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What Would the End of Roe vs. Wade Mean?
- Sanghamitra Sen
- May 4, 2022
- 4 min read
By Sanghamitra Sen
What is Roe vs. Wade?
The Roe vs. Wade ruling of 1973 was a landmark decision that afforded women the constitutional right to abortion. This ruling, which has fueled fierce debates within the United States and across the world, protects a woman’s liberty in choosing to have an abortion without undue governemnt oversight or intervention.
History of Roe vs. Wade
In 1970, Norma McCorvey, who used the pseudonym Jane Roe to protect her identity, filed a lawsuit against the Dallas County district attorney, Henry Wade. Roe brought a class action suit challenging the constitutionality of the Texas criminal abortion laws, she claimed the Texas statutes to be unconstitutionally vague and that they abridged her right of personal privacy, protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
The district court ruled in favor of Roe, based on a concurrence in the 1965 Supreme Court Griswold v. Connecticut decision. This concurrence had found that the Ninth Amendment of the Constitution provided the right to privacy. Despite this, the district court refrained from issuing an injunction to prevent the state of Texas from enforcing the law.
What does the leaked draft opinion by Justice Alito mean?
If the Alito draft, or some version of it, is adopted, it would rule in favor of Mississippi in the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The draft opinion by Justice Alito, which was leaked late on Monday, May 2, 2022, sought to overturn Roe vs. Wade decision. While it has been made clear that this was indeed a draft decision, and may be subject to change, if the court were to resolve to some version of Justice Alito’s opinion, the consistutional right to abortion will be negated. Any law pertaining to abortions will then be under the legal jurisiction of individual states, resulting in a variety of different abortion laws across the country.
Alito writes in his document, “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled.” he expressed his strong dissent by claiming that, “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.”
- Justice Samuel Alito in an initial draft majority opinion
What are the implications of this decision?
For context of how prevalent women’s autonomy and rights are with regards to abortion acces, according to a 2017 study, 1 in 4 women in the United States are expected to get an abortion at some point in their lives.
If Roe vs. Wade was struck down, more than 20 states have “trigger laws,” which would allow the banning of abortion. Some states also have laws that ban abortion after six to eight weeks; while these laws are currently not in effect, they would likely become so if Roe was overturned.
Subsequently, states that will continue to allow abortion would be encumbered with the responsibility of providing medical care to patients seeking abortions. This was highlighted when Texas enacted it’s 6-week abortion ban. Women’s Health clinics, like Planned Parenthood, in states near Texas reported their statistics showed nearly an 800% increase compared to previous years in abortion patients from Texas.
This ruling will also likely impact women of color and minority women at a much higher rate. The great disparities in abortion statistics arise from the fact that women in states with restrictive abortion laws already have limited access to health case and effective birth control methods. Schools in these areas have ineffective and insubstantial sex education. If Roe was overturned, these minority women, who often have limited finances, will not be able to travel to States with liberal abortion laws to be able to terminate pregnancies.
Limited access to abortion may also lead to negative long-term effects.
A major study by University of California, San Francisco showed that women who were denied an abortion and gave birth reported more life-threatening complications like eclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage compared to those who received wanted abortions. Women are also more likely to report chronic headaches or migraines, joint pain, and gestational hypertension compared to those who had an abortion.
The detrimental effects of being denied an abortion are not limited to heath, women who are turned away from abortions are more likely to stay in contact with violent parters or raise their child alone.
Additionally, women who were denied abortions and went on to give birth experience an increase in household poverty. Being denied an abortion also had other financial consequences, such as lowered credit score, increased debt and negative financial record, evictions, and bankruptcies.
In light of the draft option, some democratic states are taking steps to entrench the right to abortion into state law. In the event that the Alito opinion translates to a ruling in the Mississippi case, the hope for a unified abortion law across the United States would only be possible if Congress steps in and sets a single national policy.
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