Breaking
the ongoing battle for abortion rights in America
Reproductive rights are vital for women's healthcare and personal freedom, playing a critical role in promoting gender equality and social justice. They encompass the right to make informed decisions about one's
reproductive health, including the choice of whether or not to have children. These rights are fundamental human rights that empower individuals to take control of their own bodies and lives.
Reproductive rights are vital for women's healthcare and personal freedom, playing a critical role in promoting gender equality and social justice. They encompass the right to make informed decisions about one's reproductive health, including the choice of whether or not to have children. These rights are fundamental human rights that empower individuals to take control of their own bodies and lives.
Reproductive
rights hold
They touch not only the lives of individual women but also leaving a profound impact on our entire society.
They go beyond personal choices, shaping the economic, social, and political empowerment of women. By championing these rights, we pave the way for a more inclusive and empowered future for all.
They touch not only the lives of individual women but also leaving a profound impact on our entire society. They go beyond personal choices, shaping the economic, social, and political empowerment of women. By championing these rights, we pave the way for a more inclusive and empowered future for all.
But the United States has a history
Formation of the
American Medical Association
In 1847, doctors banded together to form the AMA. It became the male-dominated authority on medical practices.
AMA members believed they should have the power to decide when an abortion could be legally performed. At the same time, the AMA was composed of physicians who lacked expertise in pregnancy and reproductive health.
AMA members launched a full-fledged criminalization campaign against abortion and female abortion providers. State legislatures moved to ban abortion.
AMA members believed they should have the power to decide when an abortion could be legally performed. At the same time, the AMA was composed of physicians who lacked expertise in pregnancy and reproductive health. AMA members launched a full-fledged criminalization campaign against abortion and female abortion providers. State legislatures moved to ban abortion.
Abortion bans & death
from illegal abortions
By 1910, abortion was not only restricted but outright illegal at every stage in pregnancy in every state in the country.
Criminalizing abortion sent the practice underground, which resulted in a high death toll. Unsafe, illegal abortion was the cause of death for nearly 2,700 women in 1930. Almost one out of every five (18%) of recorded maternal deaths that year was caused by an unsafe, illegal abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Criminalizing abortion
stop abortion,
it just makes it
Legalization
of contraception
A significant turning point in the history of reproductive rights occurred with the groundbreaking Supreme Court case of Griswold v. Connecticut. Prior to this pivotal moment, the legality of contraception used by married women was uncertain and subjected to restrictive laws.
However, the landmark ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut reshaped the landscape of reproductive autonomy. In 1965, it became legal for married women to use contraception.
It established that a woman was allowed to use birth control based on her Constitutional right
And that same right to privacy was the basis for
Roe v. Wade
The Supreme Court recognized for the first time that the constitutional right to privacy “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”
Roe v. Wade protected the right to abortion in all 50 states, making abortion services safer and more accessible throughout the country.
After Roe v. Wade abortion mortality rates plummeted
Because women in America have never been protected by an equal rights amendment in the constitution.
Even today, the US is still one of the only developed countries in the world with no provision in their constitution that specifically address gender equality.
The only legal precedent that protects women's constitutional right to make their own choices about their own bodies is the right to privacy upheld in Griswold vs. Connecticut and Roe v Wade.
Planned Parenthood
of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey
Casey created an “undue burden” framework, under which laws restricting access to abortion would be judged. Following Casey, state politicians passed numerous medically unnecessary abortion restrictions across the country which courts have found do not impose an undue burden.
States were able to pass laws limiting public funds and coverage by private insurance for reproductive care, institute waiting periods and require multiple trips to clinics, enforce mandatory counseling before an abortion or allow healthcare providers to refuse to perform abortions altogether.
The people disproportionately harmed by this restriction were rural women, poor women, and black, brown and indigenous woman who already experience gaps in access to affordable healthcare and contraception.
Record number
of abortion restrictions issued
On Sept. 1, 2021, Texas implemented a dangerous law called S.B. 8. which bans abortion at approximately six weeks of pregnancy — before many people even know they’re pregnant. The AMA denounced the Texas abortion ban, but the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect.
End of constitutional
right to abortion
The Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — a case involving a challenge to a Mississippi ban on abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy. The ruling overturned Roe — ending the federal constitutional right to abortion in the United States.
Unraveling the
now live in states where abortion is not accessible
banned or severely restricted abortion
Today more states are working
Stories that shatter
Pro-life & pro-choice
Since life begins at conception, abortion is akin to murder as it is the act of taking human life. Abortion is in direct defiance of the commonly accepted idea of the sanctity of human life.
Adoption is a viable alternative to abortion and accomplishes the same result. And with 1.5 million American families wanting to adopt a child, there is no such thing as an unwanted child.
An abortion can result in medical complications later in life; the risk of ectopic pregnancies is increased if other factors such as smoking are present, the chance of a miscarriage increases in some cases, and pelvic inflammatory disease also increases.
Abortion should not be used as another form of contraception.
Abortion sometimes causes psychological pain and stress.
Nearly all abortions take place in the first trimester when a fetus is attached by the placenta and umbilical cord to the mother. As such, its health is dependent on her health, and cannot be regarded as a separate entity as it cannot exist outside her womb.
Adoption is not an alternative to abortion because it remains the woman's choice whether or not to give her child up for adoption. Statistics show that very few women who give birth choose to give up their babies.
Abortion is a safe medical procedure. The vast majority of women who have an abortion do so in their first trimester. Medical abortions have a very low risk of serious complications and do not affect a woman's health or future ability to become pregnant or give birth.
Abortion is not used as a form of contraception. Pregnancy can occur even with contraceptive use. Few women who have abortions do not use any form of birth control, and that is due more to individual carelessness than to the availability of abortion.
Like any other difficult situation, abortion creates stress. Yet the American Psychological Association found that stress was greatest prior to an abortion and that there was no evidence of post-abortion syndrome.
About
Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases
For more information on how to get support when seeking an abortion, visit the National Network of Abortion Funds.