Underground Healthcare in Post-Roe America
Abortion is not a bad word. Talking about abortions and reading about abortions and sharing our personal abortion stories, are all ways we can destigmatize the word and hopefully one day remove the negative connotation surrounding it. Abortion is a healthcare procedure, similar to a tonsillectomy or getting your wisdom teeth removed; for many women it is an essential healthcare procedure. Access to healthcare is of extreme importance in the betterment of a society. Before we continue reading, let’s get more comfortable with the word ourselves. On the count of 3 let’s all say abortion. One....Two...Three...Abortion! Very good. Now, let’s continue...
In June of 2022 the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). This ruling opened up a world of changes and one of those changes was the overturning of the landmark case of Roe v. Wade (1973). The original ruling in Roe v. Wade made abortion (in the first trimester of pregnancy) legal across the United States; overturning this meant that abortion rights are no longer guaranteed and now fall to the state lawmakers (Oyez). Throughout this essay I will be mentioning the cases of Roe v. Wade (1973) and Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) often; I will be using Roe and Dobbs as the shortened names of these rulings. Throughout our reading I will be discussing underground abortions through a historical, medical and personal lens. I feel it remiss of me not to mention that I underwent in abortion in February of 2020 at the age of 19. I would quickly like to note that statistically everyone loves someone who has had an abortion (Lang), whether they know it or not.
The underground abortion will always exist; regardless of the legality of abortions. The right to reproductive healthcare is a human right; the UN itself agrees, “Rights to reproductive and sexual health include the right to life, liberty and the security of the person; the right to health care and information; and the right to non-discrimination in the allocation of resources to health services and in their availability and accessibility,”. Women are innovative and intelligent and, if need be, are more than capable of taking their reproductive health into their own hands. Abortion is an essential medical procedure for those able to give birth; especially in pregnancies that can physically harm the carrier. For many women, abortion is a protection and a necessity. Abortions have been performed underground since their birth. There are cases where women do not find safe ways to abort. Some women go as far as to, “...drink bleach...jab a coat hanger up into themselves...ask their boyfriends to beat them up” (Bruder), causing permanent damage to their bodies or even death; these deaths are preventable with access to proper healthcare. It is important to recognize that not all women are able to give birth and not all those who can give birth identify as women. Reproductive rights as a whole as well as abortion access, is not simply a women’s issue but a human rights issue.
The practice of abortion is not a new concept, even in our recent U.S. history the topic of abortion can be found. In early America the common law surrounding abortion was adapted from British law, “...allowing abortion prior to ‘quickening’ – an archaic term for fetal movement...around four months of pregnancy” (Planned Parenthood). Abortion was not made illegal nationwide until 1910 (Planned Parenthood); following this in the mid-nineteenth century the American Medical Association was formed and felt threatened by those able to perform abortions without a medical license, “establishing the American Medical Association (AMA) led a campaign to criminalize abortion,” (Greenhouse and Siegel). Women who can perform abortions without a medical license are commonly known as, in the world of the underground abortions, “community providers' ' (Bruder). Moving forward, around the 1972 presidential election, there is a clear switch between the political parties (Democrats and Republicans) and their opinions towards abortion. The summer before Roe, a research poll had been published and reported that, “sixty-four percent of Americans (and fifty-six percent of Catholics) agreed ‘with the statement that 'the decision to have an abortion should be made solely by a woman and her physician’- with ‘a greater proportion of Republicans (68 per cent) . . . than Democrats (59 per cent) holding the belief that abortion should be a decision between a woman and her physician’ (Greenhouse and Siegel). The republican party had realignments of this position as these issues became increasingly important with Catholics and Feminists, “...strategists for the Republican Party began to employ arguments [against] abortion in the campaign for the 1972 presidential election,” (Greenhouse and Siegel). Of course soon after the election was Roe who stood proud and strong for many years (I like to imagine Roe as a lovely, independent and very strong non-binary superhero), until the overturning in 2022 currently reshaping the United States in a plethora of facets; hence the importance of this topic.
In the respect of sharing first-hand experiences to hopefully destigmatize our word of the day, abortion, here is an account of my personal abortion experience.
In February of 2020, a month before the pandemic, I had an abortion. I would like to start off by saying explicitly that I was and am incredibly privileged (in a multitude of ways) in my abortion experience; many women do not have the resources I was able to obtain. I was 19 years old, two months away from 20 when I found out I was pregnant. Nothing particularly strange occurred. I just noticed my boobs looked way bigger than ever (like, wowza!); this prompted me to order two pregnancy tests. I ordered them with Amazon Prime and they arrived the next day. I was in no way equipt to be a mother; or to physically be pregnant. I will skip all of the dramatic details and move us right along to finding an abortion clinic. I am fortunate enough to live in Illinois and have access to multiple options of abortion clinics. In an article from The Atlantic, journalist and writer Jessica Bruder writes, “ Nearly 90 percent of U.S. counties lack a clinic that offers abortion”. Many women struggle to simply find and travel to a clinic; one needs resources, child-care, time off of work, if travel is required, especially to different states.
With the help of a friend I was able to schedule an appointment at a private clinic called CaraFem. It was a bit of a drive but I was terrified of seeing angry protestors at PlannedParenthood while making a very serious decision for myself, my health and my future. The anti-abortion protesting is so serious that there are special volunteers whose main job is to safely escort people into the PlannedParenthood for their appointments and do their best to distract the patient from the protestors signs, yelling, and more (Planned Parenthood). The clinic I had gone to looked just like any old doctors office; except almost everything was hot pink. I went into the exam room and the doctor did an internal ultrasound to confirm my pregnancy. She asked if I would like to see the ultrasound, I declined. After the exam I sat down with two people. One, a doctor and the other, a social worker. They explained my options in great detail, the first being the procedure and the second being the pill. I had never known of the pill, everything I had seen in the media showed the abortion as a procedure, done with a vacuum in a scary room. The pill was simple, you begin by taking the mifepristone then (you can choose when you take this next one within 72 hours) the next morning you insert the misoprostol either into your vagina and allow it to dissolve or in the sides of your mouth and let it dissolve, lay still for an hour and wait. This medication induces a miscarriage. The main abortion lasts roughly 12 hours with a climax around hour 6. You will experience cramping and bleeding. Then, after 48 hours you should not have “bad” symptoms and your abortion is over. That is it. A pill. I chose the pill.
My experience was almost exactly as what I described above; it was painful and I don't regret it for a second. I am very happy with how my abortion turned out and I am aware of how privileged I am to receive the care that I did. I was not ready to be a mother, I don’t know if I will ever be. I am living my life for myself as an individual, and I have to say it's not too shabby. In the chaos of the fight for reproductive rights I feel we often forget the reason, the individual; actual freedom; actual bodily autonomy. All humans deserve to experience their lives and achieve their dreams, whether that involves a family or not.
The leading cause of death in pregnant women is murder (Harvard). There is a real danger to women who are unable to access reproductive healthcare, such as abortions. Without public access to reproductive healthcare people have to look elsewhere for their reproductive care and the “Women who decide to have abortions tend to be disproportionately younger, lower income, unmarried and minority,” (Orrell). There is a network of various people, women and nonprofits who are creating spaces for reproductive care to happen safely, this is the underground abortion. These networks exist everywhere, in places one may never think, such as the hacker conference that had speaker (using the alias) Maggie Mayhem to demonstrate how to build and use a “Del-Em” which is an at-home abortion tool (Bruder). Nonprofits are forming across the nation to support access to reproductive care. The nonprofit, “Abortion Delivered,” for example, equips bulletproof vans with gynecological tools and is stationed outside of Texas, where abortion is illegal (Bruder). Others are trying to help around the world as well; There are conversations happening around the idea of suing the United States government for human rights violations; such as, “The right to nondiscrimination on the ground of sex is relevant to women’s human rights as related to abortion access,” (Berer). Other freedoms or rights in one or more of internationally ratified human rights covenants being broken are as follows:
● right to life
● right to health
● right to equality and nondiscrimination
● right to liberty and security of the person
● right to equality before the law
● right to benefit from scientific progress
● freedom from torture
● freedom from slavery
A supporter of this idea says “Human rights are rights we simply have because we exist as human beings,” (Berer). At the end of the day that is all that we are, human beings. When asked about the possibility of more and more states making abortion illegal, Angela, the head of Abortion Delivered says, “Well, we’re going to need more,” (Bruder). There will always be
support, there will always be freedom, there will always be autonomy; but we may need to look underground to find it.
Abortions will never go away; they will always continue. It is up to us and our lawmakers to allow these abortions to be safe and accessible. For now we will trust in those risking their lives to get women the care they need. For now we will tell our stories. For now we will say “Abortion”.
Sources
Bruder, Jessica. “The Future of Abortion in a Post-Roe America.” The Atlantic, 2 June 2022,
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/roe-v-wade-overturn-abortion-ri ghts/629366/.
CaraFem. “Abortion Pills Online & Abortion Clinics” CaraFem, carafem.org
Greenhouse, Linda, and Siegel, Reva B.. “Before (and After) Roe v. Wade: New Questions About Backlash.” The Yale Law Journal, vol. 120, no. 8, 2011, pp. 2028–87. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41149586.
Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health. “Homicide leading cause of death for pregnant women in U.S.” Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 21 Oct. 2022, https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/homicide-leading-cause-of- death-for-pregnant-women-in-u-s/
Lang, Charmaine. “Everyone Loves Someone Who Had an Abortion: The Ms. Q&A with Eveline Shen and Yamani Hernandez.” Ms. Magazine, 28 Jan. 2020, msmagazine.com/2020/01/27/everyone-loves-someone-who-had-an-abortion-the- ms-qa-with-eveline-shen-and-yamani-hernandez/.
Orrell, Brent. Life After Roe: Supporting Women and Families Facing Unexpected Pregnancies. American Enterprise Institute, 2022. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep42743.
Oyez. "Roe v. Wade." Oyez, www.oyez.org/cases/1971/70-18.
Parenthood, Planned. “Abortion in U.S. History.” Planned Parenthood Action Fund, www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/abortion-central-history-repro ductive-health-care-america.
