So especially in hostile states, people may fear receiving health care because of fear of deportation. A study by Jessica Hill, a scholar of international conflict management states that and I quote, laws and policies impact health outcomes for immigrants and their families across Immigration and Citizenship classifications, through regulating access to resources like health insurance and health care, and through influencing the overall environment in which immigrants make decisions about health seeking behaviors. So this really highlights how undocumented people and immigrants in general are not able to receive the health care that they deserve because they are weary of the potential for deportation. Even for documented immigrants who are not yet citizens, they could be fearful of accepting governments assistance such as Medicaid or other welfare programs, because it can impact their ability to be granted citizenship. This topic alone could be an entire episode. But I do want to speak about it briefly, because I think it's important that as a movement, we discuss immigrant rights more when we talk about reproductive injustice. So the SparkNotes version of this is that in order for a non citizen, and that is a term used by the DHS or the Department of Homeland Security, so in order for a non citizen to be eligible for citizenship, they cannot be deemed a quote unquote, public charge. So I'm going to read the direct quote from the Department of Homeland Security that was released on September eighth 2022. It says, and I quote, a non citizen who is deemed likely to be a public charge, meaning that they are likely to become primarily dependent on the government for substance can be denied admission or lawful permanent residence known colloquially as a green card, and quote, so in that statement, the DHS is saying that if someone who is not a citizen is deemed to be heavily reliant on the government to survive, they can be denied citizenship, even if they meet all the other criteria, just because the government doesn't want to have to invest in these people. And so historically, non cash welfare programs such as Medicaid and nutrition assistance, were not included in the quote unquote, public charge definition. But under the Trump administration, the use of Medicaid and other welfare programs were considered public charges, which would impact a person's ability to be granted citizenship or permanent residence. Now, this rule has been vacated, as stated in the September 8 issue, September 8 2022, issued by the Department of Homeland Security, but the legacy of that ruling under the Trump administration has caused a decrease in enrollment of non citizens and welfare programs, such as Medicaid. So the legacy of the Trump administration saying hey, if you use these public assistance programs, we're not going to allow you to be a citizen, people are still fearful of that, because they don't want that to be a reason that in the future, they can't get access to citizenship. So also, we can see how easily this ruling is changing through administrations. So I definitely could empathize with someone who's not a citizen saying, hey, this may not be the rule now. But in four years, when as a different president, me accepting this assistance could negatively impact me and prevent me from being a citizen. So am I going to get the health care that I need today? Or am I just going to go without in hopes of being a citizen in the future, and that is a terrible place to put people in, that is a violation of their human rights to have to decide between being a citizen and having your healthcare tech people shouldn't have to worry about, Okay, I'm getting into like no borders. And like I said, this could be a topic on its own. But I just want to highlight how important it is that when we talk about abortion access, we can't just talk about this wealthy white like lens like it's such a bigger picture like this is healthcare. This is people's lives. So it is good to know that as of December 23 2022, enrollment in Medicaid or nutrition programs will not make someone inadmissible to becoming a citizen. But again, this is so fickle, this could change with a new administration, but for the sake of accuracy and spreading, accurate, current relevant information. If someone uses Medicaid today that is not going to be used against them for getting citizenship. Again, that could change as we see. But as of now, that is not the case. Luckily. So again, tying this back to access to abortion pills, that's why it's so important for people to have things like over the counter meat they pressed on, because if someone can't get access to health care, if someone can't afford it, if someone doesn't have health insurance, they're going to need another way to access these pills. And that we see that there are so many other intersecting issues that prevent people from getting access to the health care that they need in general, especially when it comes to reproductive health care. And even more when it comes to abortion. And I'm sorry, I'm yelling, I'm not yelling at Shaw. I'm yelling at the system. But I'm trying to really back. So I also mentioned gender identity as a reason that some people may not feel comfortable going through the healthcare system. And this is because medical settings are very binary, they force people to disclose their gender and sex and unfortunately, not all healthcare providers are competent on queer identities. Because of this, the healthcare setting could be a very gender dysphoric experience for someone and it could also force them to disclose themselves to strangers. So many things can happen in a clinic, such as someone being referred to as a dead name or being misgendered. That can make it very uncomfortable for people to go into a healthcare setting and to prefer to self manage their abortion on their own. If they could circumvent going to a place that can be very triggering for them, they may prefer that option. So all of these reasons and issues highlight why it's so important that people have access to abortion care on their own terms. That can look like an in clinic procedure or a telehealth appointment, or a self managed abortion. But the most important thing is that people are aware of the different types of abortion care available to them. Also, we don't only need to make abortion more accessible because of vulnerable and marginalized populations need greater access to it. But we need to be actively working towards dismantling the systems that keep doing On populations of vulnerable and marginalized, yes, we need over the counter abortion pills. So undocumented people and people without access to health care can access abortion pills. But we also as a movement need to be supporting immigration justice efforts, because reproductive justice isn't only about improving people's reproductive lives, but ensuring that they can live full autonomous lives free of oppression, whether that is reproductive oppression or not, period. So if you are claiming to be a reproductive justice advocate, but you only show up when it's about abortion, you are failing, you are failing community and you're not doing what needs to be done to ensure that people have reproductive justice, and I'm gonna need you to do better. And if you want to do better hit me up and we're gonna figure it out. Because, listen, listen, I'm tired of people only coming out to the row anniversary rallies, like where are you when people are being detained? Where are you when people are being incarcerated? Where are you when people are being laid off and can't get jobs and being paid $7 an hour, you need to show for those issues as well. Not only when it has something to do with a uterus, okay, okay, y'all had to get a little sassy at the end of this episode. But thank y'all so much for tuning into this episode. And thank you to plan C for including BFR and your creative fellowship, we will have a couple more episodes coming out. If you learn something, please let me know. Oh, y'all please. If you enjoyed this episode, or if you enjoyed any BFR episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Also leave us a rating on Spotify. If you would like to donate that will be down below. Sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on social media also request new episode topics too, because I want to expand a little bit so let me know what things you want to talk about. If you have something you really want to talk about. You want to be a guest let me know. Oh, I just gotta take this time for me to stop recording. Okay, I'll talk to y'all later.