Yahoo Finance Meghan Markle Speaks Out About Abortion Rights in a Post-Roe America
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were serving as working royals and representing the monarchy in a formal capacity, they remained tight-lipped on any issue that could be deemed too political—though what exactly crossed that line was unclear. Prince Charles's focus on climate change, for example, has been deemed appropriate for decades.
But now that she has stepped away from that official royal role, Meghan is making a decidedly political statement, sharing her reaction to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in a new conversation with Gloria Steinem, moderated by journalist Jessica Yellin, over on Vogue.com.
Describing her reaction to the ruling restricting abortion access as "guttural," Meghan spoke about how the reversal of Roe v. Wade is already affecting women's lives and bodies. "Women are already sharing stories of how their physical safety is being put in danger. Women with resources will travel to get an abortion, those without might attempt to give themselves one at tremendous risk," she said. "What does this tell women? It tells us that our physical safety doesn’t matter, and as a result that we don’t matter. But we do. Women matter."
The Duchess of Sussex also reflected on the impact the ruling will have on the Black community. "Women of color and especially Black women are most impacted by these decisions because most of us don’t have the same access to health care, economic opportunity, mental health resources…the list goes on. It’s difficult to overstate what this decision is going to do to these communities," she said.
And she called for men to support reproductive rights. "Men need to be vocal in this moment and beyond because these are decisions that affect relationships, families, and communities at large. They may target women, but the consequences impact all of us. My husband and I talked about that a lot over the past few days. He’s a feminist too," she said, speaking, of course, about Prince Harry. "His reaction last week was guttural, like mine. I know that for so many women right now, there is a sentiment of despair. But again, we have to band together and not wallow. We have to do the work."
Meghan also made it clear that this was only the beginning of her work on the issue. She plans to continue advocating for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment alongside Steinem, even suggesting that she would like to go to D.C. to campaign for its enactment. "Well, Gloria, maybe it seems as though you and I will be taking a trip to D.C. together soon," she said.
Read the full conversation over on Vogue.com.
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