The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade – this is how Voices responded

I saw the BBC breaking news alert on my phone and in that moment, I couldn’t quite process what I was reading, writes Harriet Williamson

Tuesday 28 June 2022 09:14 BST

It is experiences like Jennifer’s that show us the lie at the heart of the ‘pro-life’ argument (REUTERS)

On Friday 24 June, just as I was rounding off the last of our responses to the by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton as Voices lead, the news broke that the US Supreme Court had overturned Roe v Wade.

I saw the BBC alert on my phone and in that moment, I couldn’t quite process what I was reading. It had already been a busy UK news day, and I wasn’t fully prepared – on an emotional level – for the anouncement that the US had decided to roll back 50 years of reproductive rights. Naively, I didn’t believe I’d see Roe overturned in my lifetime.

Thankfully, the initial paralysis, the small-animal-in-headlights shock, quickly gave way to anger and urgency.

Our US Voices editor, Holly Baxter, was quick off the mark with responses to the devastating ruling. One of the most powerful pieces, by US writer Jennifer Stavros, describes how she was “pushed down the path of motherhood by Christian conservatives who described themselves as ‘pro-life’”. She swiftly found, while raising her child as single mother, living in poverty, that this “pro-life” concern did not extend to her baby once it had been born.

It is experiences like Jennifer’s that show us the lie at the heart of the “pro-life” argument. It’s not really about protecting human life. If it were, there would be paid maternity leave in the US, meaningful spending on early years childcare, and curbs on gun ownership, so that deadly school shootings – like in Uvalde, Texas – wouldn’t be so sickeningly commonplace. No, the purpose is to control the bodies and choices of women and all those who can become pregnant.

Katie Edwards writes compellingly about who the overturning of Roe v Wade will hurt the most – Black women and those living in poverty – and the consequences of criminalising safe abortions. It’s vitally important that we dismantle the myth that banning abortion actually stops the termination of unwanted pregnancies.

Attacks on reproductive rights mean that people turn to unsafe abortions. And unsafe procedures, which can end in “septic shock, perforated bladder and/or bowel, severe haemorrhaging, and death”, are a leading cause of maternal death worldwide.

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I have to remind myself that I cannot become overwhelmed by grief for my US siblings and helplessness in the face of such a cruel and retrograde step. As journalists, we have a responsibility to use our platforms and our skills to inform, educate and inspire.

In the weeks and months to come, we will bring you more comment on the Supreme Court’s decision – and the repercussions of it. These feel like truly dark and terrifying days for women, and those of other marginalised genders.

Yours,