Media

The Grassroots Activists Who Made Affordable Abortion An Election Issue

ThinkProgress

September 2, 2016

“It’s been an honor and a pleasure to witness young women of color take the reins of reproductive rights organizations in the last twenty years,” Johnson said. “It’s the most visibility of women of color in leadership positions in decades.”

Johnson, who as been at URGE for 17 years, said that the real push to build political power to repeal Hyde began around six years ago. She and other leaders in the movement expanded their outreach, connecting to the generation of people most affected who had been ignored.

“People were like ‘Damn, they are finally paying attention to me,’” she said. “And other people were shocked, they had no idea the government was using the Hyde Amendment to deny women health care because they were poor.”