By EMMA GRACE
This election season was hyper-focused on the presidential election, an intense battle between candidates who both claimed to have the answers to all of our problems. But along with that scenario, there was a slow but focused movement around abortion rights. Abortion has been a primary voting issue since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, and some states had abortion referendums on their ballot. However, the outcome of this election showed us that this issue will continue to be a major fight in our future.
Eleven out of 50 states had abortion referendums on their ballots. Eight of those measures passed, one being against abortion rights. (Nebraska passed an amendment that prohibits abortion after the first trimester unless there’s a medical emergency or the pregnancy is a result of incest or sexual assault) The states with ballot measures included Arizona, which passed Proposition 139: Right to Abortion, which provides a right to abortion before the point of fetal viability. Missouri passed a measure that includes “the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care.”
The other states that passed amendments in favor include Colorado, Maryland, New York, Montana, and Nevada. Colorado’s amendment even allows the use of public funds for abortion. Florida was one of the states that failed to pass its abortion ballot measure, which would have protected the right to abortion up to fetus viability. The measure won majority support from voters but it didn’t meet the 60% it needed to pass. This represents a massive regression in the state’s abortion policies since before Roe was overturned.
Despite this, a massive attack on reproductive rights is underway. Louisiana, a state with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, had nearly zero legal abortions by in-state providers since the Dobbs decision took effect in 2022. However, the state still pushed to pass a law that reclassifies abortion pills as “dangerous controlled substances.” This new law now requires hospitals to keep those drugs locked in medicine cabinets. That means these medications, like Mifepristone and Misoprostol, are not readily available when a patient might need them. Those medications are not just used for abortions; they are lifesaving drugs used for pregnancy complications as well. Doctors have claimed that having those drugs within minutes can be the difference between life and death.
In Texas, providers can face life in prison for interventions with patients that end a fetal heartbeat. Not only must doctors not conduct abortions, but they can barely assist pregnant women who are having severe medical issues. In one case, a pregnant 18-year-old died after three visits to the ER in which she was not fully treated for her life-threatening symptoms. The doctors are left with no options due to the law. They either treat the patient and risk life in prison or minimally treat the patient and hope that is enough. In that case, it wasn’t.
These cases prove that this movement is not just for abortion rights; it’s for every aspect of reproductive health care—birth control, sex education, prenatal care, birthing care, and postnatal care. Maternal leave and child care are another issue as well. Anti-abortion laws are anti-women/pregnant people laws. Race is a major factor in it as well. Black women are already three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women.
For years, the infant mortality rate has been on a slow decline as modern medicine has improved. Since 2022, however, hundreds more babies have died than expected, 7 percent higher than the baseline. This increase was detected several months after the decision to overturn Roe. The reasoning could very well be that pregnant people are being forced to carry to term no matter the state of the fetuses’ health. In most cases, these are the most marginalized people, who have the least access to information and no ability to travel to another state to get the care they need.
The ballot measures that won are an improvement for those states, but that’s only seven out of 50 states. The urgency for this matter is far too important to rely on just amendments. We can’t rely on the Democratic Party either, which has promised to protect the rights of women just to break that promise time and time again. The true power to create change has always been in the hands of the people, by bringing them together, mobilizing them to protest, and demanding rights until they’re achieved.
The Women’s March in 2017 was one of the largest single-day protests in U.S. history, with around 500,000 demonstrators in Washington. In 2022, after the Dobbs decision, thousands took to the streets again. Imagine if this momentum could continue at a more rapid pace! The government would be forced to respond, just as they did with the original womens’ rights movement, the womens’ suffrage movement, the civil rights movement, and more. Working people can create change with the powerful weapon at our hands—militant, independent, and united mass action. Free Abortions On Demand Now!
