On June 24, 2022 the Supreme Court reversed the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision in a 5-4 vote. This ruling has set abortion rights in the United States back by decades.
Roe v. Wade was overturned by the decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. Dobbs v. Jackson looked to ban a Mississippi law that would prevent abortions later than 15 weeks. Many previous cases have been brought before the Supreme Court that had the potential to overturn Roe v. Wade. The only difference between those cases and this one was the makeup of the judges on the Court. Previously there was a liberal majority on the Court, but following Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death and replacement by Amy Coney-Barrett, the majority is now conservative. Of the five judges that voted in favor of reversal, all identify as conservative and four are male.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 29% of women in the United States are living in states where access to abortion is severely restricted. As stated in an article by Planned Parenthood, up until 1860 abortion was allowed until fetal movement could be felt. This means that about 1 in 3 women in America now have less abortion rights than they would have had in 1800.
16 months post-Roe, the effects are obvious. As written in U.S News and World Report, 15 states now have a complete ban on abortion, many with very limited exceptions. Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas have complete bans on abortion with exceptions for medical necessity but not cases of rape or incest. Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia also have complete bans on abortion, however their exceptions to the law include medical necessity and cases of rape or incest which have been reported to law enforcement. The laws offer open-ended interpretation of what medical necessity is and may leave patients and doctors vulnerable to prosecution. These states also have complete bans on abortion medication, meaning that those who are seeking abortions must drive hours to get access to the care they need.
There isn’t only bad news though. The same report in U.S News illustrated that seven states have no restrictions on abortion, one (Vermont) permits abortion up until the third trimester, and in an additional twelve abortion is legal until the point of viability.
Surprisingly Montana falls on the list of the states in which abortion is legal up to viability despite Governor Gianforte’s efforts. The Governor has shown that he is openly opposed to abortion. On May 16 of this year, Gianforte signed four laws that severely restricted access to abortion. One even made it a felony to perform the most common termination procedure. In a statement published on the Montana Government website Gianforte stated that he was proud of the bills as they would “protect the lives of unborn babies in Montana.” Two days later, on May 18, the Montana Supreme Court blocked the ban stating that the bills were violations of the clause in the Montana Constitution which protects the right to “procreative autonomy”. This means that unless the constitution is changed, Montanans will maintain the right to abortion.
Despite some wins, the devastating effects of the end of Roe v. Wade are still felt nationwide and don’t stop with abortion. When Roe v. Wade was first decided in 1973 it was decided that the right to abortion was enshrined within the Due Process Clause which states that no citizen can be “deprived of life, liberty or property without due process.” The Due Process Clause was also used in the Supreme Court decisions that protected the right for married couples to access to contraceptives and the right to same-sex marriage.
In his concurring opinion Clarence Thomas wrote that Due Process did not protect abortion as it did not fall under the category of a person’s liberties. By this principle he also claims that other rulings decided on the basis of Due Process should be reevaluated and potentially overturned.
In 2015 the case of Obergefell v. Hodge was heard by the Supreme Court and it was decided that same-sex marriage was protected by the due process clause. In reaction to that Thomas’s opinion and others calling for the reevaluation of the right to same sex marriage, Joe Biden passed the Respect for Marriage Act in Decemeber of 2022. This act requires all states and territories to recognize same sex and interracial marriage. If Thomas gets his way and this precedent is overturned, states will still have to recognize all marriage licenses but they will not be required to issue them.
The destruction left in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson is shocking. Thousand upon thousands of American women have been left without intrinsic rights and politicians have turned their attention to what they can reverse next. It is time to take a stand, it is time to force our government to wake up and protect us before they have nothing left to protect.
