The US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Here's a map showing which states have banned abortions and which ones plan to do so soon
According to pop culture and entertainment expert Mike, stars we know and respect can have a major impact when it comes to sensitive, polarizing issues.
"I think it’s the sensitive issues like this that celebrities have the most impact on because it tells the public they are not alone in the feeling of despair they are having by a fundamental right being taken away," he told Bored Panda.
Realistically speaking, it's very unlikely that the Supreme Court or influential politicians will change their minds about Roe v. Wade. However, this doesn't mean that speaking up against the court's decision isn't important. Quite the opposite. This might galvanize Americans to head to the polls this Fall and vote in order to protect their rights and interests.
"The impact celebrities have will not be on the Supreme Court itself, and I don’t expect it to change the opinions of politicians either. What celebrities can do is drive people to the polls this November to actually change who the politicians are representing them," Mike said.
"Other rights granted by the Supreme Court are now in jeopardy, so it will be important to have political representatives in place that can turn those rights into laws," celebrity expert Mike pointed out why it's essential to vote.
Bored Panda also wanted to get Mike's take on how social media has reacted to Roe v. Wade being overturned. "I’m on Twitter a lot, and I’ve seen nothing but widespread condemnation of the Court’s opinion. Polling confirms what I’m seeing on Twitter. The vast majority of Americans support a woman’s right to choose."
Protests against the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade broke out over the weekend not just in the United States but also around the world. It’s not a surprise that many people are shocked at the court’s decision: it overturned a nearly-50-year-old precedent that had made abortion legal in the US.
Roe v. Wade refers to a case that started in 1969 when a 25-year-old woman, Norma McCorvey, using the pseudonym ‘Jane Roe’ challenged the criminal abortion laws in Texas, which, at the time, made abortions illegal except when the mother’s life was in danger. The district attorney for Dallas County, Henry Wade, defended the anti-abortion law.
In 1973, the woman’s appeal made it to the US Supreme Court and it was then decided that abortion laws ran counter to the constitution because they infringed on a woman’s right to privacy. In short, the court ruled that governments could not prohibit abortions and that the constitution protected women’s rights to terminate their pregnancy.
Fast forward to today and it becomes clear why so many Americans are up in arms against the overturning of this decision. Something that was a constitutionally-protected right has now become vulnerable to decisions made at the state level. Some feel as though half a century’s progress has become undone.
And some states are already taking steps to ban abortions there. Around half of the states are likely to introduce new restrictions or bans. Meanwhile, 13 states have already passed laws that trigger automatically to outlaw the termination of pregnancies after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
What this means in practice is that many women in the US will have to travel out-of-state for abortions or might be forced to resort to medically unsafe procedures. The cost of travel alone means that there’s a greater financial burden placed on them.
The Guttmacher Institute states that around 40 million women who can have children live in states where abortion rights will be restricted. The Institute’s research shows that around 860,000 abortions were performed in the US in 2019, while the Center for Disease Control (aka the CDC) puts the number at a slightly lower 630,000.
According to the CDC, nearly 93% of abortions are performed during the first trimester and most women who get them are unmarried. Most women who terminate unwanted pregnancies in the US are in their 20s while 1 in 10 are teenagers.
