The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade impacted women’s health in the Western world unlike any other. A year later – what has changed when it comes to abortions and women’s rights?
In June 2022 the Supreme Court has made a decision that would impact the lives of many women in the U. S. and at the same time would divide a whole nation. When Roe v. Wade was overturned, the constitutional rights for women to get an abortion were lifted. States could now decide for themselves whether or not they wanted to keep abortion legal. Today, abortion is banned in 14 and restricted in 11 states.
Where abortion is legal, illegal and restricted as of July 1, 2023. Credit: Kaiser Family Foundation.
This not only divides the U. S. medically but also ideologically. Many patients who want to get an abortion have no other choice than traveling to a state where it is legal. However, this can come with serious consequences as some anti-abortion-states prohibit patients from getting an abortion. Period. No matter where the procedure would be carried out. Seven states have therefore passed an abortion shield law (California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware). This law protects gynecologists who perform abortions on patients from restrictive states in states where abortion is legal as well as patients seeking such procedures and anyone who helps them with receiving an abortion.
The restrictions have led to a general decline in abortions by about 3 % nationwide. However, there is a clear gap between anti-abortion-states and states which allow the procedure as the largest declines are seen in the most restrictive states – especially in the South. Less restrictive states see an increase in abortions, most likely because more patients are traveling there to get the procedure.
Besides the obvious risks that come with banning abortion, there are a number of other threats to women’s health. One would be insufficient care for women who experience a miscarriage or a potentially lethal pregnancy. Also, the impact on women’s mental health can’t be neglected. Although there are comparatively few cases of pregnancies that are a result of e. g. rape, those women are now often forced to give birth to their rapists’ child. And another big medical risk: Women who want an abortion will get that abortion – no matter the circumstances.
“The thing that has bothered me from the beginning – when it became clear that this was actually happening – is that for all the attention, the stories that we are not hearing are the ones that I think about the most and feel the most sad about”, says Christine Henneberg, MD, who is specialized in abortions. “You hear these stories of the lengths that women have to go to get an abortion and the barriers that get in their way. It is important that we hear those stories and the fact that those people ultimately got their abortion, no matter how many hurdles they had to jump through.
Press outlets reported a rise in promoting dangerous abortion techniques that can be carried out at home – including herbs, self-injuries and DIY vacuum aspirations. But there’s hope: Henneberg states that one good thing coming from the changes is that physicians realized abortion is – in most cases – not a complicated procedure, especially medication abortion during early pregnancy.
However, to be able to get an abortion – even in states where it’s legal – patients need to know their rights and they need to know which procedures are legal in their state. A recent study shows that 41 % of women aged 18–49 are unsure whether abortion via medication is legal in their state. 32 % of adults are unsure if the emergency contraceptive known as Plan B is legal in their state, 5 % think it’s illegal. However, Plan B is legal in all U. S. states. On the other hand, only 39 % living in states where abortion is legal are aware that they still need a prescription in order to get medication abortion.
Missing information and misinformation about abortion are a huge problem, not only in the U. S. – but that is not surprising. Where procedures are illegal, information about those procedures are harder to come by, especially from reliable sources. Soon after the decision on Roe v. Wade was made, misinformation began to flood social media. “Misinformation abounds about abortion causing fetal pain, infertility, death, life-threatening complications, and mental illness,” according to a recent article published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. “Further, modern misinformants perpetuate dangerous antiquated myths that abortion is never used to save a pregnant person’s life; that abortions can be reversed; that infants are born alive during abortions; and that abortion is promoted for human sacrifice, eugenics, or to further a scientific agenda.”
Those developments not only divide the general public but also physicians, especially obstetrics and gynecologists. Recent data shows a clear decline of physicians in these fields in anti-abortion-states. Often those states are already areas with the fewest physicians per capita.
While applicants can apply across state lines, these percentage changes are based on the unique number of applicants by ban status across specialties from the 2021–2022 to 2022–2023 application cycles. Ban status data as of January 20, 2023, are from KFFAll specialties include obstetrics and gynecology. Credit: 2021–2023 Electronic Residency Application Service.
Roe v. Wade could be seen as one of many symptoms of a greatly divided nation. It is very concerning how deeply and on how many levels it impacts not only women’s abortion rights, but their general health care, their gynecological and reproductive care as well as – last, but definitely not least – their mental health.
Image Source: Christian Gertenbach, unsplash
