The Ruth Blog

Over the last two weeks, the landscape for reproductive justice and gender-affirming care has shifted, creating immediate and profound barriers for patients. While the legislative machinery turns in Washington and state capitals, the real story is found in the deepening health crises and logistical hurdles facing families on the ground.

In an event with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on September 22, President Trump said the administration will issue a physician’s notice to warn pregnant women against using acetaminophen, the common pain reliever used in Tylenol and other over the counter medications.

To continue the conversation from our September article on medical apartheid, it’s clear that the story doesn’t end with history. The legacies of exploitation and neglect we traced are still alive today, shaping the way Black women experience healthcare in America.

The Combahee River Collective is a black, lesbian, feminist organization that was founded in 1974 in Boston, Massachusetts. Barbara Smith, one of the founders, named it after the raid led by Harriet Tubman on the Combahee River on June 2nd, 1863. The other two founders were her sister, Beverly Smith, and Demita Frazier. The CRC, which operated from 1974 -1980, was a group formed after breaking off from the National Black Feminists Organization.