SCOTUS Could Overturn Roe v. Wade Next Year

The Femtastic Podcast

On May 17, 2021, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case out of Mississippi that would that ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Depending on how the court rules on this case (and given the conservative make-up, it's not looking good), Roe v. Wade could either be entirely overturned or the court could give the green-light to states to further restrict abortion access - which is already logistically inaccessible to millions of Americans of reproductive age. All in all, this is the most dangerous and credible threat to Roe since the decision was made in 1973.

To explain the potential ramifications of this case is Carole Joffe. Carole is a Professor in the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) program in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, and the author of several books on abortion provision, including her most recent, "Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America."

Carole describes what's at stake for millions of Americans, what accessing abortion might look like if Roe were to fall or be further restricted, and what YOU can do now to protect abortion access, regardless of the outcome of the case.

Resources:

• National Network of Abortion Funds: To support abortion access in your area, Find Your Local Abortion Fund. For help accessing abortion care, including financial and logistical support, check out this page.
• National Abortion Federation Hotline: [phone]The NAF Hotline Fund operates the largest national, toll-free, multi-lingual Hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S. and Canada. They provide callers with accurate information, confidential consultation, options counseling, and referrals to providers of quality abortion care. They also provide case management services and limited financial assistance to help people afford the cost of their care and travel-related expenses. The Hotline is free and offers services to everyone, regardless of their individual situation.
• Read Carole's most recent books:
  • "Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America"
  • "Dispatches from the Abortion Wars: The Costs of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients, and the Rest of Us"
  • Reproduction and Society: Interdisciplinary Readings (Perspectives on Gender)
  • Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before and After Roe V. Wade
• In this Twitter thread from 2018, when the bill was first introduced in Mississippi, Dr. Daniel Grossman, director at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, breaks down why the abortion ban is based in politics rather than science.
• Book about The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having―or Being Denied―an Abortion: A groundbreaking and illuminating look at the state of abortion access in America and the first long-term study of the consequences—emotional, physical, financial, professional, personal, and psychological—of receiving versus being denied an abortion on women’s lives.