Post-Roe v. Wade: The Socio-Political Impacts and the Future of Reproductive Rights in America
By: Cece Han
Edited By: Roan Szucs, Socha Verbeke and Lauren Breen
Roe v. Wade was the notorious Supreme Court ruling which held that women had a constitutional right to abortion on a federal scale. This ruling originated from Texas, where criminal abortion laws were challenged in 1969 by Norma McCorvey who used the pseudonym “Jane Roe”, and it was the Dallas County district attorney, Henry Wade, who defended the anti-abortion laws, hence Roe v. Wade. Prior to Roe v. Wade, the state of Texas allowed abortions only in cases where the mother’s life was in danger, however, when McCorvey was pregnant with her third child, she claimed the child was a product of sexual assault and filed a case for abortion, which would be rejected. Her appeal later made its way to the United States Supreme Court in 1973, where she argued that the abortion laws in Texas infringed on a woman’s right to privacy. She argued that a woman ought to have the right to terminate a pregnancy for personal reasons which she should not have to disclose. This ultimately resulted in the Roe v. Wade ruling where the court justices determined that the government did not possess the power to prohibit abortions. This decision would later be overturned in July 2022. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has had lasting and continuous socio-political impacts on the reproductive care of women in the United States, and the future of reproductive rights remains uncertain.
During the time that Roe v. Wade was upheld, women were entitled to seek an abortion during the first trimester of their pregnancy. However, now that the decision has been overturned, it allows the individual states to govern abortion laws and gives them the power to ban abortions earlier than 12 weeks. Following this monumental overturn, “trigger laws” in thirteen states had come into effect which allowed them to reinstate the same laws banning abortion which they had prior to 1973. As a result of this, access to abortion care has become increasingly difficult in the United States. There is a direct consequence to women living in these States taking matters into their own hands, and looking outside the law and healthcare offices for abortions. Healthcare in the United States is a profit-motivated system, making it the only one of its kind in the world. Therefore, this infamously expensive procedure results in the financial burden being placed on women. One dose of mifepristone and misoprostol to terminate the pregnancy would cost almost $800. Not to mention, in some areas, abortion clinics are few and far in between, therefore travel expenses and time spent travelling would also have to be factored in. Even before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, many women sought “at-home abortions” as they could not afford to get the procedure done professionally. In 2015, a Google data analysis by the New York Times found that there were over 700,000 searches from the United States on information regarding self-abortions. Another consequence of the overturning is that these restrictions will lead to more unsafe abortions. In countries where abortion care is accessible, almost nine out of ten abortions happen safely, whereas all abortions which are performed under unsafe conditions have almost all happened in areas where abortion is highly restricted. This demonstrates how restrictive abortion laws will not prevent abortion procedures, but rather make them unsafe for the women who seek them.
Abortion care in the current political landscape, post the overturning of Roe v. Wade, has been a topic of contention, and a topic that divides many voters in America, however, abortion was not always a partisan issue at first. So what changed? Socially right-winged activists and political figures mobilized the transition into the re-politicization of abortion that is seen in the current political scene. They have painted the issue of abortion as a threat to “traditional values”. This urge of politicizing abortion resulted from increasing liberal social developments such as LGBTQ+ rights and rising divorce rates, says Mary Ziegler, a legal historian at the University of California-Davis. Pastors and parishioners used abortion as a proxy issue for their concerns regarding what they considered the “liberalizing society” before them, and the presidential victory of former United States President Ronald Reagan gave the abortion opponents what they considered, a strong ally in the White House. Progressively, women’s rights activists were gaining more traction and influence over the Democratic party, urging them to support abortion rights. The growing partisan divide on the issue of abortion led to the politicization of abortion care and it has become a defining characteristic of the modern Republican Party. The mainstream ideology of the Republican Party in the United States is predominantly against the idea of common abortions, which would include abortions under non life-threatening medical cases, with 64% of Republicans believing that abortion should only be legal under certain circumstances, and 12% of Republicans believing abortion should be completely illegal. Republican views on abortion can also be demonstrated through court rulings in traditionally Republican states: an abortion ban was upheld by the Florida supreme court on April 1, 2024, and this triggered an even stricter ban that began on May 1, 2024. As a result of the politicization of abortion on both sides, and using their stances on the issue as a means of swaying voters, the topic of abortion care has become a pawn in American politics, instead of a constitutional right for women.
The future of reproductive rights for women in the United States remains uncertain after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Even though many states had trigger laws in place which were enacted after Roe v. Wade was overturned, there are other states which have prioritized making abortion more accessible. States such as Maryland have passed legislation which funded the training of medical professionals on how to perform abortions. States such as Oregon and Connecticut have followed suit. This is likely in anticipation of patients flying from states where abortions have been banned, in order to receive the procedure. The overturning of Roe v. Wade can anticipate that women who wish to terminate pregnancies will require access to abortion care in other states, and must be able to have the financial means to travel out of state to receive the procedure. Although this provides somewhat of a temporary solution for the near future of what reproductive rights may look like in the United States, it marginalizes those who do not have the financial resources to travel out of state. Low income women already make up the majority of abortion patients in the United States, therefore this will not be a sustainable solution for the future of reproductive rights.
The future of reproductive rights remains uncertain in the United States. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has illuminated many social implications such as class divide between those who will be able to afford abortions. It has also brought up the political implications where parties are weaponizing abortion care to sway voters, instead of recognizing the issue as a constitutional right for women. The future of abortion care and reproductive rights in the United States is yet to be seen. With the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Trump and his inconsistent views on the topic, he leaves the issue of abortions in the hands of the separate states, therefore it is anyone’s guess what the future holds for the women in America.
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