We Stand with Reproductive Freedom

Our work at the Austin Asian American Film Festival (AAAFF) is rooted in expanding and deepening understanding of the AAPI experience. AAAFF will continue to uplift and provide avenues for anyone affected by the overturning of Roe v. Wade to share their stories and learn about the resources they need to make decisions for their reproductive health. 

Per the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), here are some ways that AAPI women in Texas face unique barriers to abortion due to the Supreme Court decision:

• The distance they need to travel to get an abortion increased by 3,017% or an average of 525 miles.

• Asian Americans are overrepresented in frontline, low-wage jobs — making it difficult or impossible to get the time off from work and money for transportation and overnight accommodations to travel for an abortion.

• Six in 10 Asian Americans are immigrants, and 16 percent are undocumented. The criminalization of abortion heightens fears of adverse immigration consequences for undocumented individuals, refugees, and other immigrants regardless of their immigrant status.

• Sixty-six percent of Asian Americans and 30 percent of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders speak a language other than English at home and experience difficulties in accessing health care due to language barriers. 

• Asian Americans face economic hurdles and immigration barriers — as well as centuries-old cultural stigmas that discourage conversations about reproductive health.

• AAPI women face an increased risk of criminalization for their pregnancy outcomes because of racial profiling rooted in anti-immigrant sentiments and false claims that AAPI women end pregnancies because they prefer sons over daughters.

• A third of AAPI pregnancies end in abortion, showing the necessity of this care in our community. 

Eighty-five percent of AAPI women support abortion access. An Asian American woman was the first to be incarcerated with feticide and neglect of a dependent after she had a negative pregnancy outcome outside of a medical setting in 2015. Read NAPAWF’s full Statement of Solidarity for Abortion Justice and sign on.

Our community partner Asian Texans for Justice is a great way to get involved civically. Their leadership participated in the Unity March in Washington D.C. following the announcement from the Supreme Court.

Support your local AAPI Health & Women-led Organizations that will need to provide services for the negative outcomes that come with banning abortion.

• Asian American Community Health Initiative Services of Austin

• North Austin Universal Health Clinic

Organizations & Resources:

• National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) - has a Texas Chapter

• Fund Texas Choice

• The Bridge Collective

• Jane’s Due Process

• The Lillith Fund

Sources:

• National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) Abortion Solidarity Statement

• Intersections of Our Lives AAPI Women Fact Sheet

• NAPAWF Fighting the Criminalization of Pregnancy Outcomes

• NAPAWF Sex-Selective Abortion Ban Fact Sheet

Additional Resources from NAPAWF

• “Fighting for AAPI abortion care means disaggregating data,” by Jenn Fang (Prism, June 14th, 2022)

• “Overturning Roe Will Threaten the Lives of Those Who Depend on Abortion Care the Most: People of Color,” by Sung Yeon Choimorrow, Marcela Howell, and Lupe M. Rodriguez (Ms. Magazine, December 9, 2021)

• “AAPI women have been overlooked in the abortion fight. But our voices matter,” by Sung Yeon Choimorrow (Washington Post, The Lily, October 1, 2021)