AQUI SE RESPIRA AMOR

We breathe love here – aqui se respira amor. That’s what the artwork we just made in collaboration with visual artist Rommy Torrico and poet Sonia Guiñansaca for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice says, and that’s the environment we wish could have surrounded Rosie Jimenez, a Texan mother who liked classic rock music and was studying to be a special ed. teacher.

In 1977, when a subsequent pregnancy threatened to plunge her family into economic peril, she sought to protect what she loved by seeking reproductive health services. However, due to the Hyde Amendment, she couldn’t access safe care, and eventually developed sepsis. As a result, she became the first American to lose their life due to that law.

The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice fights for equal access to reproductive health for Latina/x communities because all of us should have the power to make informed decisions about our bodies, families, and futures.

Our two organizations teamed up to say – ninguna más, not one more. That there be no more tejanas or any others like Rosie!

In the heavily Latinx border town of McAllen, the Latina Institute’s poderosas (powerful women, community organizers) gathered in honor of Rosie with art, health resources, and music to uplift our power and loudly state that our bodies, our families, and our future belong to us. Together, we directed our strength, joy, and love to boldly sing Nuestro Texas, Nuestro Poder – Our Texas, Our Power.