The right to abortion: A year on from Roe v. Wade

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The right to abortion a year on from the overturning of Roe v. Wade

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When the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, reversing women’s constitutional right to have an abortion, rights activists warned the repercussions would be globally devastating.

After the 2022 ruling, disinformation was rife on social media, sparking mass confusion about what laws US states were planning to pass. Online harassment and abuse, including against journalists reporting on abortion rights, also proliferated.

Today – almost a year on from the Supreme Court’s decision – 14 states have banned abortion altogether, affecting nearly 18 million women across the US.

In Georgia, abortion is banned after 6 weeks.

Texas’s abortion ban includes a ‘bounty-hunter scheme’ to encourage people to spy on one another and sue anyone suspected of violating the ban.

South Carolina’s bill banned websites that discuss abortion, making it dangerous for women to even share vital information about sexual health and reproductive rights.

‘One year on, the divisive battle continues with nearly equal amounts of USA states having either a near-total ban on abortion, or shield laws in place to protect the right to abortion.

Irrespective of state lines, the spread of disinformation, censorship and the chilling effect on discussions around abortion is widespread throughout the country and disproportionately affects people from systemically marginalised groups. In this environment, it is absolutely vital for stakeholders, especially social media platforms, to ensure that there are adequate, safe spaces for people to discuss and access scientific information on abortion.’

– Judy Taing, ARTICLE 19’s Head of Gender and Sexuality

Abortion rights protest, Los Angeles, California, USA, 9 July 2022. Photo: Behzad Moloud/Shutterstock

In the aftermath of the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization judgment, women around the world have risen up, challenging these threats to their basic freedoms and organising protests to make their voices heard – in the US, but also across Poland, Chile, and Italy.

In Poland, thousands of people protested against the country’s strict abortion law in recent weeks, angered by the death in hospital of Dorota Lalik, a pregnant 33-year-old woman, on 24 May. The patients’ rights ombudsman ruled that the hospital violated Dorota’s rights by failing to tell her that her life was in danger and an abortion could save her – a stark reminder that the right to information can save lives.

ARTICLE 19’s Boundaries of Expression and #FreeToProtest podcasts

Jo Glanville speaks to activists, journalists, and lawyers about the increasing assaults on the right to abortion, freedom of expression, and privacy – and the remarkable protest movements to counter them.

Listen to episode 2, featuring Maziar Bahari, founder of IranWire and Marta Lempart, founder of the All-Poland Women's Strike.

Listen now

‘It was about abortion, of course it was about reproductive rights, about human rights, about women’s rights. But it was also about the government, about the judiciary, about the rule of law. It was a very strong anti-government protest… The European Parliament decided that abortion is a human right. There was a resolution on that. We did that. It’s Polish people on the streets who did that.’

– Marta Lempart, founder of the All-Poland Women’s Strike

Find out more about our #FreeToProtest campaign

Find out more

Coming soon: Poland in peril: Democracy or authoritarianism?, a look at the growing movement for women’s right to abortion and other public protests.

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