“The government has no business making that choice for women”. These are words spoken by the late Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, when she was asked for her views on women’s legal right for abortion. Ginsberg was an outspoken advocate for allowing women to make their own decisions when it comes to terminating a pregnancy, until her death in September 2020. With the pro-life movement a key point of debate in the US presidential election and Amy Coney Barrett’s impending allocation as Supreme Court Justice – what is going to happen to women’s bodily autonomy in the current American political climate.
In the United States a woman’s right to abortion has always been a contentious topic and the debate comes with a complicated history. Abortions were legalised in America in 1973 with the landmark Roe v. Wade case, which ruled that the state laws that banned abortion were unconstitutional. The same year, in Doe v. Bolton the Court solidified that “a state may not unduly burden a woman’s fundamental right to abortion”. These cases have had a huge impact on the country’s stance when it comes to abortion. However, due to the organisation of the US legal system states are able to pass their own laws. Because of this many areas have different rules when it comes to a woman’s termination rights.
Currently, it’s legal to get an abortion in all states, however some states have very restrictive laws that make it difficult to obtain one. The most restrictive form of abortion law in the US are fetal heartbeat bills. This makes abortions illegal as soon as a heartbeat is detected, which in some cases may be as early as five and a half weeks, when most women are not aware they are pregnant. This restriction was first proposed in North Dakota in 2013, but later ruled unconstitutional in 2015. A few other states have the bill, with it passing in Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana and Missouri. Iowa, Kentucky and Mississippi attempted to pass it, but were invalidated by the courts.
President Donald Trump has very openly expressed his hopes to make it harder for women to get an abortion and said he would support a near-total ban of the procedure (with exceptions for women whose lives will be at risk if a pregnancy continues). He demonstrated his dedication in January 2020 by becoming the first President to attend an anti-abortion rally. While there, he made a speech, during which he stated: “We’re here for a very simple reason: to defend the right of every child born and unborn to fulfil their God-given potential”.
In 2016, Trump said he would pick judges for the Supreme Court who would “automatically” overturn Roe v. Wade. It appears that Amy Coney Barret will be one of these people.
Coney Barrett is forthcoming in her Christian values, which for her mean that abortion should not be allowed. Previously, in her role as an appeals court judge, she ruled in favour of making it compulsory to inform parents of a minor seeking to get an abortion, without exceptions. This is a very dangerous position to take, and may have placed a lot of teenage girls in unsafe situations.
The restrictions, that require teenagers to tell their parents of a pregnancy, have had a detrimental impact on many people around the US. A woman on social media, who has not been named, described her experience of getting an abortion at the age of sixteen as intimidating and said she felt scared. To obtain the abortion she had to go before a judge to seek a judicial bypass as she felt it was harmful for her to inform her parents of her pregnancy. She showed up at the court unaware of what was going to happen and told the judge why she wanted to terminate the pregnancy. This was very damaging for a teenager to have to go through, but is not an uncommon situation in the country.
If, Coney Barrett is confirmed, her vote could sway the Supreme Court into overturning the Roe v. Wade ruling, therefore making abortion illegal in America. Trump has stated that she could start proceedings to overturn the 1973 decision, but did not mention how he believed she would vote.
A woman’s right to abortion is also at risk from one of the most powerful members of government in the US. Vice President, Mike Pence was questioned about abortion during the Vice-Presidential debate against Kamala Harris in October. When asked: “Vice President Pence, you’re the former governor of Indiana. If Roe. v. Wade is overturned, what do you want Indiana to do, would you want your home state to ban all abortions?” To which he replied, “I’m pro-life. I don’t apologise for it”.
Along with this he has expressed his desire to ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood and in 2017 he voted to cut protections for Title X. This was the only federal program in place that helped people on low incomes gain access to affordable sexual health care, such as STI screenings and birth control. Of course, these policies will cause a lot of harm to thousands of people, however disproportionately it will impact the those on low incomes who cannot afford private healthcare.
On the other hand, Democratic Presidential nominee, Joe Biden, is outspoken with his views that women should be allowed to get an abortion if they want to. “Reproductive rights are a constitutional right. And, in fact, every woman should have that right”. Biden has also stressed that his Affordable Care Act (which is a policy that makes health care insurance available for 95% of the US population) will cover abortion and contraception, so women are able to make their decisions without financial stresses.
We will have to wait until the result of the Presidential election and the outcome of the Supreme Court senate trials to truly see the impact these opposing views will have on women and their right to bodily autonomy. Nonetheless, it appears another term of Republican power will be damaging to millions of women across the United States.
