FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 23, 2023
CONTACT: Virginia Lucy, media@napawf.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tomorrow marks one year since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women Health Organization overturning the constitutional right to abortion. 

“Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women continue to feel the reverberations of the overturning of Roe,” said Isra Pananon Weeks, NAPAWF’s Interim Executive Director and Chief of Staff. “The Supreme Court’s unprecedented and callous decision, along with state bans and restrictions that have followed, continues to jeopardize the health, safety, and economic stability of people of color, including AAPI women.”

Abortion care is a critical part of reproductive health care for the AAPI community. A third of AAPI pregnancies end in abortion and more than 1.3 million AAPI women of reproductive age live in the 26 states that have banned, severely restricted, or attempted to ban abortion. Even before Roe was overturned, the path to abortion for many in the AAPI community was marked by cultural, economic, and systemic barriers, including language barriers, deep cultural stigmas, and low rates of insurance. 

“NAPAWF’s organizers and our members have been working in Florida, Georgia, and Texas to push back against dangerous abortion restrictions, including advocating for resolutions at the local level to decriminalize abortion,” said Kristina Doan, NAPAWF’s Chief Field Officer. “Grassroots advocacy is a powerful tool and we continue to organize so that every person is able to make their own reproductive health decisions and ensure AAPI voices are being heard.” 

NAPAWF will be hosting a virtual community briefing, One Year After Dobbs: Abortion Access for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, on Thursday, June 29. Learn more or register to attend at napawf.org/dobbsoneyear. 

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The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) is the only multi-issue, progressive, community organizing and policy advocacy organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and girls in the U.S. NAPAWF’s mission is to build collective power so that all AAPI women and girls can have full agency over our lives, our families, and our communities.