In 1973, abortion was made legal across all of the United States due to the Roe vs Wade case. In 1969, a woman presented under the name of Jane Roe challenged the criminal abortion laws in Texas. At the time, abortion was illegal under the pretext that abortion was unconstitutional, unless the life of the mother was in danger.
Jane Roe challenged the law because she wanted to terminate her pregnancy after getting sexually abused. After bringing the case all the way to the supreme court of the United States, abortion rights were considered protected by the constitution under privacy rights.
Even though abortion has been legal since 1973, it remains a subject of contentious debate in the United States. For example, in Texas, while abortion is technically legal, it is prohibited once there is a fetal heartbeat. This means a woman can only terminate her pregnancy until she is six weeks pregnant.
Texas is not the only state to have restricted the laws regarding abortion. The Guttmacher Institute researched which American states have passed anti-abortion laws in recent years and found there are 31. Many state politicians are beginning to question the Roe vs Wade decision.
The situation seems to be taking a turn for the worse as it has once again reached the supreme court. One of supreme court judges’ drafts was leaked, showing that Samuel Alito, associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, believes the Roe vs Wade decision must be overturned.
Many women around the world are unhappy with this draft. Justices try to calm the outrage by saying it remains a draft and any justice of the court can change their decision when comes time to vote. This might be true; however protesters say the draft shows how the justices leading the court, and therefore the United States, are not progressive thinkers but are rather regressing over time.
The Green Party of the United States agrees with this argument. They believe the leaked draft represents an attack on not only on women’s reproductive rights, but women, transgender, and non-binary people’s rights in general. All people should have the right to make their own decisions regarding their body while maintaining a trustworthy relationship with the healthcare system.
“Greens believe every person has the right to a happy, healthy, and prosperous life. The Supreme Court rulings on the right to make the final decision on one’s health and body (Roe v. Wade), interracial marriage (Loving v. Virginia), marriage equality (Obergefell v. Hodges), and sexual equality (Lawrence v. Texas) must all be upheld!”
– Latinx Caucus Co-Chair and Media Co-Chair Diana C. Brown.
If overturned, women’s right to privacy will be majorly violated, and people’s lives will be derailed due to unwanted pregnancies. The US Greens believe there should not only be political and medical perspective for abortion decision-making, but also a socioeconomic perspective. It should be taken into consideration that women can be sexually abused, experience a teen pregnancy, or find themselves pregnant because their chosen method of contraception did not work.
Studies have shown that a person having and keeping an unwanted pregnancy is four times more likely to live in poverty. They will normally have lower credit scores, more debt, and will be more prone to evictions or bankruptcies. Abortion services can help avoid these situations by letting women make their own choices regarding their own bodies.
The US Green Party believes in abortion being protected by the privacy rights of the constitution and urges people to stand up to fight against the criminalization of abortion.
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