Reproductive rights have been an urgent topic of discussion around the world in recent days, following the leak of a draft opinion of the US supreme court, written by Justice Samuel Alito, in the case of Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. If enacted by the court, this opinion would overturn the landmark 1973 case of Roe v Wade. Roe instated the constitutional right to abortion in the US under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, which references a woman’s right to privacy.
Overturning Roe would mean that abortion, no longer deemed a constitutional right, would return to the individual US states to legislate. So far, 12 states have so-called “trigger laws”, which would immediately criminalise or ban abortion in the case of Roe falling. This would clearly be disastrous for the rights of women and pregnant people in the US, many of whom would lose all access to abortion healthcare services.
The potential loss of Roe’s constitutional protection for abortion highlights the need for a framework of not just reproductive rights, but reproductive justice. Reproductive justice is about creating a society where principles of equity and inclusion mean that every woman has the right to exercise control over their own body. It is a concept developed by Black American feminists in the 1990s. Reproductive justice goes beyond merely the “right to choose” upheld in a case such as Roe, and asks broader intersectional questions of society.
