Black Women for Wellness and Black Women for Wellness Action Project Reflect: Three Years After “Dobbs”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 27, 2025

Black Women for Wellness and Black Women for Wellness Action Project Reflect: Three Years After “Dobbs”

This week marked the three‑year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the federal constitutional right to abortion, leaving the power to regulate abortion in the hands of individual states. Black Women for Wellness and Black Women for Wellness Action Project renew our commitment to the fight for the bodily autonomy and reproductive rights of Black women and girls. The fall of Roe v. Wade has unleashed a wave of abortion bans that have fallen disproportionately on Black communities—and claimed many lives.

Make no mistake, these abortion bans have resulted in devastating impacts from the dangerous delays in access to healthcare — often with deadly outcomes: 

• In Georgia, 28‑year‑old Amber Nicole Thurman died on August 19, 2022, of septic shock and retained pregnancy tissue after providers refused a timely D&C, despite its lifesaving potential. Georgia’s maternal mortality committee later deemed her death preventable.
• Also in Georgia, 41‑year‑old Candi Miller died in November 2022 after self-managing an abortion at home, driven by fear of felony charges over D&C procedures.
• In Texas, emergent stories abound: Josseli Barnica died from sepsis in 2021 when hospitals refused miscarriage care; Nevaeh Crain died of sepsis in October 2023 after being denied hospitalization for miscarriage treatment; and Porsha Ngumezi hemorrhaged to death when doctors declined a D&C for her miscarriage.
• And most recently, Adriana Smith (Georgia, Feb–June 2025) despite being deemed brain‑dead at nine weeks pregnant, she remained on life support for nearly four months so that her fetus could develop for delivery—against her and her family’s wishes—due to Georgia’s strict fetal‑heartbeat law. Her case is ongoing and widely criticized.
• Nationwide, maternal deaths in states with bans surged: Texas saw a 56 percent rise and the U.S. overall surged 11 percent, with nearly double that increase for Black women in a total‑ban scenario.

Further, the fall of Roe has led to increased criminalization or prosecution of patients seeking abortion care: 

• In the case of Brittany Watts (Ohio, Dec 2023), a 33‑year‑old Black woman who miscarried at 21 weeks, flushing fetal tissue down her toilet. She was charged with abuse of a corpse, a fifth‑degree felony that carries up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
• As well as, Amari Marsh, (South Carolina, arrested June  2023), a 22‑year‑old college student wrongly charged with homicide after experiencing a miscarriage. She spent 22 days in jail before a grand jury cleared the charges.

This has reverberated ripple effects throughout the healthcare community and has led to our reproductive healthcare providers being criminalized for providing necessary, life-saving care to patients: 

• Such as in Texas where Maria Margarita Rojas, a licensed midwife, was arrested in March 2025—the first provider targeted under the state’s near-total abortion ban. Maria was charged with a second‑degree felony (up to 20 years) for performing illegal abortions and practicing without a license, along with medical assistant Jose Ley.
• And in New York, Dr. Margaret Carpenter was accused by Texas officials of illegally mailing abortion pills across state lines and was fined $113,000. Fortunately, a NY county clerk refused enforcement, citing New York’s “shield law.”

Know that the incidents listed above are not isolated — they reflect systemic criminalization and medical neglect under restrictive abortion laws. Black women like Amber Nicole Thurman, Brittany Watts, and Adrianna Smith are disproportionately targeted and harmed. A study by Pregnancy Justice documented at least 210 criminal cases against pregnant people in the first year post‑Dobbs – the highest annual total on record. These prosecutions often rest on pregnancy loss or miscarriage and disproportionately impact Black and low‑income women. Additionally, counties in states with near-total bans reported 7–10 percent increases in intimate partner violence, with approximately 9,000 new incidents in 2023 alone.

Since its inception, Black Women for Wellness Action Project has championed the right to bodily autonomy and reproductive health for Black women. We have:

• Led statewide campaigns protecting the right to abortion and contraception.
• Held clinics accountable for disparities in maternal health outcomes.
• Provided community-based education, legal advocacy, and support for low-income and undocumented families.

Our mission has never been more urgent.

On this anniversary of Dobbs, we affirm our demands:

1. The passage of a federal law restoring abortion rights and protecting providers across state lines.
2. The repeal of punitive “personhood” laws that criminalize miscarriage and pregnancy loss.
3. Secure funding for Black-led maternal health initiatives to counter rising mortality.
4. Legal protections for abortion providers—including shield laws like those in New York.
5. Increased funding to community based reproductive justice organizations, like Black Women for Wellness Action Project, so that we can continue to unapologetically push policies that center the health and well-being of Black women and girls. 

Black autonomy is liberation. We will continue mobilizing, litigating, and advocating until every Black person can make reproductive decisions free from fear, shame, or restriction.