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In Tribute to Dr. Dorothy Height, A Champion of the Reproductive Rights of Women of Color

Statement of Reverend Dr. Carlton W. Veazey, President and CEO, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

April 21, 2010

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice mourns the loss of Dorothy Height, president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women and the matriarch of the civil rights struggle, who died Tuesday at the age of 98. While remembering Dr. Height’s six decades of leadership for racial justice and gender quality, let us also lift up her passionate support for the reproductive rights of women of color.

Dr. Height was an original signer of “We Affirm – African American Women Are for Reproductive Freedom,” the 1989 statement by African American women who were social justice leaders that exhorted women of color to “remember our history, our continuing struggle for freedom.” This historical document reflects RCRC’s mission to address the reproductive issues of women of color, those living in poverty, and other underserved populations.

In the 1970s, after the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion, Dr. Height was one of six prominent Black women leaders who issued a statement endorsing Medicaid coverage for abortion. The statement contended that women of color were disproportionately poor and that “the vast majority” of women “who died at the hands of incompetent practitioners in the days before abortion was legal were Black and Brown.”

Dorothy Height was a visionary who saw the connections among civil rights, women’s rights, and reproductive rights. Let her quest for justice and equality be an inspiration to us all.