Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court handed down one of its most consequential and controversial decisions ever, Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling which found the constitutional right to an abortion.
The ruling triggered a decades-long fight to overturn it, a battle that finally was successful in June 2022.
This year’s March for Life—an annual gathering of anti-abortion activists in the nation’s capital—was the first since the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 landmark decision.
For groups that oppose abortion rights, the march was a celebration 50 years in the making—as well as a beginning.
“This being the first march after Roe v. Wade was overturned, a case from Texas, it’s important for Texans like myself to be here to continue to spread that message and look the work is not over though the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade,” said Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values, a nonprofit focused on promoting conservative and Judeo-Christian values.
The court’s decision, in June 2022, left each state to decide whether to allow abortions. More than a dozen states, including Texas, have since enacted near-total bans on the procedure.
The aftershocks in Texas are stark. Though abortion remains legal to protect the life of the mother, some doctors concerned about facing charges have waited until the patient was near death before performing one. Meanwhile, pregnant Texans have flocked to abortion clinics in other states where the procedure is legal.
“It’s really very devastating, actually, to be at this point, again, where what we’ve been guaranteed for half a century is no longer there, And it’s especially concerning to me with the significant issue of maternal morbidity and mortality that we have in the state,” state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Texas., told Spectrum News. “When women are in situations where they have medical complications, they need to have access to abortion care, in order to preserve their own lives, so it’s a really scary time that we’re in.”
Anti-abortion state lawmakers and groups in Texas want to boost funding to the state’s “Alternatives to Abortion” program. Currently, the state put $100 million in the initiative and Saenz said he would like to see that doubled. His group also wants to encourage adoption in the state.
“That honors the life of the child, that also allows the mother to show that they love that child and for them to be in a wonderful home. So you’ll be seeing some work that we do to make sure there’s not as much government and red tape,” Saenz said.
Meanwhile, abortion rights supporters are pushing to add more exceptions to the procedure, expanding women’s health care and increasing access to contraception.
“Roe was always the floor and never the ceiling. We always could do more for communities across the state of Texas, especially those that have been left behind historically, in our health care system to be able to access the fundamental care that they need,” said Drucilla Tigner, deputy director of strategic campaigns and partnerships at Planned Parenthood Texas Votes. “Banning abortion does not stop people from meaning abortions and that lives are put at risks when lawmakers restrict access to care.”
The White House has pledged to work with Democratic state lawmakers to enact measures protecting abortion rights.
“We will continue to both support the work that state legislators and governors are doing to protect the right to choose and to protect women’s health, while ... fighting for national legislation to codify Roe,” Jen Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, told Spectrum News.
President Joe Biden marked the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade by issuing a memorandum ensuring access to medication abortion.
“This medication which has been safely available in the United States, since (the Food and Drug Administration) first approved it in the year 2000, should be available and accessible to people across this country,” Klein said.