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A. It’s a barbaric regression in the progress we’ve made towards equality.  States with legislatures controlled by republicans will push the overturning of Roe v. Wade to an unfathomable, dangerous extreme. The states with legislatures controlled by democrats will, in all likelihood, attempt to become safe havens for individuals seeking to terminate a pregnancy; however, this will only highlight the impact that our socio-economic status has on our personal ability to exercise what should be an individual’s fundamental right, the one to make medical decisions over our own body. In allowing individual states to restrict an individual’s right to choose beyond the protections that were guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, we will be creating a different set of rights for those individuals with the means to seek care out-of-state versus those who cannot, placing the burden of an unjust system on those who can least afford to bear it.

A. Those individuals with the least amount of resources and who are the most vulnerable will be most affected.  Individuals living in poverty, who are underage, and / or  who have been the victims of sexual abuse.  As a result, we will see horrific repercussions. Individuals denied access to care will be forced to give birth to children they cannot afford or that they are unable to take care of in the circumstances that they find themselves in.  We will see individuals who will either attempt to terminate their pregnancy by resorting to dangerous methods or be forced to use these dangerous methods by the same abusers who caused the unwanted pregnancy.  Overall, we will see a rise in poverty and crime as history has shown us.  

A. Basing the overturning of Roe v. Wade on this idea that in order for a right to be protected it must be deeply rooted in our nation’s history is a very dangerous legal reasoning that puts all other rights, especially those advancing equality, at risk of being challenged.

A. It really is a nightmare situation and the negative impacts are just too many to be adequately discussed.  Just think about how the evidence to prosecute these cases will be gathered and the extent that prosecutors will have to go.  Entire healthcare systems will be affected when doctors refuse to provide care in fear that they will be prosecuted or leave the state to practice elsewhere.  The negative impact is really endless and completely frightening to think about.  But one thing that should be clear is that no one will be spared from the negative consequences that this will cause.  

A. In addition to naturally being aligned with those who advance social causes, I’ve seen law firms get involved in different ways from either representing individuals who are seeking to get an abortion but have get around legal restrictions like parental notification or some other hurdle, or by actually challenging the pieces of legislation, usually by working with advocacy organizations.

A. I commend all of the individuals  who have openly shared their stories the same way I commend the individuals who have chosen to keep theirs private.  To terminate a pregnancy is a very personal decision and that ability to make that decision should be protected under the individual right to privacy, and so while I won’t be sharing any specific personal story, I will say that if an individual has ever taken a contraceptive, received medical care for a miscarriage, relied on fertility treatments in order to get pregnant, etc., that individual has exercised the very same rights that will now be denied to those seeking to terminate a pregnancy - the right to privacy, the right to make personal decisions about one’s own health. 

We too often think of a less deserving individual who perhaps was careless in getting pregnant when thinking about whether someone should have the right to have an abortion, instead of thinking about how we have made these decisions ourselves based on those exact rights and how our lives would be impacted had we been denied those rights and not been able to make decisions we made.  We need to stop looking at the issue through judgmental eyes, and really take an honest look at the decisions we’ve had to make personally.