Anti-Abortion Ruling Reverberates Through Campus – Dartmouth News

The Supreme Courts decision to strike down a constitutional right to abortion that has been in place for 49 years reverberated through campus on Friday, prompting more than 150 students, faculty, and community members to rally on the Green.

The crowd chanted, cheered the students, state lawmakers, and others who spoke in support of reproductive freedom, and waved as drivers honked their horns in response to signs that bore such messages as Bans Off Our Bodies and Real Men Trust Women.

Carolina Brown-Vasquez 24, of Alexandria, Va., rolled up on her bicycle to listen to the speakers.

When shed heard the courts decision that morning, a wave of sadness had come crashing over her, the psychology and anthropology student said. Its really scary and sad to see the U.S. take steps backwards.

Nearby, Griffin Thomas 24, a theater and history major from San Mateo, Calif., also stood in the early evening sun, listening to the short, impassioned talks.He owed it to his female friends to be out here and to make sure they stay safe in whatever they choose to do, Thomas said. I hope that we can get Roe v. Wade back.

In its ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, the court upheld the Mississippi law that would ban nearly all abortions after 15 weeks. The decision effectively overruled Roe v. Wade and places abortion law in the hands of state legislatures.

Nearly half of the states are poised to ban or restrict abortion. Some 16 states and Washington, D.C., currently have laws protecting access to abortion.

Dartmouthreleased a statementFriday afternoon on the decision.

Dartmouthscommitment to reproductive health care, autonomy, and well-being for every member of our community is unwavering. Dartmouth is fortunate to have a medical school that is deeply committed to reproductive rights for all, including childbearing decisions, maternal health, and their effect on families through its research and education missions. As a medical school focused on training supportive health care professionals, the Geisel School of Medicine will continue promoting better health outcomes and access for women and people from all gender identities, the statement said.

Across the institution, Dartmouth will continue to offer insurance coverage to our students and to our employees and their families through a national medical network in support of reproductive health and in compliance with federal and state law. Such care includes pregnancy termination, infertility services, counseling, and family planning.

Some faculty and other community members also shared their thoughts about the implications of the ruling with Dartmouth News:

Planned Parenthood Generation Action Co-President Eliza Holmes 24 speaks at the rally on Friday. (Photo by Erin Supinka)

Eliza Holmes 24Co-President, Planned Parenthood Generation Action

Today, I am in mourning. I grieve with those who fought so hard for Roe to be law of the land, now living to see it fall not even 50 years later. I grieve with those who will now be affected by this decision, those who will be forced to travel outside of their state lines in order to receive abortion care. I grieve with people who cannot afford to take time off work and pay unnecessary travel expenses in order to receive abortion care. I grieve with Black and Indigenous people and people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and disabled people, who already experience racism and discrimination when it comes to reproductive care, and who will now face greater abortion restrictions in their communities with this decision. We are all in mourning today over what has been lost, but we are also angryat the Supreme Court, at legislators who want to take away our right to choose. We are angry at politicians who want to control our futures and make decisions about our bodies without our consent.

(Courtesy of Randall Balmer)

Randall BalmerJohn Phillips Professor in Religion

On the face of it, the Supreme Courts Dobbs decision is cause for great celebration for the religious right, and I have no doubt they will treat it as such. This moment, according to their own narrative, represents the culmination of a half-centurys efforts to overturn a grave wrong.

Well, not exactly. Evangelicals came late to the antiabortion cause; they considered it a Catholic issue throughout the 1970s. The religious right mobilized as a political movement in the late 1970s to defend racial segregation in their institutions, including Bob Jones University and various church-sponsored segregation academies. Abortion was cobbled into the religious rights agenda much later, just in time for the 1980 presidential election.

As a historian, I cant help wondering if the Dobbs decision doesnt have a parallel in the 18th Amendment, the Prohibition amendment. Evangelicals of an earlier age celebrated ratification of the amendment, but it turned out to be a pyrrhic victory. Prohibition became unenforceable, and it led to rampant lawlessness.

The lesson? Ive long believed that abortion should be treated as a moral issue, not a legal matter. (The only thing both sides of the abortion debate agree on is that making abortion illegal will not materially affect the incidence of abortion.) If the anti-abortion people truly care about limiting abortion, they would do well to focus on changing the moral conversation around the issueas well as advocating sex education and making contraception more available.

(Courtesy Esther Rosario)

Esther M. RosarioLecturer, Department of Philosophy

Roe v. Wades overturn is shattering but not surprising. Anti-abortionists have been working toward overturning Roe for over a decade. Texans have been suffering the life-threatening and life-diminishing consequences of anti-abortion legislation for just as long, and now approximately 36 million people who can become pregnant will suffer those same consequences.

What I find particularly egregious about the decision is Justice Samuel Alitos invocation of previous comments from Justice Clarence Thomas, which allege that access to abortion is eugenic. Footnote 41 of the opinion states, Other amicus briefs present arguments about the motives of proponents of liberal access to abortion. They note that some such supporters have been motivated by a desire to suppress the size of the African American population

What is egregious about this part of the decision is that its not only a red herring but boldly mischaracterizes eugenics in the U.S. context. According to Thomas, having access to abortion harms Black women, but this couldnt be further from the truth.

In fact, not providing Black cis women with reproductive choices and access to reproductive healthcare is a form of negative eugenics. Just as state-mandated sterilization denies Black cis women a reproductive choice, so does lack of abortion access. Black cis women have the highest maternal mortality rate in the U.S., and this decision is likely to compound maternal and infant mortality rates. Removing abortion as a health care option will only further foreclose the lives of Black cis women and the futures of all people who can become pregnant.

Planned Parenthood Generation Action Co-President Advaita Chaudhari 24 speaks at the rally on Friday. (Photo by Corinne Arndt Girouard)

Meanwhile, Dartmouth Health, whose president and CEO is Joanne Conroy 77, also said access to abortion is critical.

Dartmouth Health is unwavering in its belief in the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship to make the best-informed decisions for patients to reflect their needs and healthcare priorities, the health care system said in a statement.

We also strongly believe that abortion is an essential component of health care. Like all medical matters, decisions regarding abortion should be made by patients in consultation with their health care providers. Abortion remains legal and accessible in New Hampshire and Vermont, and Dartmouth Health will continue to provide this care as part of our commitment to our patients.

And the Dartmouth College Health Service reiterated on Friday that it is committed to the sexual and reproductive health of Dartmouth students.

See original here:

Anti-Abortion Ruling Reverberates Through Campus - Dartmouth News