‘Damaging consequences’ post-Roe

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was on fire when she gave her impassioned speech outside the Supreme Court on May 3 after the leak of a draft opinion that points to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

She made a compelling case for valuing women’s rights to abortion — even if it doesn’t fit everyone’s ideals.

“I am angry because of who will pay the price for this. It will not be wealthy women. Wealthy women can get on an airplane. They can fly to another state. They can fly to another country. They can get the protection they need. This will fall on the poorest women in our country. This will fall on those who have been raped. This will fall on mothers who are already struggling to work three jobs to be able to support the children they have . ... I have seen the world where abortion is illegal, and we are not going back. We are not going back,” she screamed, getting protesters to join her chant: “We are not going back. Not ever. Not ever. Not ever! Never!”

In the 98-page draft opinion leaked to Politico that points to the court likely striking down Roe v. Wade, Justice Samuel Alito argues about the “damaging

consequences” of Roe. But consider the damaging consequences of a divided post-Roe America where women’s health decisions will be dictated state by state.

Each time I write about abortion, I remind readers that I was a young college student who wasn’t prepared for motherhood when I became pregnant, but I had some support. Every woman’s pregnancy story is different.

Adoption is a noble option, but it’s not a choice every woman can or will make. Women —

not men — physically endure pregnancies. And once babies are born, women are left to care for them as some men walk away.

Banning women from making their own health care decisions treats them as secondclass citizens. An abortion is a decision women must weigh with their heart and mind — and life circumstances. Some readers may be surprised at how many women have weighed this decision. Consider that approximately 25 percent of women will have an

abortion in their lifetime and that nearly 6 of every 10 women who have abortions are already mothers, according to the American Civil Liberties

Union.

The looming possibility of a post-Roe America portends a disturbing future for women.

While women haven’t been criminalized for abortion before — except in the case of Lizelle Herrera who was briefly, and wrongfully, charged with murder last month in Starr County for her self-induced abortion — that protection is already being threatened.

Since last September when Texas’ Senate Bill 8, the socalled heartbeat bill, went into effect, banning abortions at six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant, our state has felt like the Wild West of women’s health. Women with unwanted and unsafe pregnancies struggle to get safe abortions, and ordinary citizens can serve as bounty hunters against those who aid in an abortion, recovering $10,000 per claim.

Overturning Roe would embolden Texas and other states for future attacks. Already, there are threats that medication abortions, out-ofstate trips for abortions and contraception would be banned.

In Washington on Wednesday, when Warren spoke on the Senate floor before the vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, she was resolute, calling for Americans to join the fight.

Just before the vote, U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry C. Black opened with a hopeful prayer: “Eternal God, in a divided nation and world, use our lawmakers to bring order from chaos, harmony from discord, and truth from falsehood.”

Then all 50 Republicans and Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia voted against a bill that would have codified Roe, protecting women’s right to abortion — a health care procedure.

Sure, they would say they voted to protect the unborn. But who will protect women?

Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks to abortion rights activists outside the U.S. Supreme Court. “I am angry but committed,” she told them.