Anti-abortion legislation turns the clock back 50 years

There has been a recent spread of anti-abortion legislation across the United States showing Republicans interest in controlling women’s bodies, bolstered by a conservative supreme court majority poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion 50 years ago.

Oklahoma passed a bill on Tuesday, that could potentially be the strictest anti-aboriton law if passed; House Bill 4327 would ban an abortion after 30 days after a woman’s menstrual period. This bill would leave no option in the state for a woman to have an abortion.

Idaho’s anti-abortion law makes the matters worse by allowing no exception even in the case of incest or rape. This bill also gives the power to the rapist’s family by allowing them to sue the victim for daring to have an abortion. 

Tennessee’s state house passed another anti-abortion bill on Monday. These are not the only bills currently circulating in the U.S. According to Buzzfeed News, 39 state legislatures have proposed over 230 anti-abortion laws in 2022 alone.

All these bills stemmed from Texas’s recent abortion ban that was upheld by the Supreme Court. The Texas abortion ban allows anyone to sue a woman who had an abortion or anyone involved in facilitating an abortion, including doctors and even Uber drivers, for $10,000, even if they were not directly affected by the abortion.

Private citizens should not be allowed sue others for having an abortion or aiding in one. It is ridiculous to say that people should be allowed to become bounty hunters.

Abortions are important medical procedures that save women’s lives. Limiting access to abortion not only limits a woman’s bodily autonomy, but it puts her life at risk.

These laws could all take effect soon, as the Supreme Court is set to make a decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which would potentially limit how early an abortion could be had by upholding a Missouri law that bans abortions after 15 weeks.

The Supreme Court’s decision in this case would dramatically weaken or completely overturn

Roe v Wade, and would have immediate consequences,  as more than 20 states currently have trigger laws that would ban abortions as soon as the Supreme Court rules.

This country cannot be the land of the free if half of its population loses autonomy over their bodies and the direction of their lives, or are denied access to life-saving medical procedures. 

This wave of proposed legislation is nothing but an attack on the civil rights of women, whose results may amount to a death sentence for the “crime” of being born female.

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