Judge Amy Coney Barrett might make it near impossible for Wisconsin residents to have access to abortions should she be sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice following the confirmation hearings in Washington this week.
Restrictions on abortions in Wisconsin have lead to a decrease in a abortions over the last five years according to Mike Murray, the Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin executive director, and he is calling on Wisconsin residents to take action towards the Supreme Court appointment.
“We are calling on supporters and members of the community to call on their senators to ask them to not support moving forward with the inauguration process until after inauguration day,” said Murray.
Trump said he wanted to appoint a judge that would overturn Roe v. Wade and stated he would put a pro-life justice on the Supreme Court. Judge Barrett has not made claims that she would overturn Roe v. Wade, which would allow for legislation to be passed making abortions illegal. She did state in a lecture at Hesburgh in 2016 that the number of restrictions on abortions could be increased further limiting those who have access to choose what to do with their health.
“I think the question is how much freedom the court is willing to let states in regulating abortion,” said Barrett. “If people can get very late term abortions, how many restrictions can be put on clinics, I think that would change.”
The ability to receive a late term abortion is already highly regulated and for many is not an option. Currently, there is a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. This rules out late-term abortions with few exceptions. To preform this type of abortion the physicians must prove there is a severe and immediate danger to the life of the mother.
A study done by Diana Foster and Katrina Kimport in 2013 concluded, “Later abortion recipients experienced logistical delays, difficulty finding a provider and raising funds for the procedure and travel costs, which compounded other delays in receiving care.”
Currently there are four abortion clinics in Wisconsin. There is one in Madison, one in Sheboygan, and two in Milwaukee. Wisconsin has a 24-hour waiting period before patients can receive an abortion, which provides roadblocks for many people to receive care. Those of lower income, in rural areas or who are a large distance from those four clinics might need to take at least two days off, find at least two days of childcare if they already have children, and overcome the financial barriers of paying for food and lodging on top of the cost of the abortion itself.
Murray spoke on the 24-hour restrictions in Wisconsin and residents’ access to abortion.
“That’s just one small example of the attempts made to restrict access to care,” said Murray. “That is not a right everyone has been able to experience equally and that is disproportionally true for communities of color, lower income individuals and people living in rural areas.”
Should Roe v. Wade be overturned, a Wisconsin abortion ban would become enforceable. Some pro-life arguments influenced and come from legislature like this. Notably the argument that life begins at the point of contraception and is used as an argument to classify abortion as murder.
“‘Unborn child’ means a human being from the time of conception until it is born alive,” according to the overturned law.
95% of 5,502 biologists from 1,058 academic institutions surveyed in a study by Steven Jacobs at the University of Chicago believe life begins at conception. It is under this president that pro-life supporters derive their argument that abortions are murder.
Jim Donahoo, a lawyer and pro-lifer was outside the Affiliated Medical Services, doing what he calls, “sidewalk counseling.” This included pushing pamphlets at the people walking into the facility whether they are getting an abortion or not.
He admitted there are times when the pro-life protestors begin yelling at people walking into the facility. “You are murdering your baby, you are murdering your baby,” one protestor shouted.
He stated it was not their primary approach, but he agreed with these methods to approach people looking for abortion services.
The counter argument by pro-choice advocates is regardless of when life begins, the quality of life for both the mother and the child may be severely diminished if they go through with the pregnancy. Generational poverty is an example of a circumstances that prevent financial success due to the prevention of an abortion. There is a substantial amount of evidence women who are not afforded abortions are at a greater risk of being in poverty. A government study concluded, “Women denied an abortion were more likely than were women who received an abortion to experience economic hardship and insecurity lasting years.”
Sen. LaTonya Johnson is an example of this problem.
“Coming from four generations of teenage mothers, I made my first visit at the age of fourteen,” said Sen. Johnson in a video-interview with planned parenthood, “My grandmother always wanted to grow up and be a nurse, but because she married early, she became a teenage mother herself.”
Sen. Johnson goes on to attribute the ability to decide when to start her family to the ability to turn to Planned Parenthood. She stated that she was the first in her family to graduate college, own a business, and serve as a Wisconsin Senator. She also attributed the better quality of life for her daughter to her ability to decide when to have children.
While Sen. Johnson was able to get help from Planned Parenthood, many are not given the option in the first place. Murray believes that currently, abortions are a hollow promise to many people because of all the restrictions in place.
Murray said, “Even though Roe vs Wade is still the law of the land and a right on the books, to a lot of people in Wisconsin it is a right in name only.”