American women stripped of rights to medical care are forced to have unwanted children

WASHINGTON — Millions of American women have lost a fundamental measure of control over their reproductive lives as abortion bans across much of the United States transform a common medical procedure into a legal, financial and logistical ordeal.

The restrictions have created a divided nation in which a woman’s ability to obtain an abortion depends increasingly on where she lives, how much money she has and whether she can afford to travel to another state.

For women living in states with near-total bans, obtaining an abortion can mean taking unpaid leave, arranging child care, finding transportation, paying for lodging and locating a medical provider willing and legally able to treat them.

For patients experiencing pregnancy complications, the consequences can be even more serious. Physicians and hospitals must navigate laws that may impose severe penalties for performing abortions outside narrowly defined exceptions, raising concerns about delays in medically necessary care.

The restrictions followed the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the constitutional abortion protections established by Roe v. Wade in 1973.

The ruling ended nearly half a century of federal constitutional protection for abortion before fetal viability and returned broad authority over abortion regulation to individual states.

Although abortion remains legal in many states, the decision has produced stark differences in access to reproductive health care, particularly for low-income women, rural residents and people facing medical emergencies.