NEW VIDEO: Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates Releases Emotional Video Highlighting the Impacts of the Grim Two-Year Marking of Overturning of Roe v. Wade, Shares Ways to Get Involved in Critical Year
For Immediate Release: June 26, 2024
ATLANTA, GA – Following the grim two-year anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Monday, Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates released a new video highlighting the aftermath of nearly 50 years of abortion rights being rolled back and the disproportionate impacts this ruling is having on the Southeast, including Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi.
The new video features individuals sharing their personal stories on abortion, illustrating the disproportionate impacts on rural, minority, LGBTQ+, Southern, and other communities. It also includes medical providers warning of the ruling's potential to increase daunting infant and maternal mortality rates, where the Southeast already has some of the highest levels in the country.
The video outlines ways for the audience, supporters, advocates, patients, and more to get involved in combating the impacts of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, including volunteering, donating, sharing their stories, and voting in this election cycle.
Watch the full video here:
Key excerpts from the video are below:
“Two years ago today, Roe v. Wade was overturned, effectively rolling back half a century of abortion protections in the United States.
Southeastern states, like the ones represented in our affiliate: Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, continue to be disproportionately impacted by these roll back of right of rights.
To be clear, this fight started in the Southeast with Dobbs v. Jackson in Mississippi. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization challenged a Mississippi law banning abortion at 15 weeks. The law had been struck down as unconstitutional by a lower court. Mississippi essentially asked the court to not only uphold its abortion ban but to rule there was no constitutional right to abortion.
The Southeast is largely locked out of abortion access as a result. Alabama and Mississippi have strict abortion laws with abortion being outlawed in both states. Most birthing individuals who sought abortion were first to travel to Florida which, per May of 2024, has now enacted a 6-week abortion ban. At six weeks, most people don’t even know they are pregnant. Georgia was one of the quickest states to implement a six-week ban.
Alabama’s near-total abortion ban is discouraging medical students from applying to residency programs in the state. A new analysis from the Association of American Medical Colleges found that applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in the state dropped 21.2% in 2023-24—that’s the first full cycle after the U.S. Supreme Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in 2022, which allowed the Alabama ban to go into effect.
Nearly half of U.S. states have moved to restrict or ban abortions outright, with several enacting so-called “trigger laws” that took effect automatically upon Roe's reversal. This patchwork of state laws has created a nation where reproductive rights are heavily dependent on geographic location and political leadership.
The stakes are incredibly high. The circumstances are dire. The rolling back of reproductive rights threatens to set a precedence for the rollback of other fundamental rights.
Abortion bans are dangerous for millions especially for the women and birthing people in the Southeast virtually locked out of care.
TWO years has been TOO long
The impacts on healthcare access, economic stability, and equity are profound and far-reaching. We have to elect pro-choice candidates to fight this issue at every level in government
As we navigate this new landscape, we need you to be actively involved: donate to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood Southeast, volunteer for our activism in communities, and share this story across the Southeast . We need you now more than ever.”
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As the organizing, advocacy, and electoral arm of Planned Parenthood Southeast, PPSEA engages in a range of electoral activities, including voter education and mobilization. We firmly believe that elected officials should champion policies and programs that empower women and their families to make informed choices regarding the prevention of unintended pregnancies and the cultivation of healthy families. PPSEA is dedicated to educating and mobilizing the public while supporting the election of lawmakers who prioritize these critical issues.