Two years on: the global impact of overturning Roe v Wade

In June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, removing the right to abortion. A right to healthcare that women in America believed they could rely on was suddenly stripped away from them.

What is the impact of this decision two years on?

In America, abortion is now banned in 14 states. Anti-rights groups are expanding their attempts to restrict sexual and reproductive rights. From attempting to prevent the use of abortion medication (mifepristone) to removing life-saving care for women in emergency situations, the situation is terrifying.

And it's not just the US experiencing these impacts. Women and girls around the world are suffering at the hands of an emboldened global anti-rights movement. The US Supreme Court decision has provided legitimacy to their ideas — and they're doubling down to erode reproductive freedom.

In the UK...

In the UK, anti-rights protestors are increasingly harassing women outside MSI clinics. Team members have been called “murderers” as they come into work. People have been handed plastic foetuses as they enter. And protestors have been known to physically block people’s entrance to abortion clinics.

These groups are also spending huge amounts of money to restrict abortion laws in the UK. The UK branch of 'Alliance Defending Freedom', a US right-wing Christian lobby group which wants to ban abortion, has more than doubled its spending since 2020. This year, they reportedly spent almost £1 million with the aim of influencing UK MPs ahead of a historic vote on abortion law reform.

Anti-rights groups have been fighting to decrease the legal time limit for abortion and ban the provision of abortion pills via telephone consultation. Before the election was called, MPs had tabled amendments on these issues and they had been moved to a vote — the law could have been changed with barely any public scrutiny.  

Across the African continent... 

In countries in Africa too, anti-rights groups have become more organised, sophisticated and well-funded by their US counterparts in the last two years. 

Ethiopia has one of the most liberal abortion laws in Africa, which means it's one of the countries with the most to lose. Since the overturning of Roe v Wade, the protections to abortion access are now hanging in the balance. Family Watch International, an anti-rights lobbying group based in the US with an office in Ethiopia, has used national media channels to call on the government publicly to follow in US footsteps to restrict the country’s abortion laws.

In Kenya, anti-abortion groups highlighted the overturning of Roe v Wade as a reason to appeal a 2022 constitutional court decision expanding abortion access.

And in Lagos state, Nigeria, the policy guidelines on abortion care for life-threatening health conditions were suspended, less than a month after Roe v Wade was overturned.

These groups are also tapping into the stigma surrounding abortion, and at MSI, we've seen the impact of this first-hand.

US anti-rights group '40 Days for Life' has publicly listed our clinics in the Democratic Republic of Congo as targets for their harassment of women attending them. And in Kenya, we frequently encounter mystery clients who attempt to deceive our providers into offering care against guidelines so that they can report them to the police.  

Once these groups have created shame around accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare and it has infiltrated communities, it is difficult to undo. 

A momentous year ahead...

With US elections coming up in November, we are facing a perfect storm for a resurgence of restrictive abortion laws. If Trump is re-elected, this will not only have a detrimental effect on the rights of women in the US but the rights of women all around the world.

We must learn from the overturning of Roe v Wade. Reproductive rights take years of work to achieve but they can be lost overnight. 

We can never be complacent. Abortion is essential healthcare, and everyone should have access to the sexual and reproductive healthcare that they choose, wherever they are in the world. 

At MSI, we choose choice. And we will never stop.