On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade, rolling back the clock on an almost fifty-year legal precedent that served as a bulwark against malicious efforts to strip away the basic right of bodily autonomy.
With at least twenty-six states standing poised to ban or heavily limit abortion access, the ramifications of this decision will be felt across the nation, setting a dangerous precedent for future cases seeking to reverse other hard-won freedoms.
The Progressive has long been a staunch advocate for gender equity and abortion rights. Since the SCOTUS draft opinion was leaked in May, we’ve been covering what the end of Roe could mean for abortion rights and how people can fight back.
In the June/July 2022 issue of the magazine, Ruth Conniff writes, “The judges who signed onto the sneering dismissal of fifty years of precedent in Alito’s draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade do not support paid family leave, universal health care and child care, or access to birth control which decreases the necessity of abortion in the first place. Quite the contrary. It’s a harsh, brutal world into which they want to force unwilling parents to bring babies with no support—just more fear, pain, and shame.”
Columnist Steph Black writes about nine ways to join the fight for abortion rights, and, despite the bleakness of this ruling, finds a glimmer of hope: “People will always seek abortions, regardless of the legality. And thanks to new technology like abortion medications that can be obtained outside of a clinical setting; dedicated volunteers from organizations such as Elevated Access and Apiary, who are willing to transport patients across borders; and cities like Oakland, California, and New York City that are publicly declaring themselves to be abortion sanctuaries; some people will be able to access care.”
SCOTUS expert Bill Blum argues that ending Roe will have a domino-effect on other privacy issues: “With Roe gone, marriage equality and LGBTQ+ rights will likely be the next to fall. If these federal protections are stripped away, states which still have draconian sodomy laws on the books could begin enforcing them once more.” (The 2003 Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas repealed sodomy laws on the basis of constitutionally protected privacy rights in a similar way that Roe repealed abortion bans.)
For Progressive Perspectives, our op-ed service, Kendra Cotton and Phyllis Hill, members of the Southern Black Women’s Collaborative, write about the ways that “Black women have been fighting for reproductive freedom, rights and justice since the country’s inception.” Public health activist Amber Gipson-Fine, another op-ed contributor, highlights how overturning Roe will decrease trust between patients and health care institutions, resulting in higher risks of adverse health incidents for people who can get pregnant.
As a majority of Americans consider themselves pro-choice and an overwhelming eighty-five percent believe that abortion should be legal “in some or all circumstances,” the end of Roe signifies a blatant disregard for basic tenants of representative democracy.
At The Progressive, we stand committed to combating this trend toward minoritarian rule of law by supporting a diverse group of writers in telling stories about those on the front lines—in their communities, advocacy groups, state and local governments, and abortion clinics—working hard to preserve abortion access for all who need it.