35mostly produced a cloud of confusion.
Abortion- rights advocates rushed to
assure patients, while simultaneously
pushing out information about what
may come next. If the Supreme Court
does indeed overturn Roe, many ex-
pect that abortion pills, which can be
prescribed via telehealth and sent in
the mail, will become the next arenaof legal and legislative warfare. Others
point to the likelihood that the nation
will be split in half, with Democrat- led
states seeing an influx of out-of-state
patients seeking abortions within their
borders. Several Democratic state leg-
islatures have moved to protect provid-
ers and out-of-state patients, and to al-
locate money to help pay for their care.
Katie Quinonez, executive director of
West Virginia’s only abortion clinic,
says that if her state makes the proce-
dure illegal, she and her staff will help
more patients travel to Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia.
In the age of the internet, we are
unlikely to return to the back-alley
abortions of the pre-Roe era, but that,
Quinonez says, is not the same as having
access to legal care. Many would-be pa-
tients in places where abortion is illegal
will likely struggle to take time off work,
find transportation, or arrange child-
care to get an abortion. Studies show
that people who are denied abortions
have worse mental health, more physi-
cal health issues including pregnancy-
related death, higher rates of poverty
and debt, and less financial security.
Most people who seek abortions already
have at least one child. The U.S., which
has the highest maternal mortality rate
of any wealthy nation, is also unique
among its peer nations in failing to pro-
vide robust, state-funded childcare, paid
family leave, or other parental support.
While the country, awash in un-
certainty, awaits the court’s final rul-
ing, one thing is now clear. The U.S.
is on the cusp of a monumental shift
in which issues surrounding wom-
en’s autonomy, privacy, and the gov-
ernment’s role in its citizens’ health
will become central to our lives and
our politics. The Justices’ final deci-
sion will shape not only reproductive
rights, but also the health care system,
criminal justice, workforce partici-
pation, and what it means to create a
family in America. —With reporting by
NIK POPLI/ WASHINGTON ◁
Activists gather in front of Jackson
Women’s Health Organization, the
abortion clinic in Jackson, Miss., at
the center of the Supreme Court caseabortion ban, cheered his colleagues’
ambitions. “I think perhaps we’re com-
ing to a place where we recognize that
the deep brutality of Roe v. Wade,” he
told TIME, “may be coming to an end.”
FOR THE AVERAGE AMERICAN not
tuned in to the nuances of state and
federal political battles, the leak
If Roe v. Wade
is overturned ...ABORTION RIGHTS
WOULD CONTINUE
TO BE PROTECTEDRESTRICTIVE
LAWS MAY BE
PUT INTO EFFECTALL OR NEARLY ALL
ABORTIONS WOULD
BE BANNED THROUGH
TRIGGER LAWSSTATES IN GRAY HAVE NO LAWS EXPLICITLY BANNING OR
PROTECTING ABORTION.SOURCE: GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE.
MAP BY ABIGAIL ABRAMS AND EMILY BARONE