Is The Overturning Of Roe v. Wade JUSTIFIED? What AWAITS American Women NOW?
It’s been barely two years since the US Supreme Court passed the legendary statement overturning the Roe v. Wade judgment. Back in 1973, the Supreme Court passed the Roe v. Wade judgment. That landmark declaration gave women the right to abort up till the point of fetal viability.
Therefore, women were free to abort anytime till 24 months. But that’s changed now, after the recent judgment. In a decision involving Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the court ruled that individuals won’t have the power to regulate abortion anymore.
At a slight glance, it means pregnant women can now call for abortion within 12 weeks only. However, abortions in the later 12 months (in the second and third trimesters) are LEGAL ANYMORE!
There’s more to the recent ruling than just bans. It puts state authorities in a deciding position. Bow, they will decide on the fate of bans after the first 12 weeks. Similarly, we also observed abundant postings and cross-claims surrounding the judgment.
But the fundamental is that the matter still holds. So what does this mean for US women?
What Is Roe v. Wade Law?
We can’t appreciate or critique the recent judgment enough without knowing the history from 1973 in detail. So, let’s refer to the Roe v. Wade case now.
The case of Roe v. Wade famously led to the Supreme court on abortion rights. Which incident is linked with the law? Jane Roe, an unmarried pregnant woman, filed a case for herself to change the abortion law in Texas.
One texas doctor is also joining the Roe; lawsuit. The arguments on the state’s abortion law. They are claiming that the state’s abortion law is pretty vague for doctors to follow. At that time abortion was illegal in Texas unless the procedure was done to save the life of the mother. At that time abortion was counted as a crime due to violating the rule and the status.
According To The Roe v. Wade statement, the supreme court is taking two major decisions.
In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decided two important things:
- Right to privacy protection whether the person wants to go for the abortion or not.
- Abortion right is not fully absolute. It is a balance against the government’s interest.
- But this is not all. This is also a matter of protecting public health.
The lost right and its repercussions
After the legendary judgment, 13 favoring states passed prompt trigger bills two years back. After the Dobbs decision, they spent 0 hours putting up the bill.
As expected, all these states initiated the process to ban abortion. What’s most shocking is that Georgia banned any abortion after six weeks of conceiving. However, opposers said- “by that time, most women don’t know if they are pregnant at all!”
The Guttmacher Institute released a survey that says around 22 million women in their reproductive age brackets dwell in a state that banned abortion.
Following that, five other states banned abortion post-gestation period.
Most importantly, this landmark Roe v. Wade decision will take the country towards an abortion-free future. However, uncertainty lurks in the democrat-run states. For example, Colorado did impose further legal protections for women who want to abort LATER!
What were the significant repercussions?
The main repercussion was that the American women had fewer abortions. And that, too, less by a massive margin. For evidence, there were 24290 fewer abortions in a matter of 8 months since the passing of the judgment.
Who Gets Abortions?
According to the CDC, almost 630,000 abortions were performed in the US in 2019, which also states that 92.8% occur during the first trimester.
After the roe v. wade law, these are the case scenarios of the present time of the abortion.
Most women seeking abortion are unmarried, although they may be living with a partner at the time. Furthermore, most are in their twenties, though around one in ten are teenagers.
Roughly 60% of women having abortions had also given birth before, while almost 60% had never had an abortion. What happens if roe v wade is overturned? Here are the stories which are linked with the cause of the abortion bans.
Abortion Bans
International women’s rights supporters reacted with dismay at the news – even far-away abortion clinic Sydney providers voiced their concerns.
Now, ten states directly ban abortion, following the Supreme Court’s decision. Again, another four states imposed a moderate ban. They now ban abortion at six weeks. But isn’t that just the blossoming of pregnancy? How can a mother decide whether to keep the seed earlier?
More than 20 states are moving towards further abortion restrictions; some intend to ban terminations from conception, while others plan to allow procedures up to six or more weeks. Currently, all states allow abortion to save the mother’s life, with some granting in cases of incest or rape.
How Are Women Affected?
Around 40 million women of childbearing age live in states where abortion access is threatened, according to the Guttmacher Institute – a research organization supporting abortion rights. As such, women’s reproductive health is at risk.
The World Health Organization (WHO) claims around 25 million unsafe abortions occur annually and that restricting abortions does not reduce numbers; it only makes women and girls seek dangerous options.
It’s not that American women do unsafe abortions. Only one in four abortions is safe in medically backward countries. But not in America. In developed nations, almost nine in ten abortions are safe. During the sessions of Roe v. wade, the lawyers also argued about the health of the women.
Denial Of Healthcare
Restricted terminations mean some may be denied lifesaving treatment should pregnancy complications occur.
This happened in Ireland in 2012 to a woman named Savita Halappanavar, who miscarried during the seventeenth week of pregnancy.
Despite needing a termination to save her life, doctors denied her an abortion because it was illegal. Sadly, she passed away of sepsis, a preventable blood infection she would not have endured had medical personnel given her the procedure.
Similarly, ectopic pregnancies in which an embryo grows outside the uterus can threaten the woman’s life, as can miss miscarriages wherein a dead fetus remains inside the womb. Abortion is the treatment for both cases; however, overturning Roe v. Wade could brand this treatment illegal in some states.
However, chances are that the illegal abortion count has already risen. And what’s tragic is that all such cases are off the record. At the same time, there are many cases of self-managed abortions.
How will the favoring states manage those cases? There’s no genuine answer to that till now.
Prosecutions
Many state laws don’t target women who seek abortions, but some do; a 26-year-old Texan woman, Lizette Herrera, was charged with murder for allegedly inducing a miscarriage, although public outrage led to her release without charges.
According to the Mayo Clinic, 10 to 20% of pregnant women suffer a miscarriage, and the CDC estimates one in 160 pregnancies results in stillbirth. During roe v. wade, these ratios are not also getting unnoticed.
In states where abortion is criminalized, cases like these could lead to prosecution. Still, most have said they won’t prosecute mothers for termination attempts, instead reserving penalties for abortion providers and others helping women access the procedure.
What’s in NOW or in the FUTURE for American Women
Before Roe v. wade, abortion was entirely banned in the country.
But after the Roe v. wade law, the abortion law is made a different dimension. Abortion is also a matter of women’s rights. But not solely. It also steps into the niche of moral rights and visits the niche of criminal justice.
Experts say that it’s not that the bodily autonomy of women is lost. They can still decide what to do about their pregnancy without anybody’s consultation. But, what about the women who were already pregnant and wanted abortion while the laws were passed?
It’s apparent that a lot of women will fall sick or may even experience vital health crises due to unwanted pregnancy.
Before the law, even the mother does not have the right to decide the fate of the fetus. Right and wrong are entirely different perspectives. But now, women have the right to determine the life of their fetus, and it also involves the freedom of the women.
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