In Texas, the conservative state where Roe v Wade took place 50 years ago, Republican Attorney General Paxton has outlawed abortion. In contrast, traditionally Democratic states such as California and New York have said they will welcome women from other states to seek “abortion sanctuary” with open arms. Technology companies such as Google and Microsoft, based in the western US, have even said that they will cover the cost of travel to and from California and other subsidies for employees and their families in other states if their abortion rights are restricted by local law. And the Guttmacher Institute, a US research organization, says it expects the number of women traveling to California to jump 30-fold this year.

The Origin of Roe v Wade

Before the 1970s, nearly 80% of whites in the United States were Christian. Largely influenced by religious factors, abortion was banned in 46 of the 50 US states, 30 of which did not allow any exceptions. This meant that abortion was not allowed even in cases of pregnancy in cases such as rape or incest. In the book What’s the Point of Feminism, British author Tabby Jackson Gee writes: “In the 1960s, a million women had illegal abortions each year in the United States alone, performed by shoddy backstreet abortion technicians or by the pregnant women themselves.”

In 1969, Norma McCorvey, a 21-year-old waitress in Texas, had no choice but to have an abortion when she was ill-paid and homeless and could not afford to raise a child. In March 1970, with the help of Sarah Weddington, a recent graduate lawyer, Norma used the alias Jane Roe to file a lawsuit against Henry Wade, the district attorney in Dallas County, Texas, who was responsible for enforcing abortion laws. The lawsuit, Roe v. Wade, was filed by Henry Wade, the district attorney in Dallas County, Texas, who was responsible for enforcing abortion laws. Roe v. Wade eventually took three years to make its way to the United States Federal Supreme Court.

Sarah Waddington, Roy’s lawyer, has said: I was asked by a Justice at the time when do you think human life begins? I replied “Your Honour, we don’t need to discuss this precise moment, there is no answer to this question, different religions answer this question differently, but there is no law that says from which moment a fetus becomes a human being. So the question is, who is able to make this decision, the woman or the government?” In my opinion, this is never a decision that the government can make.

PBS argues that in the context of the times, partisanship in the United States was not yet evident. Even with the dominant number of conservative justices at the time, the Federal Supreme Court tried and ruled on the case from a social and medical perspective. At the time, Roe’s victory became a model for the defense of women’s rights within the world. In the judgment, it was clearly stated that the right to abortion is a fundamental right, protected by the Constitution in the same way as the right to privacy.

Back to today. In the opinion of the Wall Street Journal, it is a rare move for the United States, a country with a case law system, for the Federal Supreme Court to now overturn a 50-year-old decision. According to the BBC, between 1992 and 2010, more than 700 local regulations restricting abortion were introduced in various US states, directly leading to the closure of hundreds of birth control clinics across the country. The overturning of Roe will undoubtedly have the greatest impact on poor, underprivileged women, especially minority women. if women in conservative states with certain financial means are still able to access abortions off-site.

International organizations reiterate that reproductive rights are an important component of women’s rights

On 24 June, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said that the UN has repeatedly reaffirmed that reproductive rights are an essential component of women’s rights and a fundamental principle of human rights upheld by international agreements, as reflected in the laws of most countries around the world. Restrictions on women’s right to abortion by the US Federal Supreme Court and some local governments have significantly undermined basic human rights such as the right to privacy and personal security of American women. Moreover, the US is one of the few countries that has not yet ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, a violation of the basic human rights of its citizens.

In addition, according to WHO, the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed country, and restrictive abortion laws will result in higher infant and maternal mortality rates in those conservative states. This is especially true for low-income populations, especially adolescents, people of color, immigrants, and refugees, who will be disproportionately affected by abortion restrictions.

The Hill notes that after the federal Supreme Court’s abortion rights decision, Biden has vowed to use all means to get the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision passed into federal law. Meanwhile, a number of Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, have announced that if the GOP takes both houses of Congress in the midterm elections, they will push for a total ban on abortion in every state in the US.

The BBC notes that the Federal Supreme Court’s decision has dropped a constitutional bomb on an already conflicted US society, with a new round of fighting over the decades-old battle over abortion. Both parties seem to be seeing a “preview” of the mid-term elections in the midst of all the antagonism. Only the basic rights of the general public have fallen victim to the “divisiveness”. The New York Times asks with concern: is it women’s rights that are going backward or is it America that is going backward, and what will go backward next?

By Shiyue Luo