RHRealityCheck.org – Eesha Pandit, RH Reality Check
At first glance, it may seem that violence against transgender women of color targeted by the criminal justice system is far removed from the topic of reproductive health. It may seem like a matter for a blog primarily about race, gender, immigration or prisons, not one about reproductive rights. But after finding several such incidents covered in the blogosphere (here, here and here respectively), I thought I’d take this opportunity to report some of these stories in light of their connections to reproductive health issues.
Victoria Arellano (sometimes spelled Arrelano), a transwoman with AIDS, died in a California immigration facility for men in July. Reportedly a victim of inadequate medical care and neglect, she was one of three immigrants to die in federal custody in a month, as covered in Washington Post. (The two others to die in custody include a 38-year-old pregnant Mexican woman who died in a Texas facility and a man whose family “implored authorities to give him medicine for his epileptic seizures in Rhode Island.”)