Los Angeles, California, USA – Dazon Dixon Diallo said she felt mixed emotions when she read the draft US Supreme Court decision.
Though not final, the majority opinion – first published by Politico on Monday night – shows that the country’s highest court has voted to annul Roe v Wade, a ruling that carries landmark 1973 guaranteed the right to abortion in the United States.
Dixon Diallo, founder of Sister Love, a sexual and reproductive health advocacy group in the state of Georgia, USA, said: “In just a few seconds, I went through a lot of emotions.
While she wasn’t surprised, given the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, she said she felt “absolutely angry at the quasi-judicial opinion in terms of the language of the opinion”.
Georgia is one of the states likely to enact a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy – a time when many people don’t even know they’re pregnant – if Roe v Wade is pushed back, reproductive rights groups say.
Dixon Diallo said people of African descent and young people would face the brunt of such a decision. The family and community around the pregnant person will also be affected.
“Having the children you want at the time you want them is tied to your own aspirations about your own destiny, and if you are incapable of making a decision about that, you can trapped in poverty. longer,” she told Al Jazeera.
“We know that having an unwanted pregnancy and having more children than we can afford, or have planned or been able to raise, is detrimental to our entire community, economically. , politics, culture.”
Abortion is still legal
While the Supreme Court is expected to make a final decision by the end of June, draft comments leaked on Monday prompted abortion providers to stress that abortion is still legal in the US – and they will continue to provide care.
“We intend to continue to provide care, even if in Georgia the worst-case scenario comes and it is a 6-week ban on abortions,” said MK Anderson, who uses the pronoun surname/surname and is director of communications at the Center for Feminist Health in Atlanta.
Anderson told Al Jazeera: “We’re definitely not closing.
“We already have abortion bans, two of which, a 15-week ban and a six-week ban, are being sued in court, but they have been anticipating this. [Supreme Court] decision. So what Georgia courts do with those restraining orders will depend on the specifics of the decision. “
About half of US states are likely to ban or restrict abortion if Roe v Wade is exposed. Reproductive Rights Center data shows 24 states likely to ban the practice, while the Guttmacher Institute puts the number at 26. Most can be found in the central and southern parts of the country.
The Guttmacher Institute also says that 36 million women of childbearing age may soon have to cross state lines, toward the shores of the United States, to access abortion. That number is higher when transgender and non-binary people are included, although exact data are not available.
Lisa Haddad, an obstetrician-gynecologist living in Georgia and medical director of the Center for Biomedical Research at the Population Council, said if Roe v Wade fails, the ruling will primarily affect communities. colored bronze.
Haddad told Al Jazeera: “These disparities are often felt more by individuals already in vulnerable situations.
She said people won’t be able to easily access care if they can’t take time off work, can’t find child care or can’t afford to travel, and notes that most insurance in Georgia doesn’t cover it. for abortion.
Haddad said it’s impossible to know what people would do if they were left with a choice, but historically, people have turned to physical harm, intoxication or suicide as a last resort.
“It breaks my heart to all the young people who are struggling to get safe and appropriate health care because now they have politicians coming out,” she said. decide for them.
‘Abandon democracy’
Engineering can provide a possible solution to access. Rachel Rebouche, interim dean and professor of law at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law who focuses on abortion policy, points to virtual health providers filling the void.
There are two ways to access abortion in the United States: either through an in-clinic procedure, or by taking the abortion pill, which can be done safely at home. New U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules allow telehealth facilities to send medications by mail, making abortions accessible in situations where people can’t drive. long distance car to clinic.
For years, the FDA has required people to come pick up the abortion pill mifepristone in person, but as the coronavirus pandemic hit, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked a court to drop the in-person request. because it could put patients at risk of contracting COVID-19, Rebouche explained.
In December 2021, under the more liberal Biden administration, the FDA permanently lifted the direct restriction. “From there, you have seen the growth of virtual abortion clinics, which are entirely online services. You sign in, you have an online consultation, the abortion pill has been mailed to you,” Rebouche said.
For states that allow virtual abortions, a telehealth provider can ship the abortion pill to any state where it is allowed. “At the same time, many states have become really respectful and outlawed televised abortion within their borders,” she said.
Dixon Diallo agrees that abortion pills and telehealth have changed the game in helping people access abortion. But she warned that everything depends on what the official court decides.
Still, she hopes the draft decision will shake up those who have become complacent. “If Roe completely disappears, I guarantee you there will be street fights – I mean from a political standpoint,” she said.
“Destruction of democracy begins with the removal of individual rights, including the right to have an abortion… That’s what really happens, and women are now the biggest collateral and the most affected. best of all these.”
