Roe Reckonings: Across the Atlantic, Too Close to Home
Our last Roe Reckonings went out on 12 December. Since then, we crossed the Atlantic, took a short festive pause, and came back to a US reproductive rights landscape that did not slow down for anyone.
From Britain, it can be tempting to view US abortion news as distant, extreme, even. But the weeks since mid-December have reinforced something we already knew: what happens in the US doesn’t stay in the US. The tactics travel. The language spreads. The consequences ripple outward.
These are the stories that hit hardest while we were away, and why they matter here.
A Rare Court Win – And How Precarious It Is
In early January, the Wyoming Supreme Court struck down multiple abortion bans, including the first explicit abortion-pill ban in the US, keeping abortion legal in the state for now.
This was widely reported as a win, and it is, but it came only after months of legal chaos, clinic disruption and uncertainty for patients and providers.
🔗 Reuters:
Why it matters in Britain:
Access in the US is increasingly determined by courts, not rights. That should feel uncomfortably familiar. Abortion access in Britain still rests on law, not bodily autonomy, and laws can be reinterpreted, weakened or weaponised.
When Pregnancy Becomes a Crime
Since our last update, international headlines followed a case in Kentucky where a woman was charged with fetal homicide after allegedly inducing her own abortion.
Legal experts questioned whether the charges should ever have been brought. But the prosecution happened anyway.
🔗 The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/02/kentucky-woman-arrest-abortion
Why it matters here:
Criminalisation doesn’t need legal consistency to be effective. Fear alone is enough to stop people seeking care. That chilling effect is already familiar to marginalised communities in Britain, particularly those subject to heightened surveillance and scrutiny.
Hundreds Prosecuted for Pregnancy Outcomes
Investigations published over the winter exposed the scale of pregnancy-related prosecutions in the US. Hundreds of people have been charged in connection with miscarriages, stillbirths or suspected self-managed abortions.
🔗 ABC News investigation:
Many of these cases rely not on abortion bans, but on vague statutes, older laws and prosecutorial discretion.
Why this stays with us:
This is how reproductive control often operates – quietly. It’s not always through headline-grabbing bans, but through punishment layered onto existing systems.
Defunding Care Without Saying “Abortion”
Another major development since December saw US states allowed to block Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, undermining access to reproductive healthcare across large regions.
🔗 PBS NewsHour explainer:
This decision was not framed as an abortion ruling. But the impact is unmistakable: clinic closures, longer waits and entire communities losing access to care.
Why this resonates in Britain:
Access is often dismantled indirectly. Through funding cuts, staff shortages and services quietly disappearing until the damage is already done.
Why We’re Still Watching
From Britain, it is tempting to treat the US as an outlier. But what the weeks since our last Roe Reckonings have shown is this: the tactics are transferable, even when the laws are not.
Roe Reckonings is back.
And we are watching – because across the Atlantic is still far too close to home.
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