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THE RIGHT TO ABORTION A YEAR ON FROM THE OVERTURNING OF _ROE V. WADE_

DEAR ,

When the United States Supreme Court overturned _Roe v. Wade_ in June 2022,
reversing women’s constitutional right [4] to have an abortion, rights
activists warned the repercussions would be globally devastating. [5]

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.

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Today – almost a year on from the Supreme Court’s decision – 14
states [7] 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’ [8] 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

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In the aftermath of the _Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization [6]_
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 [9], Chile [10], and Italy.

In Poland, thousands of people protested [11] 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 [12] 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

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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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