Roe vs. Wade: Landmark Supreme Court abortion ruling divides America

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Republicans of seeking to “punish and control women” by implementing state abortion bans after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

At least 13 states are poised to implement abortion bans in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision. Those states would make performing an abortion a felony that would carry years-long jail sentences.

“What is happening here?” Pelosi asked in a press conference Friday. “A woman’s fundamental health decisions are her own to make in in consultation with her doctor, her faith, her family — not some right-wing politicians that Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell packed the court with.”

Pelosi condemned the Supreme Court’s ruling as cruel, outrageous and heart wrenching. She vowed Democrats will make abortion rights a central issue ahead of the midterm elections in November.

“While Republicans seek to punish and control women, Democrats will keep fighting ferociously to enshrine Roe v. Wade as the law of the land,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi accused the GOP plotting to implement a nationwide abortion ban that would not only arrest doctors for offering reproductive care, but also women who want to end their pregnancy.

The legislation in states poised to ban the procedure do not allow women to be prosecuted for receiving an abortion. However, there have already been instances in which women have been reported to authorities.

In April, a women in South Texas charged with murder after allegedly having a self-induced abortion, although state law exempts women from prosecution for having abortions. The district attorney ultimately dismissed the indictment, saying it is clear that she “cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her.”

— Spencer Kimball

The Supreme Court’s decision could have a big impact on tech companies that store troves of user data that prosecutors could use to charge women and service providers for violating state bans on abortions.

Prosecutors have already pointed to digital searches and messages in at least two high-profile cases against women accused of harming their babies after they said they had a miscarriage or stillbirth.

Experts in digital privacy and legal advocates defending people who have lost a baby or had an abortion say tech companies can and should take more steps to protect user data in light of the increasing restrictions on abortion access. That could include minimizing the amount of data the platforms collect on users, limiting how long they keep that information or at the very least, informing consumers when they are required to hand over the user’s data to law enforcement, assuming the platform isn’t barred from doing so.

In the meantime, digital privacy experts say there are steps consumers can take themselves to limit data exposure while researching reproductive healthcare. That includes using privacy-focused search engines, a virtual private network and communicating with friends and family over encrypted messaging apps.

— Lauren Feiner

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade a “historic victory for the Constitution.”

“The Justices applied the Constitution. They carefully weighed the complex factors regarding precedent. The Court overturned mistaken rulings that even liberals have long admitted were incoherent, restoring the separation of powers,” McConnell wrote in a statement.

The Kentucky senator commended the Supreme Court for “impartiality in the face of attempted intimidation.”

 — Amanda Macias

The ruling provoked an immediate response from Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson, who said the ruling gives politicians the ability to control women’s bodies, “deciding that we can no longer be trusted to determine the course for our own lives.”

The group, which has long fought to uphold abortion rights, will continue to demand and fight for the right of women to be treated like equal citizens, she said.

— Dawn Kopecki