In Response to Today's Supreme Court Decision
As a healthcare organization committed to compassionate, affirming care whose core value is bodily autonomy, we are incredibly disheartened by the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. We have spent nearly 4 decades on the front lines of the HIV epidemic. We know better than anyone that Silence = Death
Today’s Roe v Wade decision and subsequent concurring opinion were a stark reminder of the individual and systemic biases our community faces. Discrimination happens every day, whether it be through constant microaggressions or overt efforts by lawmakers, school boards, and community leaders to segregate members of the LGBTQ+ community and make them feel lesser. The clear and present message from our judicial system is that our bodies are not our own.
This single ruling has cascading implications for not only cis women seeking reproductive choice, but also for queer, trans, and non-binary folks who also access abortion and reproductive health services. Beyond that, we see the precariousness of our rights to contraception, interracial marriage, and same-sex marriage as partisan judges seek to unravel a half-century of progress with the fell swoop of their pens.
Though Prism Health cannot currently provide abortion care as a FQHC Look-alike, we will explore all of our options for expanding reproductive healthcare services and partner with other organizations to strengthen the network of care needed.
CAP, Our House, and Prism Health will always offer safe, compassionate and equitable access to health and wellness services to support our community, their rights, and their privacy. You are not alone. Today, we take the time to grieve, be angry, and hold space for ourselves and each other. Tomorrow, we fight.
About Cascade AIDS Project
CAP is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1985 as a grassroots response to the AIDS crisis. As the oldest and largest community-based HIV services provider in Oregon and southwest Washington, we seek to support and empower all people with or affected by HIV, reduce stigma, and provide the LGBTQ+ community with compassionate healthcare. We do so by helping to ensure the health and well-being of our program participants each year through health, housing, and other social services. When the need for affordable, accessible, and culturally affirming primary care services was identified as a community need, we responded by opening Prism Health in 2017. More information can be found at www.capnw.org.
