Roe vs. Wade: A Cruel Overturning

Article by Lila Poore | Art by Jillian Hartshorne

“The line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive.” -Aristotle. On January 22nd, 1937, Roe v. Wade was put into action after the U.S. Supreme Court accounted for the constitution’s protection of the right to liberty and privacy. It was determined that the decision to carry a pregnancy to term was a private issue that applied to the mother and ultimately protected the rights of women and their reproductive rights. However, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, sanctioning states the authority to enforce bans on abortion. As of now, 13 states in the U.S. have entirely banned abortion, placing a restriction on women and the decisions they make concerning their bodies. Roe vs. Wade must be reinstated to provide women with the fundamental protection of their basic human rights, health, and lifestyle. Women are owed nothing less than the complete and utter freedom to make decisions about their bodies.

It is nothing but cruel and inhumane to force a woman to carry a baby to term for 40 weeks and to give a gruesomely painful birth if she does not wish to do so. As much as women should be able to draw conclusions on whether they bring an extension of themselves into the world based on their own prospects, intransigent events, such as rape, in combination with the overturn of Roe vs. Wade, leave women stranded in hideous situations that unjustly alter the course of their lives forever. 1 out of 6 women in America has experienced either an attempted or completed rape. The National Library of Medicine states: “The national rape-related pregnancy rate is 5.0% per rape among victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45); among adult women, an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year.” (Kost and Smith) Rape is a severely traumatic event that can take more than a lifetime to recover from, but what occurs in a case where a woman becomes pregnant? Should she now be required to carry and give birth to a product of an assault against her will? To force a rape survivor to endure any more pain and trauma by bringing to life the result of her assault is nothing but inhumane; in fact, some women would rather receive illegal abortions that can be unsafe than go through with a traumatizing pregnancy.

The issue of unsafe abortion has only gained more momentum since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Certain pregnant women are left so desperate for control over the decision about their pregnancy, a decision that has the means to change the course of a life forever, that they opt for an unsafe abortion over the alternative. The National Institutes of Health report that each year, 20 million out of the 42 million unintended pregnancy abortions worldwide are unsafe. The overturning of Roe vs. Wade does not stop abortion, but instead raises the amount of unsafe abortions being received by women, putting them at an unnecessary risk that would have not otherwise been present if abortion hadn’t been banned.

While Roe vs. Wade actively protected women and their reproductive rights, it was also a major factor in keeping women and their families out of poverty. However, the overturning of Roe v. Wade has raised growing issues of economic instability. Women’s lack of participation in all aspects of the workforce can be linked to the loss of their reproductive rights. This loss also impacts women's educational attainment, potentially pushing families below the poverty line. Now, many financially unstable families exist and will continue to grow as a direct result of abortion bans.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade puts women in America in danger, risking unsafe abortions, and causing economic issues. It strips women of their security and personal freedom in their country, freedom that had previously been promised by the U.S. Constitution, and causes the continuous creation of families in poverty. The ability to make decisions about one’s own body is not a privilege but a right. To overturn a law that has been in place and actively protecting women and their personal freedom for 50 years is unconstitutional. Roe vs. Wade must be reinstated, for nothing less than the safety of all women and their families in America.

Sources

Center for Reproductive Rights. "Roe v. Wade." Center for Reproductive Rights, 2023.

Colorado.edu. "Two Years After Roe v. Wade: The Reversal's Impacts and What's to Come." University of Colorado Boulder, 20 June 2024. 

Guttmacher Institute. "Facts on Induced Abortion Worldwide." National Institutes of Health, 2009.

Kost, Kathryn, and Barbara Smith. "The Effects of Restricting Abortion Access on Women’s Health and Well-Being." PubMed, 1996.