On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that upheld the constitutional right to abortion, in a 6-3 vote. This means that after about 50 years of constitutional protection, the legal status of abortion is now decided entirely by states.

Due to trigger laws that were put in place before the Supreme Court ruling, restrictive abortion laws immeditely went into affect in some states and eventually in others. About 12 states have complete bans on abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Many others have varying levels of restrictive laws in place.

 A leaked draft of the decision to overturn Roe was leaked on May 2 and published on Politico. Because of this, I wasn’t very surprised when the official ruling came out. However, nothing could have prepared me for the aftermath.

Like myself, many took to social media to share their reactions. As a firm believer in a human being’s right to their bodily autonomy, I was extremely devastated by the ruling but even more by the people who were happy about it. You see, I have lived years knowing and interacting with people who refer to themselves as pro-life or anti-abortion. For the most part, I get where they are coming from. However, I think there is a clear difference between not agreeing with abortion and celebrating a ban or possible ban on it. 

To start off, I find it completely absurd that people, especially those in positions of power, think it is okay to place a complete ban on abortions with no exception for instances such as rape or incest. I believe everyone deserves a choice as to what to do with their bodies regardless what their reasons are, but I understand that those who take a pro-life stance do not agree. However, I am truly shocked that there are so many pro-life advocates who do not believe that there should be exceptions in instances of pregnancies that are a result of sexual violence and other traumatic situations. I don’t want to enforce the idea that people need to experience something traumatic in order to have rights over their bodies. That is not what I am saying. But I want to emphasize that the celebration of the overturn of Roe v. Wade is the celebration of the traumatic and forced pregnancies and births that those who experienced sexual harms will be required to endure.

I also find it interesting that people advocate for forced birth in a country where there is no universal healthcare, no guaranteed parental leave, no universal childcare and significantly high maternal mortality rates. In addition to that, the current minimum wage in the United States does not provide a living wage. These issues, in my opinion, support my theory that overturning Roe v. Wade is not about “saving a life,” as many pro-life advocates like to claim. I think if this was about saving lives, there would be more reform in the issues I mentioned above. If this was about saving lives, issues like gun violence—especially in schools—and high costs of mental health care would take priority.

Abortion bans do not result in the end of abortions; they just make safe abortions inacessible. People will continue to need and seek abortions for many reasons. However, in states where abortion is banned, people will have no choice but to seek unsafe methods such as self-induced abortions, abortions performed by unskilled practitioners, and abortions in unsafe environments. These methods can often be life-threatening.

I would like to believe that when people celebrate the overturning of Roe, they are not aware of the dangerous results of it. They are not aware that so many people can die because they have no access to safe abortions. I do not want to believe that people know what horrible results can come from this and are still happy about it.

Nonetheless, I know that people are in support of the June 24 ruling and although I know that I most likely won’t change their minds, I hope that one day these people will realize the extremely harmful implications of the decision that they are celebrating.