We Need More Than Roe v. Wade to Protect A Woman’s Right to Choose

Article originally appeared in Medium on December 20th, 2020.

The recent addition of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court has sparked many fearful conversations about what could happen to Roe v. Wade. As I listen, I can’t help but feel that we’re missing the bigger picture. These conversations neglect all the ways our freedom to choose has already been lost. The Supreme Court doesn’t need to overturn Roe v. Wade in order to make it nearly impossible for women to access abortions. It’s happening right now. Over 1,300 new provisions intended to restrict access were introduced across the country in 2020 alone. We need more than Roe v. Wade to protect a woman’s right to choose.

The reality is that even with Roe in place, millions of women already face incredible obstacles intended to prevent them from obtaining the abortion care they need. These are multilayered barriers to access, at the state and federal levels. The women affected by these laws are women you know. They’re mothers, sisters, friends and colleagues. They’re women like Dr. Valerie Peterson, who lived in Texas. She needed an abortion at 16 weeks after she learned her unborn son was diagnosed with a lethal fetal anomaly and would not survive. Her only options were to wait to miscarry or end the pregnancy. Dr. Peterson had just learned the sex of her baby and was excited for her two daughters to have a younger brother. Losing the pregnancy was a traumatic event on its own, and waiting would be too excruciating to bear. For her mental health, Dr. Peterson knew her only real option was to terminate the pregnancy. Then she learned her doctor would not be able to administer the procedure. She would need to be referred to Planned Parenthood instead. She remembers thinking, “Wow, why can’t my doctor take care of me?”