Dr. Carmen Schaye, National Women’s Political Caucus, Vice President of Diversity

As the politically divided nation approaches November midterm elections, the Supreme Court has radically transformed federal abortion laws. By officially overruling Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, making access to abortion care determined state by state. By fully overturning Roe, 26 states are likely to outlaw all abortions, home to about half the country’s population. President Biden called the Supreme Court decision the “realization of extreme ideology,” a legacy of President Trump’s appointment of three appointees vowing to overrule Roe, who were in the majority 6-3 ruling.

The ruling will have a more modest effect on what it will mean for abortion practices across the states. According to an analysis by Caitlin Myers of Middlebury College*, the projected number of abortions will fall by less than half, legal abortions will fall by around 13 percent, and the fall in illegal abortions using medication sent by mail will be even less. Abortion is already rarer in states that may outlaw abortion than in states where abortion will remain legal. Abortions in New York are 17 times as high as abortions in Missouri.

The rise of medication abortion makes it harder to regulate. More than half of abortions are conducted through medication rather than surgical procedure. Pills are relatively easily accessible online, and state laws are hard to enforce because the pills are sent by mail.

The fall of Roe will look very different for different people. The effect will likely be largest among lower income women who don’t have resources to travel, or access to doctors who can help access abortion pills, which could lead women to seek out physically dangerous methods of ending pregnancies. Black, Hispanic, and younger women who don’t have as many resources will be the most affected.

In addition, the 16 states that have fully committed to protecting abortion will be impacted by a domino effect potentially decreasing medical access to abortion, as residents of those states who offer abortion take in the overflow from other states. Residents of those states offering abortion will likely be impacted in their ability to access medical care and resources, as the incoming of residents from states that do not offer abortion affects the ability to secure timely appointments for any medical procedure. Costs for services in states that protect abortion are likely to increase, putting extra burdens on already overloaded organizations and networks. With an expanded number of people coming into states that offer abortion, we need innovative and creative solutions that will not penalize residents of states offering abortion.

Overturning Roe after almost 50 years is a radical legal change, but it will not end the political fight to end abortion. Medication abortion has made possible a strategy that didn’t exist decades ago. Advocates of abortion will continue their efforts, while abortion opponents will continue their efforts.

Now more than ever we must confront this legal challenge to our rights and privacy by demanding our elected representatives protect a woman’s right to choose her own healthcare decisions. Undermining women’s legal rights to divide the nation politically paves the path to undermining rights for everybody. Controlling reproductive health leads to controlling other aspects of life and privacy. The pre-Roe years included rampant misogyny, sexual harassment, and gender inequality as cultural norms, where young women were expected to move from their father’s house to their husband’s, drastically limiting our freedom, autonomy, and career opportunities. *

As in the United States Civil War of 1861-1865, powerful interests have pitted state against state, neighbor against neighbor, family member against family member, resulting in political division of the electorate. To stop this undermining potentially leading to a catastrophic crisis in women’s civil rights, for the November midterm elections, we need solidarity with freedom fighters organizing to vote for innovative candidates in Congress and the Senate. We need to elect effective pro-choice women and pro-choice candidates who will promote and support a woman’s right to choose across the nation.

We need to demand from candidates what specifically they plan to do to ensure every woman has access to uninterrupted abortion services. What must states do to ensure that all women have access to medical services and abortion? With the increased likelihood of a recession, increased income inequality, and potentially increased lack of access to medical care across the states, we need to ask candidates specifically how their plan solves these problems specific to their state, and how it promotes a federal resolution. By demanding answers from candidates, the November midterm elections hold the opportunity to elect legislators to initiate innovative constructs that unify the electorate around women’s freedom and equality. Most important is that all women vote in the November election and vote for Pro Choice  candidates – Protect a Woman’s Right to Choose.

*Myers, Caitlin Knowles (2017). The Power of Abortion Policy: Reexamining the Effects of Young Women’s Access to Reproductive Control. Journal of Political Economy, volume 125 (Number 6).

*Jong-Fast, Molly (2022). What My Mom Told Me About America Before Roe. The Atlantic, June 22, 2022.

The National Women’s Political Caucus National & NWPC South Bay hosted a Salon Series Symposium on November 6, 2021, featuring Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, Dr. Heidi Hutner (Ecofeminist Scholar, Journalist – MS Magazine & NY Times), Karla Nemeth (Director CA Dept of Water Resources), Laurel Firestone (State Water Resources Control Board) and more.

This symposium focused on the disproportionate effects of climate change, and how women have impacted the world with strategies for ecological democracy and water resiliency. The climate change battle becomes an intersection of environmental impact, inequality, and disproportionate challenges faced by low income women, families and farming communities. We must work towards equity, safety, and access for all. Our goal was not only to educate women from across the United States on climate change, but also to educate women on how they can assemble and organize long-term political strategies, create policy, and combat climate change. It’s not just stating the problem, but it is inspiring women to come together and engage in long-term effective solutions.

Featured Speakers : 

Congresswoman Grace Flores Napolitano, U.S. Representative California 32nd District

Dr. Heidi Hutner, Ecofeminist Scholar, Broadway and Film Producer, Journalist for Ms. Magazine and New York Times

Panelists : 

Karla Nemeth, Director, California Department of Water Resources 

Laurel Firestone, State Water Resources Control Board

Andrea Leon-Grossmann, Director of Climate Action, AZUL 

Gloria Gray, Chairwoman Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors

Shelley Luce, President and CEO Heal the Bay

Honorable Jan Perry, Los Angeles City Councilwoman (Retired)

NWPC South Bay Salon Series from December 12, 2020

“Rent Too Darn High” : A Woman’s Dilemma

Forecasts on the Sunset of the COVID-19 Rent Moratorium & Challenges for Women and Children 

A Conversation with Sarah Dusseault, JD

Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Women & Homelessness 

Sarah discusses information on the impact of current legislation & more.

Residential tenants who were protected from eviction while the County’s residential eviction moratorium was in effect must now pay back 50% of the past due rent, by Feb 28, 2021, and the remaining unpaid rent for the same time period by August 31, 2021.

Kamala Harris Makes History as First Woman Vice President of the United States, What it Means for Women in Politics 

On Tuesday November 3, 2020 Joseph Biden became President-Elect and Kamala Devi Harris, Vice President-Elect of the United States. Biden and Harris sailed to victory.  Harris’s significant success marked breaking one of the highest “Glass Ceilings” on the Centennial of the 19^th Amendment giving women the right to vote. This is an extraordinary fete as Biden and Harris won the 2021 election over the most repressive misogynist incumbent President in modern history.

On January 20, 2021 Kamala will be sworn into office and for the first time, the ceremony will be reflecting the true gender and racial diversity of the United States.  This is a history making day as it affirms that the United States is a tapestry of gender, race, and culture.  Kamala is the living embodiment of America’s gender, ethnic, racial, and religious diversity. As Vice President she turns the page on the popular notion that the summit of leadership is exclusively reserved for Caucasian maleness. Biden and Harris will create the most diverse cabinet in U.S. History representing gender, racial, ethnic and LGBTQ representation in the U.S.  Biden’s first 100 days claim to fulfill the campaign promises which significantly address the needs of the diverse underserved United States including a new coronavirus bailout package, economic relief, immigration, etc. There will be a national mask mandate and increasing the doses of COVID vaccine available for people to be able to be inoculated. These are of extreme importance as people of color are more impacted by COVID.

Kamala Devi Harris, was born October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California. Her father, from Jamaica, taught economics at Stanford, while her mother, an Indian emigré, was a biologist specializing in breast cancer research. Growing up in “The Flatlands” area of west Berkley, Harris was “bussed” to Thousand Oaks Elementary school, as part of Berkley’s desegregation program. As a youth Harris attended both an African American church as well as the nearby Hindu Temple, and this multi-ethnic, multi-faith aspect of her background is an important part of her political persona. Harris has spoken of how influential the progressive views of her maternal grandfather, P V Gopalan (a career civil servant in India and Zambia) were in her formative years.

Harris attended the, historically black, Howard University in Washington DC, chairing the Economics Society and interning in the mailroom of California Senator Alan Cranston. She graduated in 1986, before returning to her native California for law-school.

In 1990 she was hired as a Deputy DA in Alameda County. Since then, she has become a breakout star in the democratic party, going from Assistant San Francisco DA to Vice-President in just nine years (via the California DA and Senate seat.) With this meteoric rise, it is reasonable to think that she might one day be the nation’s first female President. With an increasingly diverse House, Senate, and country, it is tempting to think that this future is getting more likely rather than less.

Harris’ as Vice President represents the walking of a fine line for the Biden administration. On one hand she plays well with the progressive side of the party, because of her personal background and life experiences, at the same time, her history as “California’s Top Prosecutor”.

Political success in America is traditionally about coalition building around the middle, and so Harris is expected to “coalesce” with the progressive wing of the Democratic party. Those on the left, who have been protesting the very visible and worrying instances of police brutality feel alienated, but she was able to flip her “law-and-order” image to a sympathetic listener and an advocate for social justice. The far left is not the mainstream, however Harris and Biden gambled, successfully, on the fact that they could pull centrist conservatives away from the Right and that progressives would vote for them because of their more progressively moderate ways of thinking. Their strategy paid off.

On Inauguration Day  2021 Biden and Harris face the challenge of reuniting and healing a country that historians say is the most divided since the American Civil War. It will take years of political finesse to purge someone as polarizing as Trump from the American memory. The aftermath of the Trump era is likened to a type of Cold War. As we have seen before, “It Takes a Woman” to be able to bring people together.  Harris is that woman, and we know that as Vice President she will be successful in the reunification of our country.

We stand at a moment of optimism for women in politics. First, there are more women in the highest levels of government.  In 2021 this country will welcome 118 women in the House and 26 in the Senate. There are 52 women of color in the 117th Congress. This compares to 2018 in which 110 women were elected to the House and 23 in Senate. This is representative of a massive increase in female participation, from local government all the way, to the very top. Women are now a demographic that candidates cannot afford not to speak to. If this trend continues a moderate democratic candidate with law-and-order credentials will prove that she has what it takes to become the first female President.

Kamala Harris inspires confidence in women. She is a beacon for women of color, as she is the First female Vice President of the United States. She is about strength, ambition, and leadership.  She will initiate the country’s new spiritual direction which will summon a nation to do the work of history and reflects the “strength of our democracy”.   Congratulations Kamala on your excellence.                  

© Dr. Carmen Schaye

National Vice President of Diversity

National Women’s Political Caucus, Washington , D.C

Homelessness is a chronic issue in the United States, particularly in our major cities. Despite our expansive financial resources, thousands of people fall through the cracks each year due to addiction, mental illness, or sheer economic necessity. As such, homelessness is a sort of “canary in the coalmine” for problems in our social safety net. When the infrastructure doesn’t work, people end up on the streets.

The scary reality is that, in modern America, many people are only one unforeseen event–an illness, losing a job, a sudden rent hike–from homelessness. Many are not addicts or mentally ill. They simply couldn’t afford to have a home. That economic reality has endangered a fast-growing population: homeless women and children.

Women are 35% more likely to live in poverty than men, thanks to a compounding set of economic factors. The gender pay gap means that women often take home less pay, and women’s societal role as primary caregivers means that they often have more mouths to feed. These conditions keep women in a vulnerable economic limbo. Coupled with an affordable housing crisis in major cities, women face a daunting path in the face of economic downturn. A single unforeseen event could push these working women onto the streets before they have a chance to make a contingency plan.

Furthermore, the factors that drive women into homelessness differ from their male counterparts. The majority of homeless women (63%) are survivors of domestic abuse, and 1 in 4 reports domestic violence as the main factor in their homelessness. Women who are out of the workforce and rely on abusive partners financially are at high risk for unstable housing after leaving an abusive relationship. These women are forced to make the impossible decision of choosing homelessness rather than enduring continued domestic violence.

While all homeless people are exposed to violence and uncertainty, homeless women are particularly vulnerable. They are far more likely to experience sexual violence. Up to 92% of homeless women have experienced severe sexual or physical assault at some point in their lives.Not having a home often means sleeping in male-dominated shelters. Homeless women have very little access to healthcare and maternal care, should they become pregnant. They are lacking even simple supplies like pads or tampons for their basic health needs. The physical and emotional toll of this daily trauma becomes physically damaging. The average homeless woman in her mid-fifties is as physiologically aged as housed women in their seventies.

Institutional barriers to women’s economic independence fit into the larger picture of misogyny and sexism in the United States. It is no coincidence that the US has the largest number of homeless women amongst developed world nations. Where other countries would provide support structures to ensure women’s safety and provide for their economic well-being in times of need, the United States allows them to fall into dangerous conditions that are near-impossible to overcome. If a society cannot protect its women and children, there is something seriously wrong.

We need to create policies and support institutions that provide people–particularly women and children–with footholds to stop their fall into homelessness. People in economically tenuous positions should not be one bad day away from homelessness. That sort of slippery slope is dangerous for the citizen and expensive to taxpayers. Once someone becomes homeless, it is exceedingly difficult to rehouse and re-stabilize their lives. The economic and social cost can be mitigated greatly by intervening at the earlier stages.

© Carmen Schaye