The End Of Roe V. Wade Is A Defeat For Freedom In America

On June 24, the United States Supreme Court took a step backward by overturning Roe v. Wade. 

I was in a state of shock and extremely angry when I found out about the decision.

It’s terrifying to know that a woman’s right to govern her own body was stripped away by a group made up mostly of men.

The absurd ruling is already leaving its mark. This week, a 10-year-old rape survivor was forced to travel to Indiana after her home state⁠—Ohio—denied her a chance to have an abortion. 

How can we expect a kid to take care of a baby she didn’t want?

Roe v. Wade was a 1973 landmark Supreme Court ruling that upheld a woman’s right to have an abortion. The Court’s latest decision allows states to impose restrictions or bans on it.

So far, 26 states are likely to restrict access to abortions. These states include Alabama, South Carolina, Missouri and Florida. 

And that is just the beginning.

In a 213-page document written by the Supreme Court to justify the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, “we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” 

Griswold v. Connecticut was a 1965 landmark case that protected the right of married couples to buy and use contraceptives without government regulation.

In 2003, Lawrence v. Texas protected people in same-sex relationships from criminal punishment. That set the precedent for Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2016. 

Thomas’s statement marks a disturbing conservative precedent in the Supreme Court that could jeopardize the legality of gay marriage, access to contraception and sexual privacy. 

Members of the LGBTQ+ community, ethnic minorities and low-income communities will be the most affected. Many women who live in states that outlaw abortions will not be able to take time off from work or afford to travel to states that still allow it. 

However, abortions will not stop happening. The ruling will only prevent safe abortions from happening. Don’t let them fool you. This was never about the protection of life, it was about controlling women. 

People are pro-life until the child is poor, a minority, part of the LGBTQ community, an orphan, an immigrant or disabled.

It’s easy to give up hope but we must not surrender. 

Attend protests, call and email your house representatives and senators and donate to organizations like Planned Parenthood and smaller clinics with less funding.

But most importantly, vote in November. Abortion rights will be the most salient issue on the ballot. If we fight to elect those who care about reproductive rights, we can take back the freedom that was once ours.

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