Becky Brunson, Karla Smith, & Pracilya Titus  - PowerPoint Presentation

1. Becky Brunson, Karla Smith, & Pracilya Titus Members of NCC’s Committee for Diversity & Inclusion Rolling Back Women’s Rights: Societal Implications of Overturning Roe v Wade 

2. A Brief History of Abortion in the U.S. Prior to the mid-1800s, abortion is considered a morality issue for some but remains legal under the law. Abortions were considered illegal after quickening, which refers to once women could feel movement of the fetus, but it is not criminalized under federal law.  Many states forbade the selling the of abortifacients substances that induced abortion. Women and sellers not criminalized or penalized. Women could get these products through the mail.   Formation of the American Medical Association (AMA) in 1847 signaled the beginning of a wave of restrictive abortion laws. Doctors believe that they should play a major role in limiting abortion and address the moral component of women’s responsibility to her husband to produce offspring. During this time, there is also concern of married middle-class women opting to have fewer or no children going against societal norms of a woman’s responsibility to produce children. White men concerned about white people no longer being the majority leading to their support of restrictive laws. AMA began working to make abortion illegal at every stage of pregnancy. 

3. A Brief History of Abortion in the U.S. (cont.)1873: Congress passes An Act for the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use, more popularly known as the Comstock Law, making it illegal to sell and or distribute materials that could aid in contraception or abortion, through the federal mail system, or import said materials from abroad. Law sets the stage for a series of more restrictive laws that would come to pass at both the federal and state levels in restricting women’s reproductive rights.    By 1880, abortion is restricted in all states. By 1910, abortion is illegal and criminalized in all states, leading to an increase in women’s deaths as they attempt illegal means to induce abortion. Various organizations estimate that as many as 5,000 women died annually. Over the next 90 years, a series of landmark U.S Supreme Court and state decisions would begin to challenge abortion restrictions.

4. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) 1879: Connecticut passes law banning use of any drug, medical device, or other instrument in contraception. Under this law, married and unmarried women not only did not have access to contraceptives but also could not have conversations with pharmacists regarding how to prevent unplanned pregnancies. For the next 80 + years, there would be several unsuccessful attempts to challenge this law. Organizations such as Planned Parenthood involved in helping women get across state lines into states like Rhode Island and New York to secure contraceptives. 1961: CT native, Estelle Griswold, executive director of Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, partners with Yale gynecologist, Dr. C. Lee Buxton, to open birth control clinic in New Haven, CT to challenge the law. Both parties are arrested but their arrest leads to case being heard by the Supreme Court. Court rules that 9th amendment establishes that there are certain rights not explicitly written in the constitution that citizens possess. The right of privacy is established as a given right. Court concludes that states violate a married couples right to privacy in making the use of contraception illegal.

5. Roe v. Wade (1973)1969: Texas resident Norma McCorvey, who will later be identified as ‘Jane Roe,’ seeks an abortion during her 3rd pregnancy. Texas statute states that abortion is illegal unless performed to save the life of a mother. McCorvey files suit against Texas district attorney Henry Wade claiming that Texas’ abortion laws were unconstitutional. She wins the case. Case is appealed and sent to the Supreme Court. 1973: The U.S. Supreme Court opposes Texas statute that banned abortion and in turn legalizes abortion across the nation. At this time, only  four states had laws which legalized abortion, 30 states had complete abortion bans, and 16 states banned abortion outside of certain exceptions (rape, incest, and threat to mother’s life).  Court decided that a woman’s right to abortion is federally protected under the 14th amendment of the Constitution.   Rights given back to the states to set some abortion restrictions.

6. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992) 1988 and 1989: Pennsylvania amends birth control law requiring 24 hour waiting period before an abortion procedure. Women seeking abortions were also required to get consent from at least one parent, if they were a minor, and consent from their husband if they were married. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania brings case against Governor Casey to challenge these new amendments. 1992: Supreme court upholds 24 hour waiting period before an abortion and the informed consent requirement for minors. They rule against married women having to notify and/or get consent from their husband for an abortion procedure. Decision ultimately allows states increased flexibility in passing abortion restrictions.

7. Texas Six Week Abortion Ban (2021)

8. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) 2018: Mississippi passed Gestational Age Act prohibiting all abortions, with a few exceptions, after 15 weeks’ gestational age. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only licensed abortion facility in Mississippi, and one of their doctors file a lawsuit in federal district court challenges the law and requested an emergency temporary restraining order. Order is granted and district court states that Mississippi does not have right to ban abortions prior to viability. Case makes its way to the Supreme court. On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling on this case. Court rules that the constitution does not provide a right to abortion. This decision takes away the constitutional right to abortion set by the Roe v. Wade decision and abandons almost 50 years of precedent paving the way for states to implement abortion bans.

9. State Restrictionsin the yearsbetweenroe & Dobbshttps://www.guttmacher.org/infographic/2022/us-states-have-enacted-1381-abortion-restrictions-roe-v-wade-was-decided-1973

10. https://states.guttmacher.org/policies/

11. Social Implications of Overturning Roe Barrier to Abortion Access: When Roe was overturned, 13 states had already passed trigger laws, which effectively ban abortions almost immediately. Most states with trigger laws contain exceptions to protect the life of the mother, but determining exception or need is being made much more difficult in most cases. Many women seeking abortion will be forced to travel out-of-state at great expense.Expanded Criminalization: Abortion may well lead to criminal penalties. Furthermore, many states are now exploring fetal rights/personhood laws that increase the likelihood of criminalization of pregnant people's reproductive decisions and behaviors beyond abortion, such as suffering a miscarriage or using drugs while pregnant.Widespread Confusion for Doctors: Health care providers are admittedly unsure of their rights or criminal liability in the face of their responsibilities to advise and care for pregnant women with life-endangering health conditions.Loss of Reproductive Control: Women will be forced to stay pregnant and give birth even if they are victims of sexual assault/coercion. Many women who suffer from intimate partner violence will have less chance of cutting ties to their abusers and escaping violent relationships.Preventable deaths: Women from suffering miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy often need medical treatment, including medication used in abortion pills. Without treatment, there is an increased risk of hemorrhage and death.

12. The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade"Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to keep the baby," says Joyce, in a story typical of the birth mothers, mostly white and middle-class, who vent here about being forced to give up their babies for adoption from the 1950s through the early '70s. They recall callous parents obsessed with what their neighbors would say; maternity homes run by unfeeling nuns who sowed the seeds of lifelong guilt and shame; and social workers who treated unwed mothers like incubators for married couples. ~ Publisher's WeeklyWhen Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867-1973"Reagan's analysis of previously untapped sources, including inquest records and trial transcripts, shows the fragility of patient rights and raises provocative questions about the relationship between medicine and law. With the right to abortion increasingly under attack, this book remains the definitive history of abortion in the United States, offering vital lessons for every American concerned with health care, civil liberties, and personal and sexual freedom." ~ Amazon.comResources (The following titles are available at the NCC Library) 

13. Roe v. Wade: The Untold Story of the Landmark Supreme Court Decision that Made Abortion LegalFaux offers a detailed description of the legal maneuvers surrounding the landmark case. She reveals the legal and social factors that led to the momentous decision to test the constitutionality of the Texas abortion law, focusing on two women attorneys who developed the case. Their struggle to retain control of it provides an unusual view of politics among lawyers. Faux's analysis of the case prior to the Supreme Court decision is useful, offering important additional information for lay readers and specialists. ~ Library JournalDoctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before and After Roe v. Wade"Carole Joffe interviews 45 health-care professionals who either provided safe abortions or access to them in [the pre-Roe] years, focusing on, as she puts it, "the mounting frustrations with anti-abortion legislation that led otherwise highly conventional physicians to various degrees of law breaking and law bending" and the impact that decision had on their personal and professional lives. These people got involved because they could not stand by while women suffered from poverty or health complications." ~ Review

14. Griswold v. Connecticut: Birth Control and the Constitutional Right of PrivacyJohnson explores Griswold's origins in a challenge to Connecticut's 1879 anti-contraception law, provides a detailed narrative of its progress, examines the unfolding of the newly secured right of privacy up to recent controversies over same-sex relations, and grounds the story in two key contexts: the struggle within one state to establish the right to birth control and the national debate over the right of privacy. The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America“The only book to cover the entire history of birth control and the intense controversies about reproduction rights that have raged in the United States for more than 150 years, . . . Gordon puts today's reproduction control controversies--foreign aid for family planning, the abortion debates, teenage pregnancy and childbearing, stem-cell research--into historical perspective and shows how the campaign to legalize abortion is part of a 150-year-old struggle over reproductive rights, a struggle that has followed a circuitous path. ~ Amazon.com

15. On Abortion and the Repercussions of Lack of AccessEvery year, 47,000 women around the world die due to botched illegal abortions. Those who survive risk imprisonment, while millions of others are forced to carry pregnancies to term against their will. Control of female fertility has long been an ambition of most states, societies and religions in the world. Although safe and efficient abortion technologies now exist, least 138 countries restrict a woman's right to terminate pregnancy under various conditions–in some countries, abortion is forbidden even in cases of rape or threat to the mother's life. Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement“In several sagaciously researched essays, Erdreich presents some of the voices of women who choose abortion and why. An honest probing of law, public perception and conscience in the abortion debate.” ~ Kirkus Reviews