How abortion bans could be enforced if Roe v. Wade is reversed
If the
Supreme Court issues a ruling that would allow states to
ban abortion, as is expected in the coming days, such a decision would raise
new questions about how authorities would enforce such bans and whether the anti-abortion movement would stick to its public emphasis on protecting
abortion-seekers themselves from prosecution.
What has been the
pattern abroad in countries that ban abortion, along with
United States' own experience before
Roe, previews a complicated and unequal enforcement landscape.
For years as they fought to overturn
Roe v. Wade, leaders of the
anti-abortion movement have stressed that prosecutions should be
focused on abortion providers and others who facilitate the procedure, rather than the person seeking it. But the movement's critics point to examples of when the
criminal justice system has already - with
Roe still on the books - been turned on women whose pregnancies have been purposely.
