access to safe and legal abortion has built power through organizing at the state and national levels.

We who believe in freedom must do the same. Among the activists and protesters who gathered outside the Supreme Court on December 1 was a group of interfaith leaders who provided the moral clarity and urgency that the progressive movement needs to more effectively defend our freedom and our families.

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way. Jealous has decades of experience as a leader, coalition builder, campaigner for social justice and seasoned nonprofit executive.

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Activism

The Ladies of Delta Sigma Theta Hold Day of Advocacy at the Capitol in Sacramento

A member of the “Divine Nine,” Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., was founded on Jan. 13, 1913, at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The organization was established by 22 women who sought to shift the group’s focus from social activities to public service, academic excellence, and social activism.

Published

1 week ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

Sen. Laura Richardson (D-San Pedro) presents a Senate resolution to the Delta Theta Sigma Sorority Farwest Region at the State Capitol on May 4. Photo courtesy of the Senate Rules Committee.

By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

On May 4, members of the Farwest Region of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., convened at the California State Capitol for the organization’s 23rd annual Delta Days in Sacramento.

The two-day advocacy event brings together chapters from across California to engage directly in the legislative process, connect with lawmakers, and advocate for policies impacting Black communities.

Members of the sorority were honored on the Senate floor by Sen. Laura Richardson (D-San Pedro), who is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta.

Richardson welcomed the Farwest Region during the presentation of a Senate resolution recognizing outgoing Regional Director Kimberly Usher for her leadership and service.

“In addition to the Far West Region, we are led by a fearless leader, regional director Kimberly Usher. She has now served her full term of what’s allowed,” Richardson said. “We are going to be having our regional conference, but we wanted to give it to her here, officially recognizing her service.”

The resolution was co-authored by Richardson and fellow members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) and Delta Sigma Theta, Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego) and Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom (D-Stockton).

Usher has served in the leadership role since 2022.

“We are founded on sisterhood that is deeply rooted in scholarship, service, and social action,” said Weber Pierson, a member of the Gamma Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

“Today, we continue a legacy of empowering communities and upholding the high cultural, intellectual, and moral standards established by our founders over a century ago,” she added.

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Rep. Kamlager-Dove Introduces Bill to Protect Women in Custody After Reports Detailing Miscarriages and Neglect

The Pregnant Women in Custody Act would expand safeguards beyond the federal prison system to include women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The proposal follows reports of pregnant women being shackled, denied medical care and suffering miscarriages while in immigration detention.

Published

1 week ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) on May 7, reintroduced updated legislation aimed at strengthening protections and healthcare standards for pregnant and postpartum women held in federal custody, including in immigration detention facilities.

The Pregnant Women in Custody Act would expand safeguards beyond the federal prison system to include women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The proposal follows reports of pregnant women being shackled, denied medical care and suffering miscarriages while in immigration detention.

The legislation builds on a bipartisan version previously passed by the House during the 117th Congress. The updated bill includes new standards for healthcare access, mental health and substance use treatment, high-risk pregnancy care, family unity protections and increased federal oversight.

“Proper pregnancy care is a human right, regardless of your immigration or incarceration status,” Kamlager-Dove said in a statement. “It’s unacceptable that there are virtually no legal safeguards for pregnant women in federal custody.”

The bill would also limit the use of restraints and restrictive housing for pregnant women, improve data collection on maternal health in custody and require additional staff training and enforcement measures.

Supporters of the measure said the legislation is intended to address long-standing concerns about maternal healthcare and safety in detention settings, particularly for Black women and low-income women who are disproportionately impacted by incarceration and health disparities.

“Pregnant women in custody should never be subjected to dangerous and inhumane treatment that threatens their health, dignity, or the well-being of their babies,” said Patrice Willoughby, chief of policy and legislative affairs for the NAACP and a longtime public policy and government affairs strategist, in a statement.

A 2021 report estimated there are about 58,000 admissions of pregnant women into U.S. jails and prisons each year. Kamlager’s statement also cited a recent investigation by NBC News and Bloomberg Law that identified allegations of severe mistreatment or medical neglect involving at least 54 pregnant women or families in county jails between 2017 and 2024.

Federal policy under the Department of Homeland Security restricts the detention of pregnant, postpartum and nursing immigrants except in extreme cases. However, the agency reported that ICE deported 363 pregnant, postpartum or nursing women between January 2025 and February 2026, including 16 recorded miscarriages during that period.

The bill is cosponsored by several House Democrats and backed by organizations including the NAACP and the Vera Institute of Justice.

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Activism

OPINION: The Fire of Oakland’s Justin Jones

Jones made headlines three years ago when he was one of a pair of Justins. Along with fellow State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), he fought their removal from the state house in Tennessee and won reinstatement. Now, Pearson is running for Congress and Jones is still fighting for all of us.

Published

1 week ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville). File photo.

By Emil Amok Guillermo

You may know Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville).

He grew up in Oakland and the East Bay. His mother is Filipino. You can tell by his full name Justin Shea Bautista Jones.

His father is African American.

He is fighting for all of us.

Now, Pearson is running for Congress and Jones is still fighting for all of us.

The recent 6-3 Supreme Court decision barring the use of race in drawing congressional districts marks a major turning point in U.S. history.

The decision took away the Voting Rights Act’s power to assure minority voices were both heard and represented.

“What we’re seeing now is this new Jim Crow system in which Black and Brown communities are without voice in our political process,” he told Fredricka Whitfield on CNN last weekend.

“That’s a canary in the coal mine for the rest of the nation. If they come for one of us, they’re coming for all of us, and some of my message to America is that the South is the front line of democracy,” Jones said. “They are dismantling multi-racial democracy here in the South, in states like Tennessee and Louisiana. But they aren’t going to stop here.”

That’s why Jones said we have to start paying attention to the South, and start helping them fight back there,” he said.

“I want to be clear that this terror, this type of system they’re enacting, are the same systems my grandparents told me about who grew up in Tennessee, a system where people like me couldn’t even be in political office. That’s the time they’re bringing us back to and I’m not sounding the alarm to be alarmist. But I am sounding it because we’ve seen this before in our history.”

Jones talked about Reconstruction and about what happened between the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1960s, when there was no Black political representation.

It’s a rebellion to keep our democracy going forward, he said.

“Stand with us and help us fight back against this extremist power grab — this racist power grab against our vision of a multi-racial democracy,” Jones added.

“While there is a litigation strategy, it’s important to maintain what he called a “movement strategy” that leads to the largest voter mobilization and registration that has ever been seen in the South,” he encouraged.

In 2026.

“Tennessee is an oppressed state,” Jones said. “It’s a state where one in five Black voters can’t vote because of felony disenfranchisement. It is where you can use a gun permit to vote, but you can’t use a student ID card to vote.

That’s the Asian American African American voice of Justin Jones.

Read his words for inspiration.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a veteran journalist, commentator, and comic stage monologist. His new show “69, Emil Amok: Anchorman—The News Made Me Do It,” is at the San Diego Fringe at New Destiny/Lincoln Park, 4931 Logan Ave. Ste. 102. May 14-23, at various times. Get tickets here.