Abortion in America: The Demise of Roe v. Wade

On January 22nd, 1973, the historic court case Roe v Wade was passed into law, protecting the right to abortion across the United States. As of May 15th 2019, Alabama governor Kay Ivey signed into law the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, becoming one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

This law classifies abortion as a class a felony, meaning that doctors performing an abortion could face up to a life sentence in prison. The democratic minority within the state congress proposed reforms that allowed abortion in cases of incest and rape, but were turned down by the republican majority. Since the passing of the law, performing an abortion is now sentenced similarly to rape or murder.

Since the passing of law in Alabama, several other states have passed similar anti- abortion laws, called the “Heartbeat Bill”. Lawmakers in Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi and Georgia have successfully signed heartbeat bills into law. These states will be banning abortions after the fetal heart is detected, typically around the 6 week mark in a person's pregnancy. At this term, most people are not aware that they are pregnant.

The abortion ban is not in effect yet. For Alabama, the abortion ban is set to take place in November, and Georgia's on January 1st. There are ten states that have laws that protect women's right to access abortion on a state level, such as New York, California, and Hawaii.

There has been major push back against these laws from civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood. Since Roe v Wade is still in effect, and abortion is still legal on a federal level, these bills are likely to face scrutiny in the courts. A similar heartbeat bill was blocked in Kentucky by by a federal judge, and civilian protest have called national attention to the morality on both sides of the debate.