Supreme Court overthrow of Roe v. Wade changes future parenthood

This opinion column was submitted by Amber Falgout, Northern Nevada manager for Battle Born Progress.

Motherhood can be as challenging as it is rewarding — but the right support systems can help us make things easier and give mothers and their families healthier, happier lives. Much more than flowers or greeting cards, our country’s mothers deserve to have resources, rights and opportunities they need to stay healthy, take care of their families and ensure they can make decisions about their own destinies whether that’s what ZIP code to live in or when to expand their families.

The recent leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision rolls back Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutional right to abortion which has for 50 years enabled people to decide for themselves if and when to become mothers. It’s hard to overstate the tremendous impact that overturning Roe will have on millions of people, most of whom will be mothers. Of the one in four women today will have at least one abortion before age 45, two-thirds are already moms.

At 19 I became a mother. I knew that the road ahead would be challenging due to my age. Through sacrifice and determination I pushed myself through college as a single mother. Then at the age of 28, I was in an abusive relationship and found out I was pregnant. I was terrified at the thought of bringing another child into the world who would be raised by an unstable father figure. My decision to terminate the pregnancy was the best decision I could have made for my existing family. Now more than five years later I am lucky enough to be married to my best friend and we welcomed a beautiful baby boy into our family in November 2020. Had I not been able to have an abortion previously, I cannot imagine that I would have the son I have today.

I am grateful for my ability to choose what was right for me and my family. As mothers we take on caring for people regularly without a lot of thought into taking care of ourselves. Making the choice to have a child — let alone an additional child — has lifelong consequences. These consequences can be beautiful and disastrous. This is why every person should be able to choose when they have a child and with whom they have a child.

It seems obvious that a person who has already borne a child and faced the prospect of parenting would be well-qualified to make the decision about whether they want to do it again. But anti-abortion extremists on the Supreme Court disagree, ursurping that decision from individuals by taking away the legal protection for abortion and all but ending access to the procedure in countless states that will immediately outlaw it.

For years, anti-abortion extremists have tried to control people’s decisions by putting abortion further and further out of reach with restrictions, defunding, bureaucracy and straight-out intimidation outside of clinics where they bully and try to coerce people to forgo care. Now, the Supreme Court is doing the same by overturning Roe. Their decision will make abortion illegal — even a crime — in many jurisdictions, force the remaining clinics to close in the poorest and most rural communities where access is already limited and deny pregnant people basic rights over their reproductive health decisions.

Denying people access to abortion, delaying the procedure, and implementing measures that turn abortion into a crime hurt women and their families. They result in worse health and economic outcomes not only for the individual who is denied the health care they need, but for their children and household.

Just like any other health care decision, abortion is an intensely personal one. And just like other health care, the Supreme Court should be upholding legal protections that facilitate access not taking them away or substituting their personal views for established legal precedent that has ensured civil rights for pregnant people for nearly 50 years.

This Mother’s Day, as we reflect on the impact mothers have on our lives and in our communities, many mothers are facing a less certain future since their very ability to determine the future is under attack in the Supreme Court. A future in which women are allowed to become mothers, but not given the freedom to opt out of motherhood, delay becoming a mother or even decide how many children they may have does not honor motherhood and doesn’t help families.

And, despite the old saying that “mom knows best,” the extremists on the Supreme Court have determined that they, not pregnant people, are best-qualified to decide key motherhood questions in the future. That makes the best Mother’s Day gift this year a commitment from lawmakers at every level to restore abortion rights and expand access in response to their decision.

Amber Falgout is the Northern Nevada manager for Battle Born Progress.

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