How Roe became irrelevant

Dahlia Lithwick

Slate.com

“Roe v. Wade is no longer the law of the land,” said Dahlia Lithwick. The landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling, which forbids states to outlaw abortions, has not been overturned and probably never will be. But it’s gradually being worn away by a host of “invasive, paternalistic, and degrading” state regulations that will soon make it “all but impossible” to terminate a pregnancy in many states. Already this year, seven states have enacted laws to regulate abortion by, for example, extending waiting periods or forcing women to “listen to a detailed verbal description” of their fetus. More than 900 other restrictions have been introduced in 49 states.

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The majority of these restrictions contravene Roe, but pro-choice activists won’t legally challenge these “clearly unconstitutional laws,” for fear the conservative-leaning Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade altogether. The court’s conservative wing, meanwhile, is perfectly content to see Roe killed by a thousand cuts, because if it issued a ruling making all abortions illegal again, Republicans would suffer a huge political backlash. The result: A country where abortion is technically legal, but is almost entirely unavailable to poor women who live in conservative states.