In the Wake of Roe, Virginia must be a Safe Haven for Abortion Access
By Tarina Keene
The New Year is a welcome sight for many of us who have hope that we will emerge from a raging, deadly pandemic and a limping healthcare system, a hobbled economy with massive unemployment, systemic racism, and a resurrection of white nationalism. With a new president now at the helm vowing to bring unity and relief, our country and our Commonwealth appear ready and willing to answer the call.
Unfortunately, some of 2020’s tragedies cannot be undone but they can be confronted. We lost legal titan and women’s rights advocate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Not only did we mourn a brilliant jurist, but for her hard-fought advancements for women knowing her vacancy would swing the Supreme Court’s balance to a solid conservative block with its sights on eviscerating Roe v. Wade. On this 48th Anniversary of the landmark Roe decision, we must celebrate our achievements over the past five decades, but also prepare for how to deal with our loss.
The pandemic has given us a preview into a post-Roe America. Several states like Texas and Ohio tried to ban abortion during the initial shutdowns claiming abortion was not “essential healthcare.” Abortion is essential and timely healthcare. Dozens of desperate patients made their way from these states to Virginia, D.C., and Maryland to access care. Sadly, many patients whose appointments were cancelled due to political games were unable to travel to receive care.
There is some good news from the ashes of 2020 for reproductive freedom.
During the election, almost every pro-choice House incumbent won re-election across the country. The Senate has now gained four pro-choice seats and flipped party control to the Democrats. Coloradoans decisively rejected a proposed ban on abortion later in pregnancy, recognizing patient health needs should drive medical decisions — not politics.
Here in the Commonwealth, we broke a two-decade, conservative stranglehold that limited our freedoms. This allowed us to pass the Reproductive Health Protection Act — the first proactive abortion rights law in Virginia.
Nonetheless, abortion access is still difficult here and is nearly impossible for those in many states. The right itself is now at risk of being eradicated. Louisianians voted to enshrine in their constitution that there is NO right to abortion and became another state to add a trigger law to its books. Meaning, should Roe be overturned, the state could quickly move to ban abortion.
Twenty-one states have now either passed “trigger” laws or put into their constitution a direct ban or an intention to ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe. Only 13 states and the District of Columbia have explicit laws that protect the right to abortion. [1]
Fortunately, Virginia does not have a trigger law, but the right to abortion is not protected in our code or constitution. With 79% of Virginians supporting the right to abortion care, now is the time to turn that support into reality.
Step one is removing the remaining barriers to abortion access and combating the negative stigma surrounding patients and providers. We achieved this in part during the 2020 General Assembly session by repealing the infamous mandatory ultrasound, the medically unnecessary restrictions that treated abortion providers like hospitals (aka TRAP — targeted regulations on abortion providers), state-mandated 24-hour waiting periods, and biased counseling and lifted the ban on certain medical professionals from performing abortion early in pregnancy.
Step two is lifting ideological bans on private and public insurance coverage for abortion care. These restrictions disproportionately affect Black and immigrant communities facing the highest unemployment or under-employment rates and even more so now during the pandemic. [2]
Step three is codifying the right to abortion and taking abortion out of the criminal code. Abortion is currently the only medical procedure in Virginia’s criminal code to deter and threaten physicians from offering the procedure even in a life-threatening situation for pregnant people.
Should Roe be overturned, this country will have created abortion deserts, especially across the South and Midwest. Our bordering states — West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee — already have trigger laws in place should Roe be overturned. Virginia must be a safe haven for those who need abortion care inside and outside our borders.
Anti-abortion legislators and advocates are thrilled with the prospect of overturning Roe. But that is not their end game. Mark my words, they will move to outright ban abortion — at any point in pregnancy and for any reason — and criminalize women all across our nation and even at the federal level. Our opponents have secured the courts, but we have the power to elect pro-choice legislators and pass legislation to establish Virginia as a safe haven for safe, legal, and accessible abortion care. In 2021 and beyond, we must vote and legislate like our lives and rights depend on it — because they do.
Sources:
[1] https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/abortion-policy-absence-roe
