Abortion is a procedure that puts an end to a pregnancy. Many women — and people with uteruses — require abortions due to a wide variety of circumstances: Maybe life-threatening complications during the pregnancy arose, maybe conception was non-consensual, or maybe the individual simply does not want to carry their pregnancy to term.
As many may already know, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24th, 2022, which dismantled almost fifty years of federal abortion protection. Since the court ruling, abortions have been banned in thirteen states, and various restrictions have been implemented in others.
While these limitations negatively affect the rights of countless individuals, abortions are most commonly sought out by marginalized groups of people. In America, nearly 75 percent of abortion patients live at or below the federal poverty level, and over 50 percent of abortion patients are non-white.
Despite the lack of legal abortion protection, some pregnant individuals may continue to pursue the procedure — even if that means doing so in an unsafe manner. Unsafe abortions are abortions that are performed outside of a proper medical institution, or by people who lack the necessary skills to do so. Unsafe abortions — while preventable — have the potential to cause numerous complications and even death for pregnant individuals. Worldwide, about 45 percent of all abortions are unsafe; 97 percent of which occur in developing countries.
Personal PAC details the effects of unsafe abortions, and the lengths that people are forced to go to when abortion is criminalized:
In 1964 — prior to Roe v. Wade — Gerri Santoro found that she was pregnant; she wanted an abortion and met a man named Dixon who was willing to help her.
As the article says:
“There were no good options. Gerri and Dixon attempted to self-induce at the hotel room, using second-hand surgical instruments and instructions from a text-book. Gerri started hemorrhaging and he fled the motel. She died alone on the floor of that room, a victim of the lack of choices available to her.”
Gerri lost her life at only 28 years old. She is just one of the many women who have died as a result of inaccessible safe abortions. Gerri’s story gives us a glimpse into the dull future that is to inevitably occur so long as abortions remain illegal.
On November 8th, 2022, Proposition 1 passed in California, which will establish the constitutional right to an abortion in the state.
“The ballot measure caps a yearlong effort to pass more than a dozen legislative and budget reforms that protect providers and patients, and offer help to those coming from other states for abortion services.”
While this amendment marks a great success for the right to reproductive freedom, the fight is far from over. A multitude of individuals all over the world continue to lack bodily autonomy. Consequently, people will continue to face the repercussions of illegal abortions. Regardless of the reasoning behind an abortion, the procedure is a basic healthcare need for millions of individuals. Every person should have the right to choose what to do with their body, and there is no debating that.
