The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the nation’s right to abortion is the latest step in a history that began in 1973, with the ruling in the controversial case of Roe v. Wade. Overturning Roe v. Wade will not end abortion, it will only end safe abortions and access to
healthcare for millions of women.
The US is deeply divided both structurally and socially. The SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v Wade will exacerbate all forms of division, among contributions to the decline of US democratic integrity. Globally, the impact of this decision only validates and empowers threats to reproductive justice everywhere.
The Supreme Court’s decision sends a message that normalizes gender and sexualized inequality, gives free reign to incidents of violence, removes social safety nets for accountability, bodily autonomy, and harm reduction. Furthermore, a constitutionally guaranteed personal liberty is taken away and utterly disregarding the one in four women in the United States who make the decision to end a pregnancy.
Utter chaos lies ahead and will ignite a public health crisis in the US. The most economically vulnerable will also be the most affected.
Economic inequality in the US will drive the remaining access to all reproductive healthcare, not just abortion care. The privatized US healthcare system is already inaccessible to those with economic instability – immigrants, part-time workers, unemployed, houseless, and otherwise
low-income communities.
Travelling across state lines or abroad for an abortion is not affordable for all women. Many will resort, experts predict, to the alternative of abortion pills, which are less safe for patients.
As of the ruling, abortion rights will be determined by the states unless Congress acts. Nearly half of the states have already passed or will pass laws banning abortion, while others have enacted strict measures to regulate the procedure.
Each of USs 50 internal administrations will be able to prohibit the possibility of intervening during the pregnancy process, or not. Estimates indicate that the map of the United States will most likely be divided in two, between those that enable it and those that will restrict the
incredibly difficult, lifechanging and private decision and right of abortion.
Abortion access is a socialist issue, it is a feminist issue, and it is a systemic racial issue.
This situation shows that women’s rights, as human rights, have been in constant dispute throughout history. This is a setback in the guarantee of the human rights of pregnant women and people, reflects how conservative and right-wing groups are determined to put at risk the life of those who decide to interrupt their pregnancy and their progress in other rights related to women and gender freedoms.
IUSY regrets what happened recently in the United States, which represents a worrying step backwards in rights and means that many women will continue to put their lives at risk by going underground.
We call for respect for the progressiveness of human rights and ensuring every person’s right to make decisions about their body and their lives, as well as access to the full range of reproductive healthcare.
IUSY stands firmly on the side of women and will continue to fight and advocate for expanded healthcare rights for all women and ensure that a right to choose is never taken away.