REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE HAS ALWAYS BEEN ESSENTIAL, ESPECIALLY DURING A PANDEMIC

Article originally appeared on MTV.com on April 29th, 2020.

“The barriers [brought on by COVID-19] might be new to some people, but for young people, these barriers have been amplified,” Victoria Torres, an activist with the Chicago Abortion Fund, told MTV News. The 23-year-old, who received abortion care after the only brand of birth control pills she could afford as a college student failed her, began organizing with Advocates for Youth and joined the Fund as a helpline volunteer; she was moved by the knowledge that a lack of sex education and a lack of health insurance had hindered her ability to advocate for her own sexual health. In her work, she has already seen the economic impact of coronavirus on young people’s reproductive autonomy. Call volume increased at the Chicago Abortion Fund in April, and many of the calls Torres receives are from young people whose work hours have been reduced because of coronavirus, or who are ineligible for stimulus checks or unemployment.