# Felony disenfranchisement laws and racial inequities in women's self-rated health

## TL;DR

Strict felony disenfranchisement laws are linked to worse self-rated health among Black women, highlighting racial inequities in health outcomes.

## Contribution

This study demonstrates that felony disenfranchisement laws have a stronger negative impact on the health of Black women compared to white women.

## Key findings

- Stricter felony disenfranchisement laws were associated with worse self-rated health for Black women.
- The association was not observed for white women in the fully adjusted model.

## Abstract

To determine if more strict state-level felony disenfranchisement laws, which are a form of structural racism, are associated with worse self-rated health, and if this association is stronger for Black women compared to white women.

Using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2021, American Community Survey 2017–2021, and State Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in 2020 from the “Locked Out Report” by the Sentencing Project, we fit hierarchical linear models to estimate changes in self-rated health with state felony disenfranchisement laws for 185,833 Black and white women, stratified by race, in 49 states (excluding Florida).

We found a significant positive association between more restrictive disenfranchisement and worse self-rated health for Black women (b = 0.08, SE = 0.03, p < 0.01), but not white women, in the fully adjusted model.

Stricter state-level felony disenfranchisement laws were associated with worse self-rated health for Black women but not white women suggesting that policies of disenfranchisement may exacerbate racial inequities in health.