What Overturning Roe v. Wade Really Means
TW: mentions of miscarriage, rape
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, condemning millions across the US to the dangers of forced pregnancy and causing great uproar all around the globe. It is difficult to ignore the volume of influence this decision brought to US citizens but despite only happening a little over a month ago, little about its impact today is discussed. Moreover, the lack of coverage over its influence beyond the “average” women completely undermines its influence.
So what does the overturn of Roe v. Wade mean for all of us? What does it mean for the future?
Premise of Roe v. Wade
For those who are still unfamiliar with this court case, Roe v. Wade was a 1973 Supreme Court case that allowed abortion within 24 weeks (and 12 weeks if it affected the pregnant women’s health) to be legal across the US. With the recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organisation case that challenged Mississippi’s 15 week abortion ban, the Supreme Court was able to reexamine the Roe v. Wade case, eventually overturning their prior decision. Currently, individual states can determine the legal status of abortion.
Although Roe v. Wade has only recently been overturned, the government’s lack of support towards abortion rights is not a recent issue.
According to research by the Guttmacher Institute, under Roe v. Wade’s protection, ¼ of American women are expected to obtain an abortion at least once in their life. Furthermore, from 2000 to 2014, 51% of people were using contraceptive methods during the month they became pregnant in addition to the fact that in 2019, 93% of the abortions occurred during the first 13 weeks of pregnancy. Every major medical group including the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in addition to WHO have stated their view against banning abortion.
Despite multiple research and sources confirming the necessity of abortion rights–not only as a social issue but a health one–many states have continuously proposed for anti-abortion laws with one of the strictest being a proposal by Kevin Stitt, the 28th Oklahoma governor. Made on May 26th, it banned abortion at fertilization with very few exceptions and allowed compensation for reporting anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion. Another instance is the Supreme Court’s silence and refusal to suspend Texas’ six week abortion ban that allowed a $10,000 reward to anyone who reported people suspected of “seeking, obtaining, helping with, or performing abortions”.
Currently 13 states have passed trigger laws, an abortion ban that states pass in anticipation of Roe v. Wade being overruled, that are undergoing development or have already passed which include Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, MIssouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Beyond the individual state’s regulations, Republican lawmakers have already started discussion about nationwide abortion restrictions.
But while the politics of overturning Roe have been discussed at length, not enough attention has been brought to what overturning Roe actually means. How will overturning Roe actually affect Americans, especially those trying to access reproductive healthcare, and what do we stand to lose?
Mortality Rates vs Safe/Unsafe Abortions
While the overturn of Roe v. Wade put abortion into legal uncertainty, it is vital to recognise that it won’t prevent abortion completely. Sarah Prager, MD, MAS, a UW Medicine professor in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, explains it best in her interview with Healthline: “The numbers of abortions will not substantially decrease, they will just be much more difficult to obtain and in some cases, much less safe. However, the majority of the increased mortality will likely come from pregnant people being unable to get the abortion they need, which leads to continued (and forced) pregnancies.” She explains the underlying truth which is that making abortion illegal will only force pregnant individuals to seek unsafe and illegal methods instead. Amanda N. Kallen, MD, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynaecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine and a member of the Healthline Medical Affairs team, further explains how pregnancy and childbirth often have higher complication risks compared to abortion which could be a viable option to save many women’s lives. With one of the highest maternal mortality rates of any developed country, the US has a maternal mortality rate of 24 deaths per 100,000 live births and banning abortion would only increase this rate.
Not only that, the overturn of Roe v. Wade has made abortion even less accessible even in states where it is legal. Although travelling to other states is a possible alternative, the decreasing number of clinics that offer services make it extremely difficult to gain access to a professional treatment. Furthermore, according to an April 2022 study published in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 45% of obstetrics and gynaecology residency programs in the US are predicted to lack access to in-state abortion training, meaning fewer professionals would be trained to perform abortion and miscarriage procedures. And with certain states encouraging reporting on aiding or abetting abortion, many medical professionals hesitate to perform abortion in fear for recieving fines or even losing their medical license.
Mental Health
Physical health isn’t the only thing affected by being denied an abortion–so is mental health. A research from 2017 indicates a correlation between the denial of abortion and negative psychological outcomes as it seems to increase risks of anxiety, lower self-esteem, depression, anger, panic attacks, paranoia, PTSD, shame, guilt, sexual dysfunction, psychosis or hallucinations, distractibility, stigmatised grieft, spiritual issues, and much more. In addition to many major health agencies, mental health associations such as American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association opposed the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Medication
One of the current alternatives to alternatives to abortion is medication. While abortion pills are an option, they have become illegal to own, order, or access in states where abortion is illegal. Like abortion clinics, the lacking supply compared to its demand would also lead to a shortage, making it more difficult ot obtain. Apparatus such as morning after pills, Plan Bs, or even IUDs which are used to prevent pregnancy isn’t a solution for abortion in addition to not being completely fail-proof. And while they aren’t banned yet, discussion among conservative lawmakers over if life begins at fertilisation lead to the question whether birth control methods should be banned as preventing implantation of a fertilised egg could be considered “abortive”. Because of this, even these birth control methods could soon be restricted across states.
Miscarriages
With individual states determining abortion laws, the case of miscarriages also come into question. Although 10~20% of pregnancies end in a miscarriage, with the overturn, every miscarriage has become a potential criminal case. Not only can women be prosecuted by intentionally trying to abort through a miscarriage but by “negligently causing” a misscarriage. Despite the danger and health risks of a deliberate miscarriage, desperate situations have forced women to opt for self-abortion methods. Many have been already charged for falling down stairs, getting in a car accident, taking drugs, or even getting shot while being pregnant.
While miscarriage is dangerous for the individual, not treating it could be worse. If unable to get an abortion, the untreated miscarriage could cause further complications including death. However, even the treatment of miscarriages are becoming difficult with the overturn of Roe v. Wade as many medications involved in treating miscarriages are also often used for abortion. The banning of these pills could impact the availability of those drugs, making it difficult to get proper treatment in case of a miscarriage.
Rape Victims
Every 68 seconds another American is sexually assaulted. One out of every 5 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. 433,648 Americans 12 and older have been sexually assaulted or raped each year. Despite these horrifying numbers, very few allow exception for an abortion in the case of rape or incest. Currently only Utah, Idaho, and North Dakota carry this exception while performing an abortion would be considered a felony in the rest of the banned states. Compared to the average sentence for sexual abuse offenders, performing abortion can lead to a prison sentence varying from 2 to 20 years and the average sentence for a sex offender is only 178 months with 19.1% of the offenders receiving the mandatory minimum penalty. It is simply baffling how the law could convict a woman who chose abortion after being raped or a doctor who chose abortion to save one’s life can recieve the same or even more prison time than a rapist.
Low-Income Individuals
It is not unknown that pregnancy is a very expensive process. In 2020, the national average for pregnancy and newborn care was approximately $30,000 for a vaginal delivery and $50,000 for a C-section. However, complications arise and for each case, the price could vary very wildly. Therefore, a potential reason for abortion could be the economic struggles that could derive from having a child. Abortion is not cheap either and is often not covered by insurance; it costs about $500 per procedure and with the limited availability, the prices are likely to rise. However, abortion could be the only option for women who come from low-income backgrounds or don’t have the resources. Melody Gross, the founder of Courageous Shift, a domestic violence coaching company in Charlotte, North Carolina explains, “Either we are told not to have kids but are not given proper family planning and reproductive health, or we are told to take care of our kids but are not provided the resources (money, housing, mental health services, etc.) to do so.” During a time of baby supply shortages and lacking governmental support, it is illogical to force a woman to have a baby when she cannot provide a safe environment for it nor herself.
LGBTQ+ Community
A community that is often forgotten within the discussion of abortion rights is the transgender community. Elle Moxley, the founder and executive director at the Marsha P. Johnson Institute elaborates, “Consider the body of a transgender person, who no longer identifies as a woman, becomes pregnant, and does not have access to abortion services. The struggle for transgender people to access any type of medical care is real; consider the challenges of seeking reproductive care as an additional barrier.” Due to lacking health care services and abortion-access barries, over ⅓ of transgender people considered self-termination with nearly 1/10 of them going through with the attempt. Not only that, trans individuals are found to be more likely to live in poverty due to employment discrimination; 29% of trans respondents were living in poverty compared to the 13.5% of national poverty rate in a 2015 US transgender survey with even higher rates in Black, Indigenous, and Latin trans individuals. The increased travel makes it extremely difficult to access abortion when travelling out of state is often the only option (besides illegal measures) in many states.
But it doesn’t affect just the transgender community. In a HRC analysis for the 2017-2019 National Survey for the Family Growth, it recorded lesbians (22.8%) and bisexual women (27.2%) to be more likely to seek abortion compared to heterosexual women (15.4%). Furthermore, beyond simply making abortion less accessible, it also brings assisted reproduction–a medical procedure many LGBTQ+ people rely on–into question. If the law believes human life begins at conception, it would mean the embryos used during vitro fertilisation are legally “people”, making IVF legally impossible.
Despite the clear impact abortion laws have, the LGBTQ+ community is barely mentioned across media and coverage of this issue. It is important to realise how wide of scope the overturn of Roe v. Wade has and the damage it creates.
Into the future
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it is most likely things will get worse from here. The shortage in supplies, number of illegal procedures, understaffed clinics, underfunded orphanages, unfair court decisions, and most of all, fatality in women will increase. Beyond the direct impact, this overturn had already launched multiple attacks on other laws and court cases, many directed towards the LGBTQ+ community. However, this does not mean there is nothing to do.
Here are several links to trackers that provide extensive information on the status of abortion rights for each state:
And these are some links to informative sources that elaborate on ways you can help, some tips to know if you are planning on joining protests, ways to access abortion in each state, why you should protest, and more information on this issue: