Grassroots organizing overturns abortion bans

June 22, 2022, was a dire day for millions of women and others who can become pregnant. That was the day that the Supreme Court of the United States overturned a ruling made by that very court on Jan. 22, 1973, in the Roe v. Wade case, which legalized the right to abortion. The six right-wing justices decided in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that there was no legal right to abortions, thus removing two basic human rights — those of bodily autonomy and of health care.

Demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and at state capitals protested this reactionary decision, which gave states the green light to outlaw abortions. Rallies were held. Marches took place. Sit-ins at legislators’ offices were organized. Actions took place around the country to demand reproductive rights, bodily autonomy and health care for all. 

Protests are still taking place against local abortion bans and restrictions and will continue until the procedure is legal in every state. Today, 40% of women still live in states with bans.

Banning the bans

Exciting grassroots organizing and petitioning have challenged bans in many states and won reversals of the laws criminalizing abortions. From 2022 to 2023, activists organized campaigns and gathered petition signatures to place referendums on state ballots legalizing abortions. They won the ballot measures or defeated anti-abortion referendums in seven states: California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Vermont and Ohio.

Then on Nov. 5 of this year, measures codifying abortion rights were on ballots in 10 states. Seven passed — in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey and New York. Abortions were already legal in five of these states, but Arizona had a partial ban and Missouri had a draconian ban, which even allowed police to search the homes of those who had miscarriages to look for abortion pills. Voters vetoed abortion legalization in Nebraska and South Dakota where the reactionaries mobilized and propagandized.

In total, voters supported legal abortions in 14 of the 17 states where referendums were on the ballot. And in 11 of those 14 states, the constitutions were amended to include the right to legal abortions. These victories, made possible by the organized movement of thousands of activists and voted on by millions of people, should be applauded. Even though it was through the ballot box, in several states reproductive-rights forces beat back the right-wing scheme to outlaw abortions.

But the fight isn’t over in Missouri, home to a conservative government. Planned Parenthood clinics are suing the state to eliminate the maze of rules and obstacles that abortion providers have to navigate to provide abortions, end the restrictions on dispensing medication abortion pills and eliminate criminal prosecutions for abortion providers. (Springfield News-Leader, Nov. 8)

And in Florida, where the state requires a 60% supermajority vote to change the constitution, the measure narrowly failed, gaining 57% of the required votes. Reactionary Gov. Ron DeSantis had vociferously denounced Proposition 4, which would have legalized abortion. So now, without abortion access in that state, a reproductive health care “desert” exists throughout the Southeast.

Bans can be deadly

Unfortunately, those health care deserts are increasing in states where the bans are so strict that doctors — especially OB-GYNs who can’t perform essential health care even in emergencies – are fleeing to non-ban states. It means that oppressed Black, Latine, Indigenous, migrant and low-income individuals living in states with bans suffer the worst pregnancy outcomes, including higher maternal mortality (deaths related to pregnancy).  Because of a lack of accessible OB-GYNs, many of them can’t get doctors’ appointments and obtain prenatal care.

In states with bans, there have been deaths, near-death experiences and severe septic infections when emergency medical care is denied or delayed. ProPublica is investigating the true toll of abortion bans and has so far discovered four deaths of pregnant women, two in Georgia and two in Texas.  The journalists say there may be many more.  

Texas legislators instituted a strict abortion ban in 2021, a year before SCOTUS revoked the legal right to abortion. From 2019 until 2022, there was a drastic 56% rise in maternal mortality in the state, compared to a 11% countrywide increase during the same time span, reports the Gender Equity Policy Institute. Black women had the highest rate of pregnancy-related deaths, followed by Latinas.   GEPI President Nancy Cohen said the state’s abortion ban was the “primary driver of this alarming increase.” (NBC News, Sept. 20)  

Organize and fight back!

It is uplifting to learn of the movements in so many states which have won the legal right for medical professionals to provide abortions and for pregnant people to obtain them.

However it is carried out — on ballots, in courtrooms, at marches and rallies, or through boycotts, sit-ins and local and countrywide demonstrations — the struggle must go on. It is really a matter of life and death. It is clear that safe, legal abortions save lives. 
It’s crucial in the new year for reproductive rights activists to join with other struggles — of immigrants against deportations, of workers for their rights, of Black, Latine and Indigenous communities against racism, of LGBTQIA2S+ people against bigotry and of anti-war protesters opposing U.S.-backed wars. And, ultimately, to aim their fire against the capitalist system, the root of all evils.

We all need to join and show solidarity with all people’s movements to push back the right-wing’s attempts to take away our rights. In unity there is strength!

It was heartening that on Nov. 9, activists marched in several cities opposing deportations, defending reproductive rights, supporting workers and denouncing U.S.-backed wars. In Washington, D.C., protesters denounced the ultraright Heritage Foundation’s reactionary Project 2025, which, if implemented, would outlaw abortion pills and criminalize mailing them, oppose use of Medicaid funds for abortions and stop providing emergency medical care for pregnant people!

The key words for 2025 are: Unity! Solidarity! Organize! Fight back!