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Four decades after the ban on first-trimester abortions was declared unconstitutional in Roe v. Wade, women’s reproductive rights activists find themselves before the Supreme Court for another battle in the Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt case.

The case is an effort to overturn Texas Omnibus Abortion Bill (HB 2)a law that’s restricted abortion clinics so severely that according to Whole Woman’s Health, over 75 percent have closed in the state since 2013.

Filmmaker Dawn Porter‘s new documentary, Trapped, chronicles clinic employees and lawyers working to help keep abortion safe and legal.

Porter joined guest host Laura Coates on NewsOne Now to discuss her new film and how Texas’ HB 2 and TRAP laws are impacting the reproductive health of women of color.

TRAP, which stands for Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, is a series of laws that “single out the medical practices of doctors who provide abortions and impose on them requirements that are different and more burdensome than those imposed on other medical practices,” according to ReproductiveRights.org.

During the filming of Trapped, Porter said she spent three years visiting abortion clinics throughout the country, documenting how TRAP laws are being instituted and their impact.

“After 2010, when the Republicans took over the state houses, you saw these laws – it became almost issue number one for many of the state Republicans and they started regulating abortion clinics,” Porter said.

According to the filmmaker, more than 300 TRAP laws have been passed in 27 states. Porter said, “One thing that people don’t focus on is how this impacts Black and Brown women.”

Porter told viewers all of the regulations instituted by TRAP laws impact public health services.

“A person with insurance can go to a private doctor for an abortion where the TRAP laws do not impact them. A private doctor can do abortions unregulated, but it’s only people that are going to clinics who are being affected,” she added.

Porter then asked which demographic is more likely to attend a free health clinic for abortion services.

Unfortunately, the answer to that question is African-American women.

Watch NewsOne Now guest host Laura Coates and filmmaker Dawn Porter discuss the new movie Trapped in the video clip above.

Watch NewsOne Now with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.

Subscribe to the NewsOne Now Audio Podcast on iTunes.

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New Documentary Looks At The Impact TRAP Laws Have On The Reproductive Health Of Black Women  was originally published on newsone.com