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The following podcast offers an in-depth insight into the topic of abortion and women’s reproductive rights in the United States, looking at the long history and development of the topic, specifically surrounding its legal status and social stigmas. It also explores the specific history and laws surrounding abortion access in Wisconsin, tieing in opinions from Jordan Mathias, a local UW-Madison student activist.
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The following podcast offers an in-depth insight into the topic of abortion and women’s reproductive rights in the United States, looking at the long history and development of the topic, specifically surrounding its legal status and social stigmas. It also explores the specific history and laws surrounding abortion access in Wisconsin, tieing in opinions from Jordan Mathias, a local UW-Madison student activist.
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Abortion rights and access in the United States have been a controversial and politically charged topic. Democrats generally support pro-choice while Republicans favor pro-life. Abortion laws have evolved over time, with access becoming more restricted. In the past, abortion was generally accessible and accepted until the mid-1800s. The American Medical Association played a role in regulating abortion and taking authority away from midwives. By 1910, abortion was completely banned nationwide, leading to illegal and unsafe procedures. However, there were advancements in birth control and women's reproductive rights, such as the establishment of Planned Parenthood and the landmark case of Roe v. Wade in 1973, which made abortion legal and more accessible. Despite this, discriminatory policies still made it difficult for some women to access abortion. In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to determine abortion laws. As a result, many states have implement I'm trying not to think of names, will you look at me sometimes, will you know the reason why, is it because of this love? Abortion is as old as antiquity. As long as people have been having sex, there have been women having abortions. Hi, I'm Antonia Nowitzki, a sophomore at UW-Madison, and in today's podcast, we'll be discussing the relatively newly debated issue of women's abortion rights and access in the United States, as well as looking at the history and development of women's reproductive rights on a national, state, and local level. Abortion in the United States has been one of the most controversial and politically charged topics of the 21st century, with a very clear divide on the political spectrum, typically with Democrats favoring the pro-choice side and Republicans favoring the pro-life side. This social issue brings into play legal aspects, like landmark cases that establish precedent for abortion laws to come, and legal punishments for receiving or performing abortion. Abortion is also rooted in the moral, ethical, or religious beliefs of the larger society, and overall a debate over bodily autonomy and a woman's right to choose. For our purposes, we're referring to abortion as induced abortion, which ends pregnancy with medication or medical procedures. For a bit of context, it's important to note that about one in four women in the U.S. will have an abortion by age 45, and worldwide, 42 million with unintended pregnancies choose abortion. Abortions can happen in a doctor's office, an abortion clinic, a hospital, or at home through medication or abortion pills. Public opinion about abortion has varied a lot over time, but in 2022, 61% of American adults agree that abortion should be legal, and 47% believe it should be illegal in all or most cases. Numbers for support go up in certain groups when views are separated by political party, gender, and religion. Majority of Democrats, women, and religiously disaffiliated adults share the majority pro-choice opinion. So now that we have a little bit of context on the background of women's reproductive rights, what abortion actually means, and public opinion, it's time we look at how the complexity of this issue has grown and changed over time. Abortion wasn't always the polarizing, taboo topic we know it as today. In fact, from colonial days until about the mid-1800s, abortion access was actually generally accessible and accepted. Although heavily unregulated, midwives, nurses, and overall unlicensed women in healthcare provided abortions, mainly through herbs and medication, because surgical procedures were rare in those days. The generally accepted common law was that abortion was allowed before the quickening stage, meaning before you could feel fetal movement, which typically happens around four months into pregnancy. So, if all this was open and allowed and accepted, when, why, and how did abortion become so regulated through law and the government? Well, in 1821, the first U.S. law to ban medicinal abortion was established for after the quickening stage. Providers could be punishable by death. In 1824, though, a larger agency was established, which is unfortunately the start of an institutionalization of regulating women's bodies. A group of doctors banded together to start the American Medical Association, or the AMA. This group mainly consisted of white male doctors lacking expertise in pregnancy and reproductive health who believed they should be able to decide when abortion could be legally performed. These doctors were seeking to drive out traditional healers, or in their words, quacks, and ultimately take authority away from midwives at the time and still today a female-dominated field. The laws and controversies that followed started what is known as a century of criminalization, restricting abortion access more and more. Even in 1873, through the Comstock Act, it became a federal crime to sell or distribute contraception through the mail or across state lines. This now made birth control harder to come by. By 1880, every state had laws banning abortion except for, quote, therapeutic reasons. This vague wording often left the meaning up for interpretation by the medical practice. In practice, this usually meant that wealthier women with better access to doctors had abortions while other women bled. This unjust privilege of wealthy women to have abortion access while poorer women suffered is unfortunately still a very prominent factor today. By 1910, abortion was completely banned nationwide. As an inevitable result, illegal and unsafe abortions were now on the rise. By 1930, abortion was listed as the official cause of death for almost 2,700 women, nearly one-fifth or 18% of maternal deaths recorded in that year. The ban on abortions was literally killing women. Moving into the 20th century, a light in the midst of darkness appeared for abortion access. In 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the U.S., leading to the eventual establishment of Planned Parenthood. In the 1950s, Planned Parenthood even held a conference for a public call of abortion care reform. 1960 rolled around and brought the introduction and FDA approval of, quote, the pill, making it the first oral contraceptive. A few years later, an IUD gets approval as well, making birth control more accessible. In 1966, a hugely important case happened, the San Francisco Nine. Nine California doctors are sued for performing abortions on women exposed to rubella, which was known to cause birth defects and miscarriages. This led to doctors nationwide to rally in favor of these Nine, leading to one of the first abortion reform measures. California allowed hospital committees to approve requests for abortion. Finally, in 1973, the landmark case of Roe v. Wade is established, protecting women's rights to abortions under the Constitution. This case set a hugely important precedent for legal cases involving abortion in the years to come. Most importantly, it made abortion legal, more accessible, and more safe in all 50 states. This was a huge step forward for reproductive rights in our country. Despite this win, discriminatory policies still made it difficult to get an abortion. For example, the Hyde Amendment in 1976 barred federal Medicaid dollars from being used to get an abortion. And in the 1980s, the Reagan administration instituted a global gag rule barring nongovernmental organizations who received federal funding from performing abortions. Now that you're all caught up on the significant developments about abortion in the past 200 years, let's take a look at where we are today. As I'm sure many of you know, in June of 2022, the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, ruling that there is no constitutional right to abortion and allowing abortion laws to be left up to the states. This marks the first time in history that the Supreme Court has taken away a fundamental right. This ruling was an absolutely devastating blow to women nationwide and the reproductive justice movement in general. As of October 2022, there were 15 states with either total or six-week bans on abortion, and just 100 days after the June 24th Dobbs v. Jackson decision, 66 clinics across 15 states have been forced to stop offering abortions. Almost one-third of the total U.S. population of women of reproductive age are living in states where abortion is either unavailable or severely restricted. Abortion is important to me because I'm a woman. Pretty much every friend that I have, which was a friend of 12 girls, were all just pissed when that happened. I think everyone at our school is pissed. It's hard not to be mad about this kind of thing, because it's something that's directly affecting you. That quote comes from Jordan Mathias, another UW Medicine sophomore. Jordan is a political science major and is someone who has been involved with social change and social activism her whole life, whether at home or now here on campus. I interviewed Jordan about various ways she's aimed to promote social change, as well as to get her thoughts on the overturning of Roe v. Wade abortion access between Minnesota, her hometown, and Wisconsin. Jordan explains that her upbringing actually deterred her from ever being an advocate for women's reproductive rights or the pro-choice mindset in general. I grew up in a Catholic and conservative household. My dad was in the military, so I grew up arguing a lot, like a lot. At first, abortion was the only thing I didn't argue with my parents about, because to them and their brains, you're killing a life, and obviously that would be a taboo topic. So it's just something that I initially tried to stay away from to be more, quote, respectful, because it's a hard topic to be respectful about. It's affecting people's lives constantly. As Jordan became older and received an education, her viewpoint drastically turned in high school, where she was first introduced to other girls being pro-choice. She notes the backlash she received from her male classmates, getting called a Nazi, among other things. She went on to start a women's relief club at her school, offering resources and support for new mothers, as well as education about abortion and contraception for girls in her community. So, why does all of this matter to me? Why do I care about this exhaustingly long fight over women's bodies? Well, for starters, I identify as a woman, and it breaks my heart to think that me or any of the other amazing women in my life are restricted from making life-changing decisions about our own bodies. Having the government dictate whether or not I have to give birth is something that's never sat right with me. Specifically, however, I was a freshman in college last year when I physically saw the outrage over the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I was sitting in my dorm when two people knocked. They told me about the importance of the upcoming Wisconsin midterm elections and how my vote could be the deciding vote for issues like abortion in Wisconsin. Seeing as I'll spend at least four years of my life here, I knew this vote actually did have to do with me. Wisconsin has an archaic 1849 abortion law that states that any person, other than the mother, who intentionally destroys the life of an unborn child is guilty of a Class H felony, which is punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin suspended abortion care in 2022 after the Dobbs v. Jackson case due to the uncertainty around the enforceability of the law. Democratic Attorney General Josh Powell challenged the ban by bringing a lawsuit to the Dane County Circuit Court in June of 2022. Judge Dan Schlipper ruled that the 1849 law only applies to feticide or the act of, for instance, of killing a fetus, usually by assaulting or battering, rather than an intentional medical abortion. As a result, Planned Parenthood resumed providing abortion care as of September of 2023. Prior to Dobbs v. Jackson, however, Wisconsin abortion access had been dwindling for years. Only three surgical abortion clinics were left in the entire state, one in Madison and two in Milwaukee, with an additional clinic in Sheboygan providing medication abortion only. All of these clinics are located in the southern half of the state, leaving people living up north, especially in the northeastern quadrant of the state, in an especially difficult spot. It's the state's requirement that anyone seeking an abortion must first have a consultative appointment at the abortion clinic at least 24 hours before receiving the abortion, plus a state ban on all abortions past 20 weeks. Wisconsin's Medicaid program did not cover abortion care except in cases of rape, which the victim was required to report to law enforcement. For many in Wisconsin, it didn't take a Supreme Court decision to put abortion firmly out of reach. In April of 2023, the Wisconsin Supreme Court election was held to determine a new justice for a 10-year term. On UW-Madison's campus, there was a massive push for student and young voters to register and vote if candidate Janet Pertesowicz would flip control of the court to Democrats for the first time in 15 years, if elected. A community group that had a big part in all of this was the Madison Abortion and Reproductive Rights Coalition for Health Care, or MARCH. A Bigger Than Roe protest was organized in January of 2022 and held on what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. MARCH organized this in order to rally and raise awareness for the significance of the election turnout. Thousands of people turned up and marched to the Capitol. This was an extremely courageous move on MARCH's part, as the National Women's March Organization declined to sponsor the rally when MARCH chose not to apply for a permit. They've been described as a scrappy new group that formed over the last six months and already has multiple campus-based chapters in the city that was the primary organizing force behind it. In the end, all the efforts were successful and a record voter turnout was recorded that led to the victory of Pertesowicz. Jordan was actually involved with protests similar to this one, even interviewing Wisconsin's Secretary of State and hearing personal stories of those most affected by abortion bans. Marches and rallies can be crucial parts of social movements to inspire change. Currently, across the nation, there are huge variations among states for varying rights and accessibility to abortions and no overarching federal law to protect it. A measure of this variability is the Reproductive Rights Composite Index, which includes nine component indicators of women's reproductive rights, ranking states from best to worst. The indicators include the following. Mandatory parental consent or notification laws for minors receiving abortions, waiting periods for abortions, restrictions on public funding for abortions, the percent of women living in counties with at least one abortion provider, pro-choice governors or legislators, Medicaid expansion or state Medicaid family planning eligibility expansions, coverage of infertility treatments, same-sex marriage or second-parent adoption for individuals in a same-sex relationship, and mandatory sex education. The top five ranking states are Oregon, Vermont, Maryland, New Jersey, and Hawaii, with the bottom ranking states being South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Idaho, and Tennessee. Currently, 21 states ban abortion or restrict the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standards set by Roe v. Wade. On a global scale, as mentioned earlier, about 42 million women with unintended pregnancies choose abortion, and nearly half of these procedures, 20 million, are unsafe. Some 68,000 women die of unsafe abortions annually, making it one of the leading causes of maternal mortality at 13%. Within both a national and global context, data proves again and again that heavily restricting or banning abortion leads to an increase of unsafe, illegal abortions and ultimately a higher rate of mortality rates for women. It's unacceptable to expect women to either have to travel hundreds of miles or pay a significant amount to have access to something that should be a constitutional right. Ultimately, abortion access and women's reproductive health have gone through dramatic shifts over the past two centuries and have become a criminalized, politicized issue. This essential health care for women varies so much throughout the country that access is widely dispersed, favoring women, wealthy women, in democratic states for easier access. The overarching issue encompasses legal rights, personal beliefs, gender equality, and bodily autonomy. At its center, abortion is necessary health care for women and should be a human constitutional right. Whether in Wisconsin, the United States, or worldwide, women's lives are being put at risk through unsafe procedures. Groups like MARCH and individuals like Jordan Mathias are among many trying to make tangible, permanent change within this sphere. Thank you.
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