Roanoke, Va. – LGBTQ members are alarmed that an overturn of Roe v. Wade could be challenging their personal health.
Protests erupted nationwide when the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft of the majority opinion was leaked and showed a strike down of the Roe v. Wade decision.
But as a trans woman, Dolly Davis, who is the president of the Ladies and Gents of the Blue Ridge-Transgender Alliance, is worried that her body autonomy is on the line.
“The transgender community, unfortunately, has been delegitimized for many years,” Davis said. “The people are trying to erode our rights, telling us what we can and can’t do.”
Studies show the symptoms of gender-affirming therapies can put transgender people at risk for infertility.
“It’ll thin the line of the uterus,” Davis said. “It’ll make the testosterone become less in transwomen.”
According to a 2019 study, “nonbinary and gender-diverse people found that 36 percent of respondents considered trying to end a pregnancy on their own, without clinical supervision.”
Malinda Britt, a senior community health educator with Planned Parenthood, said the LGBTQ community already faces limited access to healthcare.
“[They] have not been respected in terms of their identities and because of that historical treatment I think it would make sense why folks would feel concerned.”
Davis said after going to a doctor for seven years for hormone therapy, a new doctor came in with a new message.
“The doctor said that my needs were too difficult, and I need to go elsewhere,” Davis said. “So, I was removed from the practice.”
The Roanoke Diversity Center is ready to open its doors and offer support groups no matter what the U.S. Supreme Court justices decide.
“When big things like this happen we do find that folks that were pretty confident about coming out they might feel less so,” Roanoke Diversity Center President Peter Volosin said. “They might feel like they need to go back in that closet because they are unsure of what this means under the law.”
Volosin said he is also concerned that an overturn in this case could mean same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ rights will be reversed.
“We just got marriage equality and for us to counter what’s happening in the Supreme Court we need to vote.”
A final decision from the U.S Supreme Court could come in June.