Life after Roe v. Wade: A Q&A series on reproductive justice

When the Supreme Court overturned the Constitutional right to abortion in June, our country took a significant step back on women's health and rights. We're still seeing the setbacks play out—abortion is protected in only 21 states. Over 20 million women have lost their right to choose whether and when to have children. The impacts are disproportionately felt by women of color and low-income communities: research has shown that nearly half of the women who get abortions are already living below the poverty line.

At the same time, our team at Acumen America sees every day the positive momentum around innovation in women's health, both in entrepreneurs that we've invested in—like Amanda Ducach and Melissa Hanna—and in the broader ecosystem. While the impacts of the Supreme Court decision will be felt for decades to come, we believe there is a huge opportunity for these innovators to help mitigate the impact of the court's ruling—and design and build a better future. To get a look into some of the work that's happening on the ground, we spoke with three people fighting for reproductive justice across the country for a Q&A series: 

• Monica Simpson, the executive director of the Atlanta-based organization SisterSong works at a grassroots and national level to help build better policy and influence systems change for reproductive rights in America's marginalized communities.
• Sandy Brown, the executive director of the Kansas Abortion Fund, which helps provide financial support to Kansans who are seeking an abortion.
• Amanda Ducach, the founder and CEO of SocialMama, an app that provides mothers mental health resources, classes, community, and more.

And in the coming months, we'll continue to focus on women in America. Later this year we are launching a theme that examines how America is tilted towards white men, why low and middle-income women continue to struggle, how the pandemic's setbacks made things more difficult, and where we can go from here to build a better future for women, and, subsequently, for all Americans.

Catherine & Amon