When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, ending the court’s five-decade-old decision that guaranteed a woman’s right to obtain an abortion, abortion rights were rolled back in nearly half of the states immediately. More restrictions, as expected, soon followed – the most recent occurring in Arizona one week ago.
Last Tuesday, the state ruled that a near-total ban, enacted in 1864 – even before Arizona legally became a state – could be enforced. The recent ruling serves as an example of the challenges facing each state as they consider how to change their laws since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
And as many predicted, ending a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion has not only put the Supreme Court in the spotlight but has made women’s reproductive rights a seminal issue in subsequent elections – particularly this fall in the 2024 general election when America will vote for president.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Donald Trump took the credit after the three Supreme Court justices (Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett) he nominated and who were confirmed, voted to end abortion rights.
Trump asserted, “I delivered everything as promised,” describing it as “the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation.”
But what a difference a few years can make. Trump was clearly surprised following the decision of Arizona’s state supreme court last week.
On the day before the ruling, he said states should make their own decisions about regulating abortion. After the ruling was announced, he criticized the court for reinstating an abortion law that he said goes too far.
Recent polls show that a majority of voters in Arizona want abortion to be legal while others say it’s among the issues that will influence their voting decisions this fall. Perhaps that’s why Trump shifted his stance on abortion.
It’s up to the voters to decide whether they can trust Trump and whether they believe Biden is more, or less, trustworthy. But one thing that cannot be debated is the disproportionate impact of abortion bans on Black women in GOP-led states.
Black women have the highest abortion rate in the U.S., according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And abortion advocates say restrictions that have gone into effect across the U.S. since the Supreme Court ended federal protections for the procedure have only exacerbated previously existing socioeconomic disparities. Facing higher teen pregnancy and maternal mortality rates, Black women will largely bear the brunt of abortion limits.
“It is sad but it is not surprising. You know, the abortion bans — and certainly since the fall of Roe — have really jeopardized the health of women in general,” Democrat and New York Senate President Pro Tempore Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters. “And because the Black maternal mortality rates are already alarmingly high, nationally, these bans have only exacerbated the overall reproductive health problems that Black women face.”
And there are other reasons why Black people should take issue with Trump’s about-face and should know where all of the candidates stand.
Black women in the U.S. are more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than women in any other race group, according to a 2018 report from the National Partnership for Women and Families. Black women are three to four times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than white women and the risk spans income and education levels.
Black women are also more likely than other racial groups to experience maternal health complications throughout the course of their pregnancies. And hospitals that predominantly serve Black communities provide lower-quality maternal care, performing worse than others on 12 out of 15 birth outcomes, including elective deliveries, nonelective cesarean births and maternal mortality, according to the report.
About 75% of Black women give birth at hospitals that predominantly serve Black patients.
In addition, Black women in the U.S. are more likely than their white counterparts to be obese, which can increase the risk of gestational diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia and other pregnancy complications.
Finally, because of high chronic stress and race-based trauma and fear, the majority of Black women produce about 15% more cortisol, a stress hormone, than white women, which in turn raises the risk of pregnancy complications, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
If Black women are disproportionately impacted by poor health, lack of income, lack of medical access and the stress of being Black in America, then they are also more likely to face premature mortality.
Thus, the right to an abortion, and the decision to have one as determined by a woman and her physician, could be the difference between life and death. Will Trump, or the Supreme Court, take the credit for that as well?