Though the mainstream media’s virtual silence on the issue suggests otherwise, the HIV epidemic continues to rage in the U.S., and African Americans and blacks are those hardest hit.
On the horizon is a greater integration of services and population level outcomes with health rather than individual disease case numbers as the sole measure of success or failure. And syphilis reminds us of why this is so utterly necessary.
What role does racism play in the disgracefully high rates of low birth-weight, prematurity, and infant deaths among African-American infants and the high rate of maternal death among African-American women?
There will always be a part of me that is fond of “choice,” such as the part of me that believes in the reproductive justice movement. But the part of me that must endure seeing my sisters denied access, or scrutinized for using the resources they do have, knows that choice is only for a few.
