Roe v. Wade: How It Is Already Affecting Lives

Within just a matter of weeks of Roe v. Wade’s 6-3 vote by the Supreme Court being overturned, the grueling effects are already starting to show. Abortion appointments are being canceled and patients are being turned away; politicians are now starting to debate when and how to prosecute abortion providers who might break the law by getting or conducting an abortion.

In Ohio, a ten-year-old girl, a victim of abuse and rape, is now pregnant and being turned away from having a safe abortion by Ohio’s abortion clinics as she is past the 6-week mark by just 3 days. This little girl now has to travel across state lines into Indiana as their laws have not yet caught up to Ohio’s. Many people do not have the means to cross state lines, and when other states’ laws tighten as well, women and children will be trapped inside statelines, either having to carry to term or finding illegal abortion options.

These new abortion laws do not include exemptions for rape or incest, yet the age of consent is 16 years old. A contradiction that states it doesn’t matter the age or circumstance someone is put in to become pregnant. Their body is not their choice; their future is not their choice.

In April, before Roe v. Wade was even overturned, Jean Schmidt proposed a near-total abortion ban. When asked if her bill would exempt or force a teenage rape victim to carry a pregnancy to term, Schmidt called rape-resulting pregnancy an “opportunity,” stating: “It is a shame that it happens, but there’s an opportunity for that woman, no matter how young or old she is, to decide about what she’s going to do to help that child be a productive human being.”

The true effects of overturning As described in the following, many states don’t provide exemptions from strict or outright restrictions on abortion for rape or incest, which might force a minor to carry a pregnancy to term that they could not have consented to.