This is a pretty grim story, but it’s just another example of how SCOTUS’ decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is impacting women all across the country — including young girls.
via People:
Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Indianapolis, told The Cincinnati Enquirer that she terminated a pregnancy for a 10-year-old girl who traveled from Ohio following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn 1973’s Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion.
She was referred to the patient on Monday by a child abuse doctor in Ohio after the state outlawed abortion following six weeks of pregnancy, in response to the SCOTUS ruling. The girl was six weeks and three days pregnant.
Although abortion is still legal in Indiana, Dr. Bernard worries doctors there soon won’t be able to provide the service either as state lawmakers are expected to further restrict or ban abortion during an Indiana General Assembly special session on July 25.
“It’s hard to imagine that in just a few short weeks we will have no ability to provide that care,” Dr. Bernard said.
Indiana abortion providers have seen an influx of out-of-state patients since the SCOTUS ruling. Dr. Katie McHugh, another Indiana ob-gyn, told the Enquirer she has fielded “an insane amount of requests” from Ohio and Kentucky, with out-of-state calls jumping from between five and eight a day to around 20.
Meanwhile, a Kentucky judge has temporarily stopped the state from enacting a “trigger ban” on abortion, and Ohio clinics have taken out a lawsuit to find the state’s six-week ban unconstitutional.
President Joe Biden previously doubled down on his pro-choice support, announcing from a press conference in Madrid on Thursday that he will have news to share after meeting with some governors this weekend.
“The most important thing to be clear about is I believe we have to codify Roe v. Wade in the law,” he said firmly. “The way to do that is to make sure the Congress votes to do that, and if the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights – it should be [that] we provide an exception to this … requiring an exception to the filibuster for this action to deal with the Supreme Court decision.”
Last month’s 6-to-3 ruling reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, giving states the power to pass their own laws around abortion. Since the decision, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri and South Dakota have already banned abortion in their states, after putting trigger laws in place that governors enacted following the SCOTUS ruling.
Protests have since erupted around the country, and Biden, 79, has spoken out against the ruling, which he called the “realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court.”
The decision comes after the SCOTUS opinion was leaked to Politico in May. A poll conducted by CNN has since found that 66 percent of Americans did not want Roe v. Wade to be overturned.
It’s time to pack the court. We really have no other option.
