Beyond Abortion: The Consequences of Overturning Roe

The upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization has the potential to eliminate or severely restrict access to legal abortion care in the United States. We address the impact that the decision could have on abortion access and its consequences beyond abortion care. We posit that an abortion ban would, in effect, mean that anyone who becomes pregnant, including those who continue a pregnancy and give birth to healthy newborns and those with pregnancy complications or adverse pregnancy outcomes will become newly vulnerable to legal surveillance, civil detentions, forced interventions, and criminal prosecution. The harms imposed by banning or severely restricting abortion access will disproportionately affect persons of color and perpetuate structural racism. We caution that focusing on Roe as a decision that only protects ending a pregnancy ignores the protection that the decision also affords people who want to continue their pregnancies. It overlooks the ways in which overturning Roe will curtail fundamental rights for all those who become pregnant and will undermine their status as full persons meriting Constitutional protections. Such a singular focus inevitably obscures the common ground that people across the ideological spectrum might inhabit to ensure the safety, health, humanity, and rights of all people who experience pregnancy.

Automated summary

The forthcoming Supreme Court decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization has the potential to significantly limit or eliminate legal access to abortion in the United States. The consequences of an abortion ban would extend beyond the scope of abortion care, affecting all individuals who become pregnant and potentially subjecting them to legal surveillance, civil detentions, forced interventions, and criminal prosecution. Such restrictions would disproportionately harm people of color and perpetuate structural racism. Overturning Roe v. Wade would not only erode the rights of those seeking to end a pregnancy, but also undermine the fundamental rights of all pregnant individuals, disregarding their constitutional protections. To ensure the safety, health, humanity, and rights of all people who experience pregnancy, a broader focus is necessary, transcending ideological differences.