by Erica Turret
Forty years ago, in the landmark Roe v. Wade case, the Supreme Court declared abortion to be a constitutional right. Justice Blackmun’s majority opinion proposed a “trimester standard,” which would prevent states from restricting abortion rights within the first trimester of a pregnancy. In subsequent court decisions, most notably the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey case, the Supreme Court did allow more state involvement in regulating abortion, but upheld a woman’s right to an abortion until a fetus is viable outside the womb (usually considered to be 22 to 24 weeks into a pregnancy).
These Supreme Court decisions have been essential in forging the path toward gender equality, but even today, women’s rights to privacy and choice remain under attack. As conservative state legislatures increasingly push back against a woman’s right to choose, it now seems that our generation of women cannot take these rights for granted.
Since the court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, certain state legislatures have attempted to restrict access to abortion. Many restrictive laws prevent hospitals from providing abortion services by making it difficult for abortion providers to acquire privileges at those hospitals. Additionally, bills that require women to undergo pre-abortion ultrasounds, sometimes even invasive trans-vaginal ultrasounds, demean the difficult choices that women must make, by assuming that they are not capable of making rational, informed decisions on their own.
In the past month, Arkansas passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, banning abortion after twelve weeks of pregnancy. This law, the “Human Heartbeat Protection Act,” directly contradicts the Supreme Court’s 24-week limit. Further, North Dakota passed a law banning abortion after only six weeks of pregnancy—a time when most women are not yet aware that they are pregnant. Should these laws reach the Supreme Court, the outcome is uncertain, given the Court’s more conservative composition.
There is a federal policy regarding reproductive rights, and states should not be able to flout limits on their power that are set by the U.S. Supreme Court. Women should not lose their right to choose by giving way to conservative state legislatures that are fighting one another to earn the support of the religious right.
Young women, especially, should continue to fight to uphold their constitutional right to reproductive freedom. North Dakota, Arkansas and other states have made the lives of young women more difficult, but these state legislatures should not have the last word. Despite the progress American society has already made, the struggle over abortion rights is not over. Young women should focus on the state level of government, rather than only the federal level, in order to ensure that the freedoms granted to them in Roe v. Wade are guaranteed.
