By Kristin Kelley
Previously, a woman seeking an abortion for whatever personal reasons may have had to hide this decision from close peers in fear of the negative stigma surrounding abortion and attempt to park in a secluded area to hopefully avoid the “Pro-Life” protestors outside of a Planned Parenthood. Recent studies show that 58% of women felt they needed to keep their abortion a secret from friends and family, and 17% believe their regular healthcare provider would treat them differently, if they knew about the abortion. Research also suggests that those with private insurance may choose to pay out of pocket for abortions solely to avoid the negative stigma. However, the war on women is heightened in current events, partly due to public shaming and embarrassment.
As background, on January 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade held that a woman, with her doctor, could choose abortion in the earlier months of pregnancy without legal restriction. The Supreme Court ruled that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides a fundamental right to privacy that protects a woman’s liberty to choose whether or not to have an abortion. The Supreme Court ruled this right to privacy is not absolute and should be balanced against the government’s interests in protecting women’s health and protecting prenatal life. However, this balance test was resolved by the Court as well. Regulation that limits the fundamental right of privacy must be justified by a compelling state interest, and legislative enactments must be narrowly tailored to further that interest.
Yet, even with this Supreme Court decision in 1973, the Alabama State Senate recently passed a near-total ban on abortion, making it a felony for a doctor to perform the procedure at any stage of pregnancy punishable by 10-99 years in prison. The only exception to this ban is when the women’s health is at “serious risk”. Georgia also signed legislation to ban abortion once cardiac activity can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio also passed bills that prohibit abortions after 6-8 weeks of pregnancy. These are sometimes known as the “heartbeat bills” because this timeframe is when doctors can usually start detecting a fetal heartbeat.
The stigma around abortion is that only irresponsible, promiscuous women have abortions. The uninformed even believe that the majority of women having abortions are choosing to have them as a form of birth control. Yet, statistics show that more than 51% of women who had an abortion reported having used a contraceptive method during the month they got pregnant. Of the women who had not, many believed they were at a low risk for pregnancy. With new bills being passed, restricting a women’s right and access to safe abortions makes it clear that even in the circumstances of rape and incest, abortion will be banned. In other words, rape victims will not have the choice of abortion – they will have to carry and deliver their rapist’s child.
If a war on women does not get your attention, consider the public health issue that arises when a ban on abortions is in place. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were between 200,000 and 1.2 million illegal abortions each year, and around 200-300 women died per year trying to end a pregnancy during that time frame. Banning abortions and threatening medical professionals with criminal punishment does not make abortions stop. It does not eliminate a women’s choice. It eliminates her to make a choice comfortably. Women can resort to dangerous tactics to have an abortion if they, for whatever reason, wish to have an abortion. These dangerous options can lead to serious medical harm and in worst case scenarios, death. The logic behind banning abortions is mainly the value of life, but banning safe, affordable abortions, and outright denying a woman to her right to privacy, puts the woman’s life in danger as well. When women have access to safe, legal and affordable abortion, maternal death and injuries due to unsafe abortions decrease dramatically.
The argument on both sides has caused tension and serious debates, as it should. A Supreme Court ruling has been challenged and states are taking bold stances on abortion and women’s right to privacy. As it remains a hot-button topic, more and more states may make a line in the sand as to where they stand on abortion. As some states have already taken the bold step at limiting abortions in their strictest form, it is likely that some other states will follow in their footsteps.
Whether you are Pro-Life, Pro-Choice or somewhere in between, it is important that you educate yourself and others to the statistics, the history and the consequences of banning abortions outright.
“The emphasis must be not on the right to abortion but on the right to privacy and reproductive control.” – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Kristin Kelley is a fourth-year evening student at Suffolk University Law School. She is currently employed at a healthcare law firm but hopes to pursue her legal career by assisting domestic violence and sexual assault victims achieve justice.
Sources
https://www.self.com/story/14-abortion-facts
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/70-18
https://abguide.uchicago.edu/page/understanding-abortion-stigma-and-shame
https://www.al.com/news/2019/05/alabama-abortion-ban-passes-read-the-bill.html
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHBL or Suffolk University Law School.