Amna: Tomorrow marks one year
since the supreme court
overturned roe versus wade and
ended the constitutional right
to an abortion.
While some states have expanded
access to care, fourteen states
have banned abortions in nearly
all cases.
We spoke to people across the
country on each side of the
debate about what the past
twelve months have been like,
and where they go from here.
Ellisha: My name is ellisha
Olsen.
I am a college student and a
pro-life activist.
This year has honestly been an
incredible year working in the
pro-life movement, both in my
state and on a national level.
Dr. Kumar: My name is Dr. Bhavik
Kumar.
I'm a family medicine doctor in
Texas, also an abortion
provider, and I'm a board member
with physicians for reproductive
health.
Elise: My name is Elise.
I am 17 years old.
Theresa: I'm Theresa.
I'm a mother of two young adult
daughters.
And the health care issues that
are coming to the forefront in
Idaho are have made us decide
that we're going to be moving
out of state.
Elise: When roe versus wade was
overturned, I felt very
concerned for everyone that was
pregnant in the United States
and very angry at the government
for, like, taking something away
that we should always have.
Denise: I'm Denise Harley.
As an attorney at alliance
defending freedom, leading our
life team, I work alongside
states and pro-life pregnancy
centers and pro-life medical
professionals and other
advocates and churches to help
defend laws that protect life.
I believe as a biblical
worldview about god creating
every single person in the womb
with a life and a future and a
hope.
Nancy: My name is Nancy Davis.
I am from Baton Rouge,
Louisiana.
I've been here my entire life.
My initial reaction when roe
overturned was I was very upset.
You know, it's very, very
upsetting that a human right, a
fundamental human right, was
ultimately taken away from us.
Ellisha: We got the news and
then we immediately rushed to
the supreme court.
And I just remember it being
such an exciting time.
You know, there was shock, there
is excitement.
It's just all of the emotions.
There's a lot of hugging and
there were tears just because
this was something that, you
know, we'd been working for for
so long.
Dr Kumar: Right away, in the
middle of the day, we had to
stop care and say that we can no
longer care for anybody.
We're not sure what that would
mean.
We have to read the decision,
talk to our attorneys.
But essentially that day was
when any meaningful access to
abortion care in Texas stopped
completely.
It was very, very overwhelming
and I think just heavy to sit
with.
Denise: On the day of the Dobbs
oral argument, I was out there
on the steps of the supreme
court at a rally and speaking.
And at the time I was six months
pregnant with my daughter, who
ended up being born in March.
I named her eve, which means
life, in hopes that roe be
overturned and she was the one
that I was holding and nursing
when the leak came out.
And it was just wonderful to be
holding her also on the day that
Dobbs was decided.
And to me, that was just such a
simple.
Nancy: At ten weeks pregnant, we
received some very, very, very
devastating news about our
much-wanted pregnancy.
Our fetus was actually diagnosed
with acrania.
Acrania refers to the absence of
the skull and some parts of the
brain.
The doctor advised us that we
should terminate.
Initially, whenever we were
denied for the abortion in
Louisiana, the only thing I
could think of was I was
carrying my baby to bury my
baby.
We had to travel to New York
City to get the care that we
needed.
And this was the most difficult
part of it.
Leaving my home, leaving my
children behind, you know, and
and having to having to address
this as well as the trauma I was
already dealing with.
Dr Kumar: There's very little
that I can do for somebody when
I'm telling them to go to
another state that they've never
been to and to access this care.
And it just feels so
bewildering, especially when,
you know, you can just help them
and you've got the skills
already to be able to provide
them with that care.
And you've done that for so long
and all of a sudden to state
that you have to just go to
another state and I can't do
anything.
It's extremely overwhelming.
I don't think there's any words
that really carry the weight of
what it really feels like to
have to do that over and over
again.
Denise: We've been very busy.
We are currently working with
probably a dozen to 15 different
states on active litigation,
where counsel for some of them
, cocounsel with some of them,
we're the amicus coordinators
and consultants for several
states in defending their
pro-life laws.
You know, it probably will take
some time for the people of
America to sort of get used to
this and relearn the fact that,
you know, abortion was never a
fundamental right.
Nancy: The laws that are in
place, that laws that currently
stand, they are controlling our
lives.
They are controlling other
people's lives.
And because of this control,
it's putting our lives in
danger, it's putting our lives
at risk, and it's putting our
lives at jeopardy.
Dr Kumar: Health care providers
like me should have these
conversations with their
patients, sharing facts, sharing
information, talking about risks
and benefits, and then we decide
together what's best for that
person.
That person alone is the only
person who knows what's best for
them, their body, their life.
And that's how it is in the rest
of medicine, that's how it
should be when it comes to
abortion care.
Ellisha: I think when thinking
about the abortion laws,
especially the ones that have
exceptions for rape and incest.
One thing that that really just
reminds me of is if we make an
exception for that, my mom could
have been like, I don't see
value in this life.
My birth mom was raped and
conceived me, and then I was
brought into my adoptive family
at a very young age.
The America that we want to see,
where no woman is left behind
and every child has a chance,
isn't going to happen if people
like myself, and my friends,
don't step up.
Theresa: My greatest fear about
these abortion restrictions in
Idaho as a mother of two young
adult women, as a mother figure
to a lot of their friends, is
that I'm not going to be able to
help them get health care when
they need it.
And to have people make blanket
statements about how abortion is
wrong and it's murder without
having any understanding of any
of the nuance of what that
position looks like in the real
world is very frustrating.
Amna: President Biden marked the
one-year anniversary of the fall
of roe today by signing an
executive order aimed at
protecting and expanding access
to contraceptives.
Rallying supporters and
activists today, the president
said reproductive health care is
under attack.
Pres. Biden: The right to use
birth control.
You ever think we'd be arguing
about that?
They're not stopping here.
Make no mistake, this election
is about freedom on the ballot
once again.
Amna: Our white house
correspondent Laura barrón lópez
has been following all of this.
What exactly does this executive
order do?
Laura: When the Dobbs decision
came down, there's Thomas wrote
a concurring opinion and in it
he said the supreme court's are
recent consider -- should recent
center the decision that
established the right to privacy
to use contraceptives.
That's how the white house has
framed this announcement, to
protect access to that.
President Biden is directing
agencies to consider new
guidance and rules that would do
a number of things.
First, they would ensure private
insurance covers all forms of
contraception.
It would expand access to
emergency access -- emergency
contraception, and increase
availability generally at
federally supported health care
clinics.
President Biden has, since his
senate days, along with the help
of his sister, framed access to
contraception and abortion as a
fundamental right to privacy.
Amna: In the year since roe was
overturned, president Biden and
his ministration have taken a
number of steps.
Where does this fit?
Laura: This is the third
executive action president Biden
has issued since the Dobbs
decision last year.
All three have been on
reproductive health care access.
The first was July 8, 2022,
about two weeks after the Dobbs
decision.
It expanded access to abortion
pills and encouraged free legal
representation for doctors and
patients.
The second was August 3 last
year and that allowed assistance
for women traveling out of state
for health care and supported
providers navigating the new
restrictions.
In addition to that, the justice
department is fighting in the
courts to protect access to
abortion core, most notably
you've covered the ongoing case
around mifepristone.
The white house expressed this
week a lot of confidence in the
ability to win that case.
Amna: In 2022 in the midterm
elections, we saw how abortion
access were a mobilizing force
for democratic voters in
particular.
When you talked to sources on
the biting campaign today, do
they think this will be the same
-- Biden campaign today, do they
think it will be the same story
in 2024?
Laura: The short answer is yes.
The policy advisor for the white
house spoke to reporters and she
said the white house doesn't see
this issue dissipating at all.
Some of the confidence comes
from events like today, the
faith and freedom coalition, or
a number of GOP candidates said
over and over again they were
happy with the Dobbs decision
and they support some form of a
national ban on abortion.
The campaign said they will be
highlighting voices like some of
the ones we just heard, like
Nancy, who said she had to leave
Louisiana and go to New York to
get health care.
They also told me to expect vice
president Harris to be the
leading voice.
They expect her to be the most
prolific campaigner on this
issue.
They said president Biden will
be talking about it but she will
be the leader.
Amna: Laura, thank you for your
reporting.
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