Fellow chapters, members, and alumni of Alpha Gamma Delta, the following letter was emailed to the International Headquarters on June 29, 2022, along with the link to this petition regarding their disappointing and unacceptable stance on the Roe v. Wade ruling. If you support this cause, the Executive Council of the Delta Tau chapter URGES YOU ALL to sign this petition and leave your chapter name/position for CHANGE and ACTION from the International Headquarters:

Dear IHQ of Alpha Gamma Delta,

I am writing to you as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of the Delta Tau chapter at Chapman University. 

In my facilitator guide to recruitment training, it states that our shared language for “Equity” is defined as “the fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups.”

In the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last Friday, millions of women across the nation lost their fair access to abortion care. A barrier has been placed before some women’s choice between life and death, between a manageable life and one of insufferable poverty. Yet there has been no effort or action from IHQ to either identify or eliminate these barriers. That is why I feel angry, ashamed, and abandoned by your neutral stance. 

Though parts of this society may view abortion as a political topic, it is beyond factual that marginalized groups within this society WILL face disproportional consequences to this overturn. In the United States, an average of 18 birthing parents will die for every 100,000 live births. For Black Women in Mississippi, that rate is 51.9 per 100,000 live births. Members of the BIPOC community– especially African American women– WILL lose their opportunities to withhold from risking their lives because of a decision made by those who have been blinded by their own privilege. It is factual that the cost of giving birth with no universal healthcare is $4,000 to $15,000 in this country, and child care costs an average of $14,117 annually. This country is not equipped for supporting involuntary mothers who will fall into poverty, as well as the children who will be placed in foster care at a significantly higher risk of being abused, neglected, and experiencing mental and physical health problems. 

Your definition of “Inclusion” is “creating an environment of open participation, with specific focus for marginalized identities, where everyone feels they have a voice, are valued, and feel validated.” Frankly, I find irony and hypocrisy in that definition as I speak for women of color that the lack of support from IHQ has made us feel silenced, undervalued, and invalidated. Whether abortion equals murder is a political opinion that will be argued for decades to come. However, whether this ruling will negatively impact the lives of underprivileged women who are forced into parenthood with no complementary resources provided is proven by mountains of scientific statistics and facts. 

In your email to us, we were asked to “support members regardless of their individual beliefs.” How could we be asked of that when our fundamental right to choose, to hold a belief, was stripped from us? It was not my expectation for the IHQ to demonstrate a political bias towards any one view, but it was our expectation that the IHQ would continue to support WOMEN as an organization of WOMEN who are appointed to empower ALL WOMEN. You cannot cower behind the false protection of political neutrality while your organization of WOMEN who span the spectrum of different races, ethnicity, and economic privilege is in need of female leadership, reproductive care, legal advice, and support regarding this female-centric legal decision. For the helpless and heartbroken girls who have a sibling, a mother, a friend, or who themselves will face the unfair consequences of this overturn, they deserve your unwavering support. 

This overturn is undoubtedly and fundamentally an issue of GENDER, RACIAL and ECONOMIC INEQUALITY. Your stance embodies a lack of tolerance for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that you preach to us and that I want to teach to my chapter. As leaders of a chapter of women who just witnessed a step BACK in women's rights in the United States, we demand action and at the very least, support made accessible to all members around the nation from our International Headquarters. PLEASE STAND WITH US.

Loyally,
The Delta Tau Chapter

Link to Original Letter + Works Cited