"On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO). The ruling upheld Mississippi’s ban on abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy, overturned Roe v. Wade, and ended the federal constitutional right to abortion in the United States.

By overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court erased nearly 50 years of precedent. They took away our power to make our own personal medical decisions, and they gave that power to lawmakers. The court’s decision most harms Black, Latino, Indigenous, and other people of color — communities for whom systemic racism has long blocked access to opportunity and health care.

The ruling will have a ripple effect, spreading abortion bans across the United States. About half the states in the country could move to wipe out abortion access. Some of these states have policies that ban abortion immediately. Others are led by lawmakers who are hostile to abortion and have a history of passing abortion restrictions.

Thirty-six million women, plus many others who can become pregnant, are at risk of losing abortion access in their state.

The Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling on January 22, 1973, decriminalized abortion nationwide. It gave people the right to access abortion legally all across the country and freed patients to access the health care they needed when they needed it without fear.

Despite all the attacks on abortion rights, the Supreme Court had — until now — honored Roe v. Wade’s core principle: that the Constitution protects a person's right to make their own private medical decisions, including the decision to have an abortion prior to fetal viability. The court honored that principle through decisions in key abortion rights cases, including Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey and Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

So, what changed? The makeup of the Supreme Court. Three relatively new Supreme Court justices — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett — brought records hostile to reproductive health and rights to the court.

Beyond the numbers, personal stories show that abortion is an essential health care service — no matter the reason."

https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/roe-v-wade

Podcast Art: Hannah Packer