Introduction
"This result is shocking. What makes it inhumane and unreasonable is that the court's ruling is based on an 18th-century document that knows nothing about the reality of women in the 21st century." - "Willow" Ye Dao》
“Once abortion is ‘banned’, many women will no longer have the right to decide on their own bodies, and will not be able to decide on their own to have an abortion if the life of the pregnant woman is in danger”, “Restricting abortion will not prevent people from pursuing abortion, it will only make abortion "More dangerous." - " China Women's Daily"
The above fierce words criticize the recent US Supreme Court ruling: the cancellation of the right to abortion stipulated in the federal constitution. This historic ruling overturned the outcome of Roe v. Wade in 1973. From then on, the right to abortion will no longer be a basic right enjoyed by American women, and will be determined entirely by the "will" of the state where it is located. Currently, more than 10 states have made abortion illegal with immediate effect.
This decision will change the fate of countless women. It not only restricts women’s right to have an abortion, it will even make many pregnant women whose lives are in danger no longer have the right to decide on their own bodies, causing poor women to fall into an endless cycle of even greater poverty after accidentally becoming pregnant.
How does the international academic community view this? From NEJM, "Lancet", to "science" magazines, they have all condemned it from a scientific perspective, believing that this is tantamount to putting the majority of women in a dangerous situation.
Li Xiaowei, Li Anqi | Written by
1
The votes of nine people decided the fate of millions of women
On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade case (Roe v. Wade) . The announcement of this result ended the U.S. federal constitution’s protection of women’s right to abortion and recognized the legality of states’ independent decision-making on abortion.
After the announcement of this ruling, 13 states in the United States will enact laws prohibiting or restricting abortion: Arkansas , Idaho , Kentucky , Louisiana , Mississippi , Missouri , North Dakota , Oklahoma, South Dakota , Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
According to US media reports, at least 26 states have or are advancing multiple relevant laws, which means that thousands of women in the United States may lose their legal right to abortion.
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn the precedent establishing the right to abortion has not only caused huge controversy within the United States, but also caused an uproar around the world.
"China Women's Daily" publicly stated that this judgment is a step backward in the protection of women's rights and interests. Half a century after Roe v. Wade, everything will be back to square one. Once abortion is "banned", women lose the right to decide on their own bodies, and they cannot decide to have an abortion on their own if a pregnant woman's life is in danger. Restricting abortion will not stop people from pursuing abortion, it will only make it more dangerous.
2
A milestone event that changed the fate of millions of women - "Roe v. Wade"
Let us first take a look at the "Roe v. Wade" case and the various subsequent games that have arisen in legislating abortion.
In 1969, an unmarried woman in Texas, USA, became pregnant unexpectedly and wanted an abortion. However, Texas law prohibits abortion unless the pregnancy threatens the mother's life. Luo's pregnancy did not threaten her life, and she was unable to afford an abortion in a state where abortion was legal. Rowe was barred from having an abortion by Texas authorities under Texas anti-abortion laws.
4 key figures in the Roe v. Wade case
In 1972, with the help of two female lawyers (see picture above), she went by the pseudonym Jane Roe to Dallas District Attorney Henry. Henry Wade went to court, claiming that the abortion ban violated her rights granted by the Constitution and asked Texas to lift the abortion ban.
On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 7:2 and made a ruling in favor of Luo - that the Texas anti-abortion law violated the plaintiff's right to privacy (the right to choose to terminate pregnancy ), confirming that " A woman’s right whether to continue her pregnancy” is protected by the U.S. Constitution.
However, the court did not support unrestricted abortion, but pointed out that in the first three months of pregnancy, individual rights to abortion should be given priority, and individuals and doctors should have broad self-determination whether to terminate a pregnancy.
The ruling in this case can be described as landmark. It is equivalent to a disguised recognition of the right of American female citizens to have independent abortions. But this "victory" was only temporary - today, half a century later, it was overturned.
3
"Science" magazine wrote an article, "How abortion affects women's physical and mental health"
The five judges who overturned the Wade case are all American conservatives. They believe that anti-abortion is to protect unborn life while protecting women's physical health. Another ridiculous reason to follow is religious freedom.
Does abortion really have such a big impact on women’s health? In order to find the answer, demographer Diana Greene Foster launched a study in 2007 on how abortion affects physical and mental health, and recently published an article in Science stating, " Courts Ignore science".
More than 40 scientists from nine universities and four research institutions participated in the study. The study followed nearly 1,000 women across the country for five years to understand how having an abortion or being denied one affected their physical health, mental health, finances, relationships and children.
Patients who were offered abortions were six times more likely to report a positive impact on their lives than those who were denied abortions, and were more likely to have a desired child later in life and be better able to care for the children they already had, study results show. Having children.
In contrast, if people are forced to carry a pregnancy to term, they are more likely to experience lasting financial hardship. After being denied an abortion, women are three times more likely to be unemployed and four times more likely to be below the U.S. poverty line.
Their physical and mental health is also at risk, with women who cannot have abortions reporting more symptoms of anxiety, lower self-esteem and lower life satisfaction.
Foster believes that science is clearly relevant to the contentious issues of our time, including abortion access in the United States—indeed, science is especially important in these moments and the U.S. Supreme Court should not ignore it.
4
NEJM, The Lancet: The deprivation of the right to abortion puts pregnant women at greater risk
After the bill was voted to pass, it immediately attracted widespread attention from all walks of life. The media and scientists have spoken out, accusing this bill of infringing on women's rights. US President Biden also made a public speech on this matter, saying that the ruling was too extreme and that this ruling had set the United States back 150 years.
Excerpts from the video of Biden’s speech
Previously, those who supported this bill said that abortion is extremely harmful to women’s bodies and that abortion is tantamount to the murder of a new life. However, the New England Journal of Medicine recently published an article arguing that “according to the U.S. The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics show that the maternal mortality rate from legal abortion is 0.41 per 100,000 procedures, while the total maternal mortality rate is 23.8 per 100,000 live births, meaning pregnant women The risk of death after giving birth to a child is 58 times higher than having an abortion.”
Since abortion is illegal, many pregnant women who want to have an abortion will choose informal medical methods. The NEJM article recounted a report that said many people would undergo "unsafe surgeries in back alleys" and endure "illegal surgeries with a host of common complications, including those requiring surgical repair." Damage to the reproductive tract, induction of infection leading to infertility, systemic infection, organ failure and even death."
"The Lancet" also published an editorial criticizing the unreasonableness of this bill. The article points out that the justices who voted to overturn Roe would not have succeeded in ending abortion, only in ending safe abortion. Alito (the judge who proposed the bill) and his supporters will have the blood of women on their hands.
The progress of the times still cannot stop the "game of power", and the debate over whether women have abortion rights in the United States is far from over.
References
.https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2208288
.https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/26/us/supreme-court-overturns-roe-v -wade-sunday/index.html
.https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)00870-4/fulltext
4.https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126 /science.adc9968
5.https://m.weibo.cn/status/4784220834367939?wm=3333_2001&from=10C6193010&sourcetype=weixin
6.https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/2g6Axkm2TO VkvpacAg-tYQ
7.https://www .supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
