Our soon-to-be president Donald Trump just reiterated his intention to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court who will repeal Roe versus Wade. While I know that the 1973 decision effectively legalized abortion nationwide I’ve never really considered what would actually transpire if it was undone. So I googled “what would happen if roe v. wade was overturned” to get some consensus. As you might imagine there were a lot of opinions. What surprised me was how most were not predicting it to be the end of the world but rather that it would cause a lot of immediate legislating.
Basically if Roe versus Wade is overturned/repealed/reversed then abortion rights would be dictated by the states. States have varying degrees of abortion laws in place with many still unchanged from pre-1973. As most are probably aware several states have made laws restricting abortion rights or downright banning abortion in the past several years. Of course, these laws have been summarily struck down or made unenforceable per the Roe v Wade precedent <-fixed for spelling. In a post-Roe v Wade America this won’t happen.
My thoughts are these: I think the Republican Party is playing a dangerous game with abortion rights. Assuming Donald Trump appoints a justice to the Supreme Court who helps reverse Roe v Wade I believe the backlash will be immense. I would not be surprised if blue and purple states start passing laws legalizing abortion in 2017 in anticipation (for example abortion would actually still be illegal here in Colorado if it weren’t for Roe). Similarly there will be red states passing laws banning abortion knowing that the inevitable lawsuits will make their way to the Supreme Court where they WON’T be overturned.
How does one political party unite an entire generation against them? Easy – take away an extremely personal right over how they manage the outcome of the most poignant act of intimacy between a man and a woman. A right the largest generation has had their entire lives and many have honestly never had to think much about as it has always just been… there. I think the protests going on now over the election are NOTHING compared to what will happen if Roe v Wade is overturned.
The political fallout should be beside the point though, right? If a person is pro-life then it’s about protecting the unborn. Unfortunately the evidence shows that the legality of abortion doesn’t make much of a difference when it comes to abortion rates. I went to the Guttmacher Institute website for the numbers (also, those with any interest in the subject should check out the site as it’s full of interesting and enlightening statistics).
“Highly restrictive abortion laws are not associated with lower abortion rates. When countries are grouped according to the grounds under which the procedure is legal, the rate is 37 abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age where it is prohibited altogether or allowed only to save a woman’s life, compared with 34 per 1,000 where it is available on request, a nonsignificant difference.”
Of course, this means less in America where at least some states will keep it legal, thus one only has to take a trip across a boarder or two to get an abortion. If I were a Republican Representative or had aspirations to become one I would be very worried that Roe v Wade was going to be overturned. Not only is the issue hugely divisive (and one in which the popular opinion is pro-choice) but the outcome won’t even satisfy the moral prerogative to end abortions.
That is what I would call a lose-lose situation.
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