Roe v. Wade Overturned: How the Supreme Court Let Politicians Outlaw Abortion

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• What Is Roe v. Wade?
• How Roe Was Overturned
• Even Before Roe, Abortion Was Common
• The Effect of Roe: Safe, Legal Abortion
• The Campaign to Overturn Roe
• Americans Want Abortion to Be Legal

What Is Roe v. Wade?

Roe v. Wade is the U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States in 1973. Safe, legal abortion remained a recognized federal constitutional right nationwide for nearly 50 years.

From the start Roe v. Wade was flawed. It did say people had the right to abortion, but it never protected people's access to abortion. Lots of states passed laws that made getting an abortion nearly impossible. And in 1976, the Hyde Amendment, a national policy widely viewed as racist, became law.

How Roe Was Overturned

For years, anti-abortion rights politicians promised to appoint judges and justices hostile to abortion rights. At every turn, these politicians used their power to manipulate the nomination rules. Now, the Supreme Court is dominated by justices who are hostile to abortion rights.

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — a case involving a challenge to a. Mississippi ban on abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy. The ruling overturned Roe — ending the federal constitutional right to abortion in the United States.

As a result, one in three women now live in states where abortion is not accessible. In the first few months after Roe was overturned, 18 states banned or severely restricted abortion. Today more states are working to pass bans. 

The abortion bans that have taken effect since June 2022 have inflicted  harm on Black, Latino, Indigenous, and other communities of color — communities where systemic racism has long blocked access to opportunity and health care

Abortion Has Always Been Common

Abortion has been around way longer than the United States government. Common law allowed abortion prior to “quickening” — an archaic term for fetal movement that usually happens after around four months of pregnancy. Medical literature and newspapers in the late 1700s and early 1800s regularly referred to herbs and medications as abortion-inducing methods; outlawing abortion only became a cause among U.S. politicians in the late 1800s.

Bans followed, with abortion illegal in all states by 1910. These bans pushed providers and patients into the shadows. Outlawing abortion completely failed to eliminate it; instead, the bans turned a safe health care practice into one with great legal risks. It subjected otherwise law-abiding people to surveillance, arrest, investigation, prosecution, and other criminal penalties. Police were often men, and their investigations forced women into humiliating circumstances — ordering them, their partners, and others to reveal personal details about their sex lives. Beyond direct criminal penalties, people lost jobs and families were disrupted.

With bans threatening their livelihoods and freedom, many doctors and midwives stopped providing abortion — and some started reporting their colleagues who still provided. Women who couldn’t afford to pay the few providers offering abortion, or who felt afraid of criminal charges, sometimes tried dangerous methods of self-managing abortion. When such methods led to complications and forced women to go to the hospital, patients could be reported to the police.

The Effect of Roe: Safe, Legal Abortion

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973, decriminalized abortion nationwide. It protected the right to access abortion legally all across the country, and freed many patients to access the care they needed when they needed it — without fear.

For Many, Restrictions and Racism Pushed Abortion Out of Reach

Even with Roe in place, many people in the United States found that for them, the right to abortion was a right in name only.

Systemic racism, ongoing white supremacy, and coercive reproductive health policies undercut access to abortion in many communities even before Roe was overturned. Before 2022, whether you could actually get an abortion depended on your race, where you lived, and your access to money and health insurance. 

For communities where centuries-old barriers have stood in the way of access to health care — Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, rural communities, immigrant communities, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ folks, young people, and people with low incomes — abortion was challenging to access.

With Roe overturned, abortion for many in these communities has been pushed even further out of reach.

The Campaign to Overturn Roe

While some states did everything they could to restrict access to abortion, for almost five decades the Supreme Court honored Roe’s core principle: that the Constitution protects a person's right to make their own private medical decisions, including the decision to have an abortion prior to fetal viability. The court reaffirmed constitutional protection of abortion access in multiple key abortion rights cases, including Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey and Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

So what changed? The makeup of the Supreme Court. Between 2016 and 2020, anti-abortion politicians in the Senate and White House angled to install three new Supreme Court justices — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett — with records hostile to reproductive health and rights.

Americans Want Abortion to Be Legal

Abortion is common and accepted — and the data proves it.

• Nearly 1 in 4 women in America will have an abortion by age 45.

• Overturning Roe v. Wade was unpopular — and politically toxic for anti-abortion politicians.  85% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal. 

• Regardless of age, background, or education level, the majority of people supported Roe before it was overturned.

• Acceptance of abortion is longstanding: A majority of Americans have wanted abortion to be legal for decades.

• Reproductive rights champions in states across the country have worked to protect and expand access to abortion.

Beyond the numbers, personal stories show how abortion is essential health care — no matter the reason.

Not Backing Down

You deserve access to health care, including abortion, without barriers or political interference. You deserve the right to control your own body no matter where you live or how much money you make.

Planned Parenthood will work to get patients to care and care to patients. At the same time, Planned Parenthood supporters and abortion rights advocates are fighting for everyone to have the freedom to make their own decisions about their bodies and their lives.