“…I would like first of all to share with you a belief held by all women – and I am sorry to do so before an Assembly almost exclusively made up of men: Any woman seeking an abortion does so with a heavy heart. You just have to listen to the women…”
Simone Veil, Holocaust Survivor, French Minister of Health and the first female President of the European Parliament in her speech to the French Parliament on Abortion Law, 1974.
On June 24th 2022, the Supreme Court of the largest democratic country in the world abolished a milestone, not only in human rights but women's rights history – the Roe v Wade ruling. The decision opens the door for states to decide individually on abortion bans and restrictions, automatically leading to reproductive rights being rewritten throughout the U.S.
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ROE V WADE CASE
In the facts of the case, the plaintiff, Jane Roe, filed a lawsuit against the District Attorney of Dallas County, Texas. She challenged a Texas law which made abortion illegal, except by a doctor’s order to save a woman’s life. The case asked whether the U.S. Constitution recognised a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy by abortion. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protects the liberty of choice to have an abortion. This landmark decision abolished numerous federal and state abortion laws, turning the topic into a controversial and continuous debate between conservatives and liberals. Whilst for some, the ruling was purely a human rights decision, others considered it a wrongful act of judicial activism. Regardless of the difference in opinion, this fundamental case provided women in the U.S with the right to privacy and protected their right to an abortion for the past fifty years.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT FOR U.S. ABORTION LAWS
Several states have already passed strict laws, already primed to spring into action once Roe v Wade was overturned, whilst others have decided to retain their existing legislation keeping the Roe v Wade precedent in force. As unpredictable as it may be, from now on, abortion legality will be in the hands of individual states. According to the Center For Reproductive Rights, a group that fights abortion restrictions in court and closely tracks state laws, 25 states are likely to ban abortion. The states included are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS WORLDWIDE
The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade has raised strong voices worldwide regarding the issues of women's rights and the right to abortion. From a European stance, the European Parliament has condemned the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and even voted to include the right to abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights throughout the 27 member states of the EU. Following this, a proposal is expected to be submitted to the Council aiming to amend article 7 of the Charter by adding that “everyone has the right to safe and legal abortion.” Deeply concerned about the potential consequences of the overturning of Roe v Wade, MEPs stand against the backsliding in women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide, including in the U.S. and some EU member states, calling for safe access to abortion for all.
The example set by the U.S Supreme Court in this key decision will immensely affect human rights and the lives of women around the world for decades to come. When thinking about how legislation should be constructed concerning a woman’s right to her own body, one could not conclude without referring to the famed women’s rights activist, Simone Veil, and her historic bill defence in front of the French National Assembly in 1974: “When doctors, in their clinics, break the law and make it publicly known, when public prosecutors must consult the Ministry of Justice before prosecuting each case, when public social services provide women in distress with information to facilitate a termination of pregnancy, and when, to the same end, trips abroad are publicly arranged, even chartered, to this I say we are in a situation characterised by disorder and anarchy, which can no longer continue…”.
Roberta Guevska is a graduate student at the College of Europe, with a former BA in European Studies from Sofia University. Roberta is passionate about topics revolving around Foreign Policy, Internal market, EU integration and the Environment.