Women Need Roe V. Wade to Stay

In case you haven’t been paying much attention to current events lately, some states in America are attempting to ban abortions past the first trimester. In mid-May the supreme court agreed to hear a case on a law from Mississippi which would ban all abortions after 15 weeks gestation. This case directly challenges Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey which established that abortions are legal and unrestricted up to 24 weeks because that is when the fetus could survive outside the mother. So is Roe v. Wade overturned? Not yet, but the Mississippi case makes us wonder: should Roe v. Wade be overturned?

The answer is a very simple “no.” Overturning Roe v. Wade would put the lives of millions of American women at risk.

Now, I know some of you are wondering why Roe v. Wade is so important, and I promise I’m getting there. 

Let’s start with the facts.

Since abortions were often illegal prior to Roe v. Wade in 1973, it’s impossible to know exactly how many women had them. However, scholars estimate that 20% to 25% of all pregnancies in America ended in abortion before 1973. That’s one in five pregnant women having an abortion.

The most common and affordable way for women to go about abortion was doing it themselves. These are women who used coat hangers or drank too much alcohol or rat poison, hoping to force a miscarriage. It was also possible for women to ask licensed physicians to provide an abortion for them. This was a much safer option, but was often expensive, and came with the risk of the doctor being imprisoned. Some doctors were willing to take that risk, but many weren’t.

Now let’s look at post Roe v. Wade America. These days the abortion rate is 23.7%, which is approximately the same as before 1973. The main difference is that 95% of abortions happening now are preformed in clinics that specialize in abortion or offer it as one of their medical services. Before 1973 many abortions were carried about unsafely whether it was the environment where it occurred, the means the abortion was brought about, and/or the provider (if there was one) who preformed it. 

It’s also important to look at the women who are getting abortions. What do they have in common? Is there a pattern? Why do these women need or want abortions? For starters, more than half of the women who receive abortions are in their 20s. Women in their 20s are often finishing college, getting a start on their careers, or already started a family but aren’t ready for more or any children yet. Adolescents, or those aged 19 and lower, made up about 12% of those who received an abortion. Three-quarters of abortion patients were below the federal poverty line, or considered low income. These women wouldn’t have had the financial means to provide a safe and stable home for a child. 

What would I do?

Personally, I’m barely 21 years old and starting my senior year of college in the fall. I have a part-time job nannying for three kids and am looking for paid internships so I can make enough money to cover my rent and living expenses. I don’t know what I would do if I became pregnant now. Morally, I would be extremely conflicted about terminating a pregnancy–especially since I was born when my mother was 16 and she managed to raise me with the help of our family. But I would also be concerned I’d be unable to provide for a child since I don’t have a steady career or partner.

I’d like to say I’d keep the baby, or at least carry it to term and then put it up for adoption, but it’s hard to know unless you’re put into that position. I don’t think most women know what they would do until they’re put into that position.   What I do know for sure, is that I feel safer knowing I have different options available to me. 

So why is this so important?

There are many politicians and citizens who want more drastic restrictions on abortion, or want it banned altogether. They tend to think that the federal legalization of pregnancy termination made it a more common occurrence. That simply isn’t the case. The truth is that abortions have always happened. Women have terminated unplanned and unwanted pregnancies for millennia. Literally. Abortions occurred in ancient times and were even permitted by the Catholic Church until 1869. The only thing that’s changed over time are the methods they’ve used and whether or not termination was legal which was based on morality of the times. And often the morality of abortion has been decided by doctors and not the women who ask for, need, and want abortions.

Women need abortion to be legal. There are many women who will never need one, never even come close to needing one, but there are approximately one million American women who get an abortion every year. And for that reason, Roe v. Wade needs to be protected. If we don’t protect abortion, those one million women every year who need safe, legal abortions won’t be protected either.