Summary and Analysis:
After the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case, abortion became legalized throughout the United States to a certain extent. However, There has been a constant conservative push against the legalization of abortion ever since. In recent years, the Trump administration has banned abortion for illegal immigrant minors living in government run facilities. These immigrants must either carry through with their pregnancy and find an American sponsor who will take care of the baby, or leave the country entirely. With the addition of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a majority of the Supreme Court will be conservative and the they will be able to vote with a majority of 5-4 to get rid of the abortion rights that Roe v. Wade provided. This event can happen as early as next year and is nearly guaranteed considering the judges involved. Without this federal case, abortion rights would be up to individual states to decide. Of course, women living in liberal states will not be directly affected by this change, however some believe that with this victory, the removal of abortion rights may become a trend. Some believe that the lack of reaction from the democratic side is partially responsible for this event, where "Their anger will snowball once they see the grim reality of abortion bans... For now, though, they are watching the disaster unfold in slow motion, and few seem moved to even call their senators" (Slate).
Opinion:
Abortion definitely should be legal in some cases, and the mentality that all stages of fetuses can be considered living individual humans seems strange to me. When a fetus does not have a developed brain or a human shaped body, can it even be called a human or is it just a bundle of fast growing cells? If abortion does become illegal, then women will just find other ways to get abortions, whether dangerously doing the procedure themselves or traveling to another state. While we may not be affected by the reversal of Roe v. Wade since we live in California, I do believe that the vote against abortion could be a catalyst for a decline in women's' rights in the years to come. Because Supreme Court judges stay judges for such a long period of time, it is unlikely that legalization of abortion at a federal level could come back any time soon. There is still a small chance that Roe v. Wade will not be reversed, as abortion rights is a topic that can be agreed upon for both Democrats and some Republicans, however as time goes on the chance gets slimmer.
Questions:
What can be done for abortion in the United States at this stage?
How can we ensure the safety of women's reproductive rights if Roe v. Wade is reversed?
Is there anything that can be done to keep Roe v. Wade or is it pretty much gone already?
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/reversing-roe-v-wade-will-be-just-the-beginning/2018/08/17/02ea11cc-a18b-11e8-93e3-24d1703d2a7a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7271b9e07047
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/can-democrats-stop-brett-kavanaugh-from-overturning-roe-v-wade.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/03/politics/roe-v-wade-kavanaugh-collins/index.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/09/kavanaugh-will-give-roe-v-wade-deference-but-could-vote-to-overturn-the-ruling/569203/
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