I have worked my entire professional life as a psychologist with the underserved, largely in the Bronx and Washington Heights in New York City. In New York, women are more fortunate than others because there is a health care network that provides reproductive rights without severe restrictions or limited access to both the insured and the uninsured. This is not the case in many other parts of the country. Women living in states that restrict access to contraception and abortions find themselves in a pre-1972 scenario, living in fear of an unwanted pregnancy. A poor woman is disproportionately disadvantaged because she is unable to access reproductive health care. If there is no access nearby, she cannot afford to travel to it. And even if it is available in her immediate area, without medical coverage she cannot afford reproductive health care.
It is my heartfelt belief that deciding what to do during an unplanned pregnancy is one of the most difficult choices a woman must make in her life. Increasingly, more and more women do not (or will not) have the ability to make that choice, be it because of lack of access to reproductive care, lack of funds for a termination, or legislated shortened time constraints. As a psychologist/psychoanalyst who is deeply concerned and aware of the importance of the infant’s early years, I have seen firsthand the adverse impact of the panic, fear, depression, and potential rejection that evolves from an unwanted pregnancy as a source of distress. The severe mental illness associated with maternal rejection is among the most disturbed of mental disorders.
With the increased threat to women’s reproductive rights and access to health care for all under the incoming administration, my family and I are not standing idle. Lin-Manuel, my genius son and supporter, partnered with Prizeo, a celebrity digital fundraising platform, to run a spectacular sweepstakes that will allow a lucky winner to attend Hamilton in each location it is running—NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco—in 2017. (My husband, Luis Miranda, was instrumental in helping to shape the prize, recognizing the appeal of the trifecta!) The funds raised will be donated to Planned Parenthood in an effort to keep its health care clinics open, particularly in rural and underserved areas—where this is a life-or-death issue, to be sure. The winner will have fun, but the many who are participating should be forever proud that their support helped Planned Parenthood continue to thrive.
I entered young adulthood on the cusp of Roe v. Wade. The terror of unplanned pregnancy receded with the knowledge that I would have a choice if/when I was ever confronted by that situation. I’ll never know what became of my classmate: Did she attain her goals, despite her teenage pregnancy? Was she coerced into an early marriage? Did she keep the child? Give the child up for adoption? I’ll never know. In supporting Planned Parenthood, I seek to support the reproductive health and choice of all women. I hope you will, too.
