It’s been almost 11 months since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and access to abortion just keeps getting worse.
Last week alone saw several alarming new developments. A six-week abortion ban advanced (again) in South Carolina. Legislatures in North Carolina and Nebraska passed measures banning abortion at 12 weeks. Meanwhile, the legality of the abortion pill mifepristone was sharply questioned at a hearing at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal court in Louisiana.
These events, stretching from the Deep South to the Great Plains, are stark reminders of why legislators and judges shouldn’t be interfering with women’s medical decisions. Even if we could set aside the fundamental issues of privacy, liberty and bodily autonomy — which we can’t — it’s clear that many government officials don’t understand how pregnancy works, the reasons some women seek abortions after 12 weeks or how doctors care for patients who need to terminate their pregnancies.