Protecting Roe V. Wade Can Be an Issue That Saves Democrats Midterm Losses | Opinion
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TYPE:
Blog -
AUDIENCE:
Reproductive Justice, African-Americans, Women, LGBTQ+
By: Roshni Nedungadi
Roshni Nedungadi is a founding partner and chief operating officer of HIT Strategies, the leading millennial and minority-owned public opinion research firm in Washington, D.C. She leads polling for reproductive health advocacy groups, political organizations and political campaigns.
This year, millions of women—specifically women of color—stand to lose their right to have an abortion.
That’s because in June, the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of Mississippi’s regressive 15-week abortion ban in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson. With the upcoming verdict, many legal analysts predict that the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will gut the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, which has guaranteed safe and legal access to abortion for the last 50 years. Once federal protection is lost, 26 statewide anti-abortion laws will be codified into law, with many even more restrictive than Mississippi’s 15-week ban.
We are already seeing the disastrous impact of abortion bans implemented by emboldened, conservative state legislatures. Recently, a Texas woman was illegally detained and charged with murder for having a miscarriage deemed an “illegal abortion.” Such dehumanizing treatment was no accident and will not be an isolated incident. As more and more restrictive state laws go into effect and Roe is reversed, millions of women will be arrested for exercising control over their own bodies.