Hands off my body

BY JAYNA KUKLIN News and Copy Editor

The government should not intervene in a woman’s right to have an abortion.

On June 24, the world stopped when the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) voted 6-3 to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Now, people are confused about where things are going in the wake of the controversy that has come from SCOTUS’s decision. The million-dollar question is proposed to them:

“Should the states intervene in a woman’s right to have an abortion?”

Thirteen states had “trigger laws” that automatically restricted abortion after the overturning of Roe, according to an article written by Sarah Ewall-Wice and Melissa Quinn for CBS News on Aug. 6, 2022.

Now that this has happened, abortion has been illegalized in the states of Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

Some of those states also have bans set in place with absolutely zero exceptions for rape or incest. This means that a 16-year-old girl who has been raped by perhaps her own father would be forced to carry her baby to term. A baby that she would be financially unable to care for and would lack the time, responsibility, and maturity to raise.

Illegalizing abortion won’t won’t put an end to it, but will remove the option of safely getting one in a legally sanctioned healthcare facility. Patients will need to seek dangerous, potentially harmful alternatives instead, according to another article, written by Saima May Sidik for Nature on Aug. 10, 2022

The article also states that abortions are safer in “abortion on request” countries than in places where abortion is only allowed on the basis of financial and mental health status.

The last problem that comes with the overturning of Roe is the number of maternal deaths rising, especially without the proper services needed for a safe and legal abortion.

An article from the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy on May 22, 2022, points out a deadly consequence that would come with Roe v. Wade being overturned.

“Increases in unwanted and unsupported pregnancies, and lack of comprehensive reproductive services for women, will worsen health disparities and exacerbate poverty among vulnerable populations, particularly among women of color who already experience disproportionately poor maternal health outcomes. Consequently, women and girls across this country will die, and one projection estimates a 21% increase in pregnancy-related deaths,” the article says America saw the maternal mortality rate go up by 36.8% in the past two years, according to a CDC report shown in the same article. If a woman decides she cannot carry an unborn baby to term, then that is her right to make that choice, and the states should not be involving themselves in her personal decisions.