WOn the morning of June 24, the Supreme Court wasRoev. The news struck like lightning when he gave an opinion to overturn Wade. Over the next few years, it will cause thousands of fires that will shape the legal, political, health and economic battles in the United States.
Immediately after the decision, protesters on both sides of the debate flooded the square in front of the Supreme Court Building in Washington. Defenders against abortion prayed and danced when young activists declared themselves "thegeneration after." On the other hand, those who support the right to abortion vibrated with both anger and despair. Cried. Others had images of hangers. This is a harsh reference to the dangerous abortion that occurred before the decision ofRoein 1973.
But Neither reference completely encapsulates our new reality when burning emotions resonate with most Americans. We are neither a generation afterRoenor back in 1972. Technology has made the future of access to abortion in the United States less scary than it was a generation ago, and at the same time scarier than anyone else. predict.
Read more:Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and revokes constitutional right to abortion
Abortion medications, now prescribed via telemedicine appointments and mailed directly to people's homes, allow people up to the 10th week of pregnancy to end their pregnancy safely and personally. And those who can't or don't want to use pills can look to the vast network online. I couldn't imagine it 50 years ago. But like most technological advances, these transformations pave the way for both. The Internet, the source of advice, is also a swamp of false information. Apps and digital platforms that are ready to use in your pocket are also powerful monitoring tools.
The legal and political battles currently underway at the state and local levels for the future of abortion access will reflect this new complexity. Defenders of anti-abortion, who have accumulated power in the federal judiciary and legislature for half a century, are ready to go through new measures designed to limit access to an increasingly broad range of actions and layers of criminal punishment. I have. The issue of abortion has long been polarized and is now codified on the platforms of both major political parties, pushing it to the fierce center of the country's cultural war.
Of course, this decision is not surprising. The leaked draft, published byPoliticoin early May, provided a complete blueprint. Still,Dobbsv. The opinion of JacksonWomen's Health Organizationis historic,RoeandPlanned Parentoodv. A 1992 proceeding that overturned both Caseyand reaffirmed the right to abortion. Judge Samuel Alito, in the majority opinion, argues that "Roewas terribly wrong from the beginning." Because abortion is "not deeply rooted in the history and traditions of the country." The same is true for contraception, same-sex marriage, and the right to same-sex sexual activity. Judge Clarence Thomas argued that the court needed to reconsider its rights in due process for the 14th Amendment, clearly pointing out in a consensus opinion. clause.
Read more:Inside the last abortion clinic in Mississippi — and the greatest battle for abortion rights in generations
In All anger and sentiment at this moment, historians are of course warned of any suggestion that the United States may be on the verge of another civil war. However, it is worth noting that the decision to roll back major civil rights has the almost immediate effect of recreating a completely forked map of the United States. About half of the states will either completely ban or strictly limit abortions, and the other half will limit abortions. Access may be enhanced or the status quo may be maintained. What is clear now is that the period we enter does not look like 1972. Rather, it will be a futuristic steampunk version of America's past, as factions during the war will fight for new technology and clash with new state laws aimed at determining who's life, value within their boundaries. there is.
Even before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments atDobbslast fall, only the presence of drug abortion changed American reproductive rights. Currently, activists see these medicines as not a panacea, but central to the future of national abortion access. Last year, activists and providers gathered information about abortion drugs, published a guide on how to find and take them, advertised on social media and the New York City Subway, and hosted a free zoom class. Was strengthened. How to self-manage abortion outside the healthcare system. They also set up hotlines to answer people's medical and legal questions and provided funding programs to teach primary care and medical residents how to follow up with patients who used abortion medications. going. Telemedicine startups such as Hey Jane, Choix, and Just the Pill have partnered with online pharmacies to deliver medicines to legitimate state people. Overseas-based groups like AidAccess have decided to continue shipping pills anywhere in the United States, regardless of U.S. regulations, often in small, unmarked packages that are indistinguishable from other emails. I am planning.
State and local abortion activists are already ready. The Abortion Rights Group, Grassroots Network, as President Joe Biden is considering enforcement actions that lawyers may disagree with because the U.S. Congress has failed to pass a law that encodes the right to abortion. And the Abortion Fund is raising funds to support existing clinics, striving to criminalize healthcare providers and patients, and designed to transport people hundreds of miles for care. To build an extensive network of people. In Mountain West, telemedicine services have launched the country's first mobile abortion clinic. Bulletproof vehicles equipped with abortion medicine, examination tables and medical equipment stop at different locations each week to provide free service to patients in states who have undergone surgery. It is prohibited. In the Midwest, a group of volunteer pilots have come together to offer free private flights to patients who need to travel to have an abortion.
Read more:What does the Supreme Court's decision to have an abortion mean for your state
In Texas and Tennessee, volunteers teach people how to safely end their pregnancy with abortion drugs when doctors are inaccessible — the services advocates say have already appeared to those who have access. It is important to close the tight racial, economic and geographical disparities that exist. Pills. In Ohio, priests are learning to fight the stigma over abortion, and in Florida, the synagogue has filed a lawsuit alleging that the state's ban on abortion violates his religious freedom. rice field. Liberal state governments have also enacted additional protection. California, New York, Oregon, and Connecticut have all added funding for aborted patients or safeguards for healthcare providers to treat patients from outside the state. Currently, 16 states explicitly protect the right to abortion. This is far more than the four protected before 1973. And TikTok video, to take advantage of this moment. For example, there is no doubt that the top two search results for "abortion in Dallas" will lead to an abortion tissue that opposes abortion. Life of America students working with young people across the country led a social media advertising campaign, hosted a virtual lobbying day, and released a documentary series designed to keep people away from abortion. Other groups, including live-action, are using emotional videos and Facebook ads to promote the "reversal of abortion pills."
Navigating this sea of information and misleading information is often confusing and can quickly become more dangerous. Many of the apps, chatbots, and 24-hour hotlines available online collect your personal information. This data could be readily available to guards and local law enforcement officers to track, humiliate, engage, and even prosecute pregnant people seeking abortions. Someone who helps them. Legal experts warn that period tracking apps, Google search history, and even text messages between friends can now be used as evidence in court. The in-store abortion prevention pregnancy center, which has exploded in recent years, also collects the most intimate data on women, such as what to do with pregnancy. Many of these centers use names like Your Choice and Women's Health Clinic, but most are faith-based groups connected to large anti-abortion organizations and are not licensed medical facilities. That is, the data we collect is not subject to federal privacy law. Says privacy experts. Through all of this, racial profiling and surveillance already faced by people of color can mean that these communities are also disproportionately criminal in this area.
The legal situation is also changing rapidly. For example, Texas's ban on abortion after about six weeks has been in force since September last year, basically paying for women's personal data. It provides a $ 10,000 reward to those who have successfully filed a proceeding against or helped to have an abortion. The Oklahoma abortion ban, which came into effect in May, offers similar rewards. The six-week abortion ban in Idaho allows fetal families to file proceedings for $ 20,000 in compensation.
Historically, mainstream anti-abortionists avoided punishing women and instead focused on donors, said Mary Ziegler, an abortion historian at the University of California, Davis. say. But as the focus shifts from procedural abortion to abortion medicine, she says, it may change quickly. In the last two years,andconservative lawmakers have introduced a number of new laws that effectively ban the use of telemedicine for abortion drugs.In some cases, this measure prohibits the mailing of tablets directly to state residents and enhances criminal penalties for violating existing abortion laws. On June 21, the Governor of Louisiana, the Democratic Party, signed two new laws to do just that. At the beginning of May, a member of the Louisiana State Assembly submitted a bill allowing abortion to be classified as murder and prosecuted for pregnant women. (Failed, but may be reintroduced.)
In March, Missouri legislators aborted an ectopic pregnancy (a condition in which a fertilized egg is transplanted extrauterine). Introduced measures to make what you do a fertilization. And you can't survive, and it can be life-threatening for pregnant people. The same measures would treat the transport of abortion drugs as drug trafficking. Missouri Parliamentarians have also introduced a bill that allows citizens to sue those who help Missouri residents take abortions out of the state. None of these measures passed this session, but there is no reason not to believe thatRoeis in the rearview mirror now. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers warned last year that withoutRoe, these aggressive abortion bans would "open the door to large-scale criminalization on an unprecedented scale." ..
Read more:The Abortion Prevention Pregnancy Center collects a large amount of data that could be a weapon for women
Anti-abortion legislators' ambitions are in line with the broader anti-abortion movement that has dramatically shifted to the right over decades, following the greater trends in American politics. .. As the number of competitive political districts declines, politicians have been motivated to focus on primary elections rather than general elections. The result, says Ziegler, has led to a "more extreme abortion policy." The majority of the very conservative Supreme Court also helped legislators to test their former fringe ideas, such as abortion bans, with the exception of rape and incest. After the Supreme Court's draft was leaked in May, Republicans in the US Congress highlighted the idea of a federal abortion ban that would have been widely regarded as exorbitant within a year. Now that
Roe has been officially overturned, anti-abortion groups across the country are starting to move. Susan B. Anthony Pro Life Americarebrandedthis month to increase legislature support, and Students for Life of America run a program to help pregnant college students with young abortions nationwide. We are organizing opposition supporters. Has modified its organizational structure to focus on lobbying for state-based abortion restrictions. The National Right to Life Committee, the country's largest anti-abortion organization, also recently announced a so-called model bill. It provides legislative templates for the state to criminalize almost all abortions, assists in abortion, distributes abortion medications, shares information about abortions, and hosts websites. increase. Conservative lawmakers in at least six states have called for a special legislative session that will allow the state to pass a new bill banning abortion in the light of the Supreme Court's ruling. Local law enforcement authorities can also take immediate action against anyone who they deem to be in breach of the new law.
If these laws and enforcement measures are new, the idea of cracking down on the actions of a particular group is not, says Michelle Goodwin, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine. PostRoeShe says the United States has deep similarities to the post-Civil War Jim Crow law. It "substantially and symbolically aims to entrust people to second-class citizenship." She explains that all new abortion bans in the state are designed to intimidate as well as prevent most abortions. "The way the state shows suspicion rather than care or respect internalizes people with shame and guilt, and it is when people actually need state support, and they need to get it. Sometimes it means resisting turning to the state, "she adds. Similar to data collection and monitoring efforts, these impacts can have the greatest impact on people of color, the poor, and others who are already marginalized.
Physicians and healthcare providers also warn that many of these new abortion laws are effective in punishing women seeking care for miscarriage, pregnancy complications, and other related concerns. I am. In Texas, some OBGYNs reportedthat pharmacies refused to fill out prescriptions to treat miscarriage, and were issued on June 22New England. The Journal of Medicine articlefound that Texas law was linked to some hospitals. Others who refuse to care for their patients and are experiencing pregnancy complications are forced to wait until their condition becomes life-threatening. According to doctors, this reality has already exacerbated the dreaded problem. States set to ban abortion currently have some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country.
Read more:Meet pharmacists who are expanding access to abortion drugs throughout the United States
Meanwhile, a liberal state for abortion and other reproductive medicine has extended waiting times, according to Yamasley Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of a planned parent-child relationship between the St. Louis region and southwestern Missouri. , Putting a strain on the already growing infrastructure. The Planned Parenthood Clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois, across the Missouri border, has already seen a 130% increase in patient numbers. One week before the ruling, whether out-of-state patients could keep the door open seven days a week to meet the expected increase of8,600%in Illinois. I was considering.
Abortion opponents plan to begin post-Roe v. Wade advocacy at "prayerful" rallies in state capitals across the country on June 25. But the movement is also ready to take advantage of that victory. Proponents are planning to encourage the new law, Susan B. Anthony ProLife America is investing in programs aimed at connecting pregnant women with health care, society and material resources through anti-abortion pregnancy centers and other nonprofits. We have accepted a law that says Democrats and reproductive advocates can help support their families.
Both anti-abortion and supporters of abortion are preparing for the potential for increased violence in the coming days and weeks as the country reacts to the Supreme Court's decision. The move to overturn Rho is against public opinion. The majority of Americans believe that courts should leave Law unharmed, and support for abortion has reached new heights in recent months. But the conservative judge disagreed. It is clear that the spillover is already much more widespread, even though Arito said their decision would simply bring the abortion issue back to the state.
After waiting 49 years, both activists have been preparing for such results for some time. However, it is difficult to know exactly what will happen immediately because the wheels are moving and many legal situations in the country are uncertain. The reality will be harsh for millions of Americans who are still awakened to the effects of court decisions. It took half a century for anti-abortionists to reach this point, and almost twice as long for blacks to enact civil rights laws following the Jim Crow era. This is not a temporary situation, but at least the beginning of a new series of battles for the next generation.
Abigail Abrams (abigail .abrams@time.com)
