It’s been one week since the U.S. Supreme Court draft decision overturning Roe versus Wade was leaked. Abortion providers in Alabama are preparing for the high court to follow through on this ruling as soon as next month. The West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa provides about fifty percent of abortions in the state. Operations Director Robin Marty says the pending opinion could leave the southeast with a complete lack of access to abortions.
“At this point, Florida is the only State that has a constitutional right to an abortion. And that’s already in jeopardy,” Marty contends. “And if anybody challenges the fifteen week ban that’s about to go into effect in July, I believe, that could open it up for the State Supreme Court to say they don’t have a right an abortion either.”
West Alabama Women’s Center already has patients from Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma. Marty says that could change drastically once the SCOTUS decision goes into effect, which could then enact so-called “trigger laws” in states like Alabama.
“People look at the idea of post Roe America as this place where you have abortion illegal in some states, abortions legal in other states and you just hop over to another state in order to get an abortion and it’s not a huge deal. What we’re talking about is the entire southeast United States being wiped out of any abortion clinics.”
Research by The Associated Press shows that if the Court allows states to ban abortions, minority women will bear the brunt of it. In conservative states that already limit access to abortions, Black and Hispanic women are far more likely than white women to have an abortion. That’s why advocates say they’ll have the most to lose if abortion is outlawed in those states.
