The biggest threat to abortion rights in the US

The biggest threat to the right to access abortion across the US has been tabled to be heard in the Supreme Court later this year, Judith Orr writes.

The case, due to be heard in October, originates in Mississippi, where the only licensed abortion clinic in the state –Jackson Women’s Health Organization – is pitted against the state, which wants to ban abortions post 15 weeks. A decision is expected by June 2022.

The state poses the ban as responding to developments in medical science on viability. However, this case is not about science or viability, it is about the anti-choice movement in the US finding a way to break the legal precedent set by the famous Roe Vs Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973. This enshrines the right to a woman’s privacy to access reproductive services from a doctor without interference from the government. It covers the right to have an abortion until 22-24 weeks of pregnancy, the time limit when a foetus is judged to be viable outside the womb.

This case is a serious threat because it is being heard in front of a Supreme Court that is Donald Trump’s dangerous legacy. The three new judges that he was able to appoint during his single term as president fulfilled an electoral promise to his voting base. He stated that a Supreme Court with new judges appointed by him would mean that Roe Vs Wade would “automatically” be overturned. This panel of judges now has a carefully constructed bias against reproductive rights. 

Because of Roe Vs Wade, since 1973, anti-abortion campaigners have had to rely on imposing state-wide limitations on access to abortion services. These include excessive rules on buildings that house clinics, waiting times and obligating doctors to have admitting rights to local hospitals.

All such restrictions disproportionately affect the poorest women. It is costly to travel long distances to get to the only abortion clinic in your state. If you then have to return after an imposed delay of 24 or 48 hours you may end up sleeping in your car if you can’t afford hotel bills. All this means cutting time limits has a profound impact on access for women on low incomes.  

However devastating many of these state restrictions clearly are, eating away at access is only part of the story. The goal of anti-abortion campaigners has always been the demolition of Roe Vs Wade. So their strategy is to keep pushing state bills that are repeatedly appealed and heard further up the judicial system, in the hope that one will eventually be heard in the Supreme Court.

Pro-choice campaigners across the US are sounding the alarm, the President of the US Center for Reproductive Rights, Nancy Northup said, 

“The consequences of a Roe reversal would be devastating. Over 20 states would prohibit abortion outright. Eleven states —including Mississippi — currently have trigger bans on the books which would instantaneously ban abortion if Roe is overturned.”

Abortion rights have been at the centre of political agenda in recent years, whether the success in Ireland, new attacks in Poland or mass campaigns in Latin America. Yet if the clock is turned back in the US, the most powerful state in the world, the impact globally would be immense. Anti-abortion campaigners everywhere would gain renewed confidence if Roe Vs Wade was to fall.

The movement to defend and extend abortion rights in the US is not about to give up. The millions who marched in the women’s marches in January 2017 show the potential for mobilising a groundswell of resistance to oppose this attack. We stand in solidarity with them.

Judith Orr is a member of Abortion Rights EC and the author of Abortion Wars (Policy Press)