The sqo shows substancial restrictions on abortion access in the US, which are being enforced through law and disproportionely impact disadvantaged Americans. Ceron ‘22 Now that the US Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that protected the constitutional right to an abortion, it won’t just be harder for women to get the procedure — states have also been lying in wait with tough penalties for anyone that will provide the care. Some experts warn that those seeking abortions could also become vulnerable to harsh consequences. In Louisiana, doctors providing abortions face up to 15 years in prison under a trigger law designed explicitly to take effect under the fall of Roe. And in Texas and Oklahoma, those who help someone receive an abortion are vulnerable to lawsuits from “vigilante” citizens who have been deputized by so-called bounty laws. While most states with restrictive abortion laws have so far abstained from criminalizing people seeking abortions, that often doesn’t stop prosecutors from targeting them. Charges can range from child endangerment to practicing medicine without a license. Meanwhile, some healthcare providers are also tasked to report behavior that is considered as endangering a pregnancy to law enforcement, the abortion-rights group National Advocates for Pregnant Women notes, a [the] practice that disproportionately impacts Black women and other pregnant people of color. And all of that could ramp up now that Roe is no longer the law of the land.
This restricts crucial reproductive healthcare. Dasgupta ‘22 contextualizes. If the Supreme Court votes in favor of striking down both Roe v. Wade, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (the two Supreme Court cases guaranteeing the federal constitutional right to abortion), the decision on whether to restrict or ban abortion will be left up to each state.Currently, 26 stateshave laws in place that will be triggered to ban or heavily restrict abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned; 13 of which are prepared to enact outright bans on all abortion access in their states. Enacting laws to restrict or ban abortion only restricts access tosafe abortion; the need for abortion will not disappear as states ban or restrict this medical procedure. With more than 50 percent of women in the U.S. living in a state hostile or extremely hostile to abortion rights, the impending news of the decision and its fallout poses a public health threat to the reproductive health and rights of all women and people capable of pregnancy.
