The Supreme Court overturned two judgments that guaranteed the right to abortion at the federal level. Each state is now free to decide its own legislation and many have already planned to ban abortion. Response from Lauren Frazier, public relations manager for Planned Parenthood Southeast, one of the largest family planning groups in the United States.
RFI: What does the overturning of the Roe V. Wade decision represent for you?
Lauren Frazier : We had never lost a constitutional right before. It is unprecedented. The right to abortion could be abolished in 26 states – half of the country – notably in the South and the Midwest. Thirteen states have a “trigger law” in force. So in these states, abortion will become illegal or access to it will be severely restricted, immediately or within days. This is the case in Mississippi and Alabama. In Georgia, a 2018 law, currently blocked by the courts, should apply. It prohibits abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. Across the country, 36 million people are at risk of losing their access to healthcare. Most are African American, LGBTQ+, young, and people who live in rural areas. We saw what happened in Texas, when women had to flee to another state to be able to have an abortion. It is only a prelude.
What are the particularities of the three states that your section of Planned Parenthood covers, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi?
We are in the southeastern United States, one of the regions most hostile to access to reproductive health. Even though abortion is a common and safe procedure, opponents of abortion have tried for years to restrict access, by imposing, again and again, unnecessary rules. Mississippi voted about 20. Each of these rules represents additional paperwork and costs for establishments that perform abortions: many have closed, the jackson clinic is the last remaining in this state. Those seeking an abortion face other obstacles, such as 24-hour waiting periods after the first consultation, they must receive mandatory “advice” and documents that encourage them not to continue. It’s already not easy to access abortion today, but at least Roe v. Wade has allowed legal abortions so far.
How will the Planned Parenthood organization work now?
We will continue to do what we usually do, which is to inform people of the options available to them. The reversal of Roe v. Wade implies that the laws will now be very different between states. We will have to navigate between these different laws. In Georgia, for example, it will still be possible to have an abortion up to six weeks of pregnancy, a very short period. We are therefore going to make sure that women are well informed, that they know their cycle and know how to determine at what stage of their pregnancy they are in order to be able to resort to an abortion if they wish. If they miss the deadline, we will potentially direct them to another state. We will continue to support them within the limits of what is required of us by law. As the mid-term elections approach, we will also try to tell them which elected officials support their access to care and which ones are trying to block their way.