Roe v. Wade and Its Impact on Abortion Rights in America 

Abortion has become one of the most contentious issues in the United States, characterized by intense political polarization, deep ideological divides, and passionate debates. 

The landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade established that, under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, women have the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. When concluding this decision, the Court considered both the right to get an abortion as well as individual states’ desire to protect women’s health and potential human life, which vary during different stages of pregnancy. 

Accordingly, the Court determined that in the first trimester, the state cannot regulate abortion; in the second trimester, the state can impose regulations to protect the mother’s health; and in the third trimester, once the fetus reaches the point of “viability,” the state may regulate or ban abortion, except when it is necessary to protect the mother’s life or health. This decision set a crucial legal precedent that significantly influenced national discourse on abortion. 

Over the subsequent decades, the Supreme Court faced numerous cases challenging whether various abortion laws infringed upon a woman’s right to an abortion. Ultimately, the decision’s precedent influenced more than 30 Supreme Court cases involving restrictions on abortion access. This precedent was highly controversial, and following the Court’s ruling, opponents of the decision pressured state and federal legislators to enact laws prohibiting or restricting abortion access. 

The Overturning of Roe v. Wade and Its Implications

In July 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in its decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. 

Planned Parenthood v. Casey addressed state regulations on abortion, such as informed consent, waiting periods, spousal notification, and parental consent for minors. The case established that restrictions on abortion are unconstitutional if they impose an “undue burden” on individuals seeking an abortion before fetal viability. 

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization challenged Mississippi’s law banning nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. The majority opinion, led by Justice Samuel Alito, argued that the Constitution does not explicitly protect the right to abortion and suggested it is not fundamental to constitutional freedoms.

Justice Alito listed numerous reasons for overturning these precedents: 1) the Constitution does not explicitly mention abortion, 2) abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions, 3) the importance of state authority in balancing life interests against the desire for abortion, and 4) concerns that defining abortion as a right to autonomy could open the door to justifying other controversial rights like drug use or prostitution. 

This decision means that a woman’s ability to choose to continue a pregnancy or have an abortion is no longer protected by the Constitution. Instead, each state can now independently decide if abortion is legal or not. 

Rising Abortion Rates and Increased Travel Post-Roe

Despite hopes from anti-abortion groups that the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade would reduce abortions in the U.S., the opposite seems to be apparent. While some states have imposed new restrictions on abortions, overall abortion rates are increasing in abortion-legal states. 

Significant shifts in access to abortions across states are also evident. Republican-controlled states have imposed widespread bans or restrictions on abortions, resulting in significant increases in travel for abortions. According to U.S. News & World Report, in 2023, approximately 170,000 people traveled for abortion-related care, which is almost double the amount of people who traveled for an abortion in 2019 or 2020. Since the Dobbs decision, states where abortion is legal, like Illinois, have become destinations for out-of-state patients seeking abortions, with approximately 37,000 people from 41 states traveling there for abortions in 2023. Jennifer Welch, President and CEO of Illinois Planned Parenthood, emphasized, “As more states put forward these bans and restrictions on abortion care, more patients will be forced to travel.”

New restrictions continue to be imposed, even in states that have supported those seeking an abortion in the past. To prepare for the influx, states that legalized abortion have built new abortion centers along the borders and doubled the size of pre-existing ones.

How did SCOTUS’ Decision in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine Impact Abortion Pill Access?

In addition to people traveling to receive abortion care, thousands of women in states with abortion bans are obtaining abortion pills through websites or community-based distributors, which has also led to ideological divides.

On June 13th, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled against the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine in the case FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. This lawsuit challenged the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a drug used in more than 60% of abortions in the United States. The plaintiffs wanted the FDA to impose stricter controls on mifepristone, making it harder for doctors to prescribe and for pregnant women to obtain. However, the plaintiffs — who consist of doctors and medical associations who do not prescribe or use mifepristone — failed to demonstrate direct monetary injuries, property injuries, or physical injuries from the FDA’s actions. Instead, they have primarily moral and ideological concerns about abortion. The Court acknowledged these concerns as legitimate but insufficient grounds under Article III of the Constitution to sue in federal court. 

Although the ruling was unanimous in favor of the FDA, there is speculation that this decision is unlikely to mark the end of efforts to restrict access to the pill or similar medications. According to NBC News, three states plan to take legal action to make abortion pills harder to obtain, and they anticipate more states will follow. Because of this trend, reproductive rights lawyers expect anti-abortion groups to seek out more plaintiffs to effectively challenge the legality of abortion pills in court. 

Impact of Recent Abortion Bans and Court Cases on Political Discourse

Following the overturning of Roe and recent developments in other abortion cases, public discourse on abortion has shifted to discuss the complexities of pregnancy and reproduction. The discussions are no longer just about access to abortion but also concerns like obtaining care during pregnancy complications, finding obstetricians in states with bans, hospital policies on miscarriages, and access to fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization. 

Elaine Kamarck, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, commented on the recent Supreme Court rulings, stating, “When the Dobbs case came down, I told my friends — somewhat but not entirely in jest — that America was about to be exposed to a lengthy seminar on obstetrics.”

More Republican women are now opposing their party’s “extreme” stance on abortion. Meanwhile, radical opponents of abortion argue that stories about women facing medical complications are exaggerated, claiming that “pro-abortion Democrats use fear-mongering to promote their radical agenda instead of providing women with the facts they deserve.” Despite these changes in individual views, partisan divides in abortion attitudes remain larger than before. Consequently, abortion and reproductive rights have become pivotal issues in the upcoming elections.

There has been a significant increase in the percentage of Americans identifying as single-issue voters on abortion rights, particularly among Black voters, Democrats, and women aged 18-29. According to the New York Times, the Biden campaign has capitalized on this shift by dispatching six women to battleground states to mobilize more voters, coinciding with the two-year anniversary of the decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The Biden campaign’s strategy around advocating for reproductive rights highlights the issue’s significance. The future of abortion rights in the United States will continue to shape the political landscape, influencing both policy and public opinion. 

Links for Further Reading:

1. Where Americans Go for Abortions in a Post-Roe World (US News & World Report) 

2. What the data says about abortion in the U.S. (Pew Research Center)

3. Abortion Debate Shifts as Election Nears: ‘Now It’s About Pregnancy’ (The New York Times) 

4. States where abortion is legal, banned, or under threat (The Washington Post)

5. Supreme Court Faces Another Major Abortion Decision (Newsweek)

6. Overturning Roe v. Wade: consequences for midlife women’s health and well-being (National Library of Medicine) 

7. Public Opinion on Abortion (Pew Research Center) 

8. FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine: The Supreme Court could devastate nationwide access to safe and effective medication used in over 60% of all abortions (National Women’s Law Center) 

9. Where State Abortion Laws Stand Without Roe (US News & World Report) 

10. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade 2 years ago. Here’s what’s happened since (CNN)