Breaking: claims that the American Supreme Court will strike down Roe v. Wade

Some poster mentioned maternal health care. These may explain it a bit. Note that these stories are a few years old now.
www.propublica.org/series/lost-mothers

An associated article from Politico here. www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/04/28/the-new-abortion-restriction-no-one-is-talking-about-00028171

And any legislation on abortion passed at a Federal level would have been (and would still be) struck down as being unconstitutional under the Tenth Amendment

Have some states made it illegal to travel out of state? Money offers little protection here.

I think this highlights a key issue. Abortion rights are not properly grounded in Federal legislation. In the U.K. the courts have refused to give judgements on sensitive topics that they believe are a matter for legislation. A key example is “right to die / euthanasia” cases. Courts are very careful not to stray into law making/law extension in this area.
I suspect this is the issue with Roe v Wade - technically the SC may be correct that the Constitutional basis is not clear cut and this should have been a matter for legislation.

I understood similar but they've had since 1973 to get this in Federal legislation- longer than I've been alive so clearly never been a priority.

I think the US has many poltical issues it will need to get to grips with at some point and women's rights are clearly very much behind many other western democratic countries - hopefully this will be some sort of rallying cry.

It will massively suck for many women in meantime - and yes some may die a s a direct result and poor ethnic minorities will probably be worse effected as always - but it does indicate how low down prioties women rights and health have fallen over there.

Triffid1

Thanks, no, I completely understand. I don't think women (in general) seek abortion lightly.

What this amounts is the removal of abortion rights for the poor or those on low incomes.

Women who can afford it will go to other states where it is still legal (if the ban isn't nationwide) or to Canada, to the UK or any other Country that upholds the right of women to have a termination.

Are the right wing going to pay benefits for all the unwanted children that will be born? What "punishment" are men who refuse to use contraception going to face?

How are they going stop women taking the abortion pill? Are they going to open the mail of every woman of child bearing age to ensure she's not ordered it?

Erosion of women's rights by men, trying to control our bodies. I suppose when the dead women from botched back street abortions start to pile up the Supreme Court can congratulate themselves on a job well done.

'it's a complete inability to understand that the experience for most people is NOT the same as for this small group who make laws.'

Yes, but in order to win, we have to understand what some of them are trying to achieve. If we act like their position is inexplicable, it's harder to argue against it. Some people (even many people) DO live in communities where most people do want to pursue a very traditional version of family life, religious life etc. Their version of the past is probably warped, but it's not like it bears no relation to reality.

'I mean, why is it that men are so anti women having abortions.'

Well, firstly, many of them truly think life starts at conception (so they think it's murder). I suspect many of them also think it contributes to the breakdown of traditional family life - in other words, they believe (as someone suggested above) that women would be more enthusiastic about committing to 'family life' if they couldn't get access to legal abortion. What that probably means for many of them is that women would be keen to marry young, more willing to rely on men economically, less willing to seek out higher education, less ambitious (because they would be distracted by all the babies), and basically more under the power of men. At the even less pleasant end, they think women would have less chance to 'shop around' and the men would have more access to younger, more attractive women. Incel culture, basically.

Yes, I think this is a lot of it. it's a complete inability to understand that the experience for most people is NOT the same as for this small group who make laws.

It's abhorrent.
(And the use of 'birthing bodies' is confusing - these are people who are giving birth and presumably haven't had an abortion for the current pregnancy? Surely that's a tiiiiiny subset of fertile female people, who might want to have an abortion at some point?)

Should be noted that in the US there are barriers for getting even basic birth control pills - even if you have insurance, prescription etc they are fairly tightly controlled. So it's like they WANT women to have unwanted pregnancies. Or rely on honest men using condoms, or just not have sex. Bet they'd change their minds swiftly enough if women decided to use abstinence as protection against unwanted pregnancy... or perhaps we'd see how many men really are rapists.

Isn't there a democrat president right now? They don’t seem to have done a lot to protect women to date

They will be, yes. The opposition to abortion isn't just about 'not killing babies', it's a deep-seated cultural issue. For the people who support such bans, it seems to be about the preservation of a mid-twentieth century (pre second wave feminism), white, Christian version of 'family life', where people went to church, fathers earnt the money and were 'respected', people could live on one wage, kids rode their bikes outside and if you were 'a homosexual', you didn't tell anyone. :)

I note that at least some of the states that are seeking to ban abortions also have the death penalty. I don’t understand how one is acceptable and the other not.

I agree with this but have never understood it. I mean, why is it that men are so anti women having abortions. we all know they don't care about the babies (they're certainly not insisting that the men who impregnated these women should then take responsibility). So WHY WHY WHY do they care so much?

Yes. Absolutely true.

I'm not sure of the situation in the US but I know a few years ago there was an outcry because getting contraception has got harder (or possibly more expensive? I'm not 100% sure). The two are definitely linked.

Too much focus has been placed on identity politics that results in a push back becoming quite extreme (like restricting abortion).

Democrats should've been more focused on strengthening abortion rights, rather than change language to "birthing people".

You change language to "birthing people" and it no longer becomes a women's rights issue, and consequently support for women drops.

@tabbycatstripy It feels counter intuitive so I understand your comments for yourself, but it doesn't reflect the reality as you can see. Thank you for looking at those links.

Like you, the thought of getting pregnant is a HUGE issue for me. And while I'm pro choice, I really didn't want to ever face an abortion and it definitely had an impact on my libido for a while (when DC2 was young and I was late 30s). But women like you and me are a) probably being super super careful in the first place and b) are the minority of women who seek abortions.

The woman I know of who have had/considered abortions, even my little middle class bubble, have still only done so under extreme conditions:

• the one who was 21 and had a contraception failure, much to her surprise
• The one who was pregnant with a much wanted baby but whose husband was having a mental health crisis and she was having to decide whether having this baby would make the lives of her existing children much worse as a result of her husband's situation.
• The 40+ year old who genuinely thought she couldn't have children.
• The women who discovered, post 12 weeks, that their babies could not survive.

I've always found it amusing, in a bleak sort of way, that the ones shouting loudly about their pro life credentials are the same ones shouting equally as loudly about the right to bear arms. Their concern for life only is limited to foetuses it would seem.

I imagine countries that limit or ban legal and safe abortion are also much more prohibitive in terms of women's rights as a whole, and contraception and sexual autonomy are also compromised.

Amen

Thanks, Triffid. Interesting stuff.

I feel sick. I just hope this is a lesson for Lib Fems - none of our rights are safe - NONE. Cheering on the loss of single sex spaces, men in women's prisons and sports is just the tip of the iceberg. Women should be making no concessions on any of our rights.

However, I believe Congress cannot create a right (not without a constitutional amendment).