A World Without Legal Abortion: How Activists Envision A ‘Post-Roe’ Nation

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Anti-abortion-rights activists participate in the March for Life rally near the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24.

Susan Walsh/AP

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Susan Walsh/AP

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«I hope and pray that we will be in a world post-Roe v. Wade, said Carrie Murray Nellis, 41, an adoption attorney based in Georgia.

Murray Nellis is the founder of Abiding Love Adoptions, which operates in Georgia, Florida and Alabama. She hopes Barrett’s confirmation will lead to the overturning of the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide, which would thereby allow states to further restrict or ban the procedure.

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Preparing for a post-Roe society

Murray Nellis believes organizations like hers, which works primarily with birth mothers who are choosing adoption for their babies, need to be ready to help more women facing unplanned pregnancies.

«We as a pro-life community have got to get ready and get our ducks in a row, she said. «Because this could likely be happening, and I don’t think we’re ready.

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Heather Lawless, 39, is co-founder of the Reliance Center in Idaho, which counsels women against abortion and provides services for new and expectant mothers.

Stellar Styles Photography, Lewiston, Idaho

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Stellar Styles Photography, Lewiston, Idaho

Catherine Davis is founder of the Restoration Project, a group in Georgia that opposes abortion rights.

Charles Joseph/Courtesy Catherine Davis

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Charles Joseph/Courtesy Catherine Davis

«If she decides to self-abort herself, then she’s subjected to the same penalty as the doctor, Davis said.

Davis said she believes abortion should be treated exactly like murder — up to and including capital punishment.

«If a doctor makes the decision in a jurisdiction that he or she knows the penalty for taking the life of another human being is the death penalty, and they decide to do it anyway, then they’ve subjected themselves to the death penalty, Davis said.

Punishing women?

Mary Ziegler, the Stearns Weaver Miller professor at Florida State University College of Law, said that while many groups opposed to abortion rights have historically said they wouldn’t support laws that punish pregnant women who get abortions, the growing availability of medication to self-induce abortion at home could complicate that position.

«I don’t see how you do that without punishing women, because we’re going to be in an environment where women can end pregnancies without a third-party being present, she said.

Leslie Reagan is a history professor at the University of Illinois and author of the book When Abortion Was a Crime. If Roe falls, Reagan said, women will still seek out illegal and sometimes unsafe abortions, as they did before Roe.

Reagan said activists who’ve been organizing with that thought in mind for decades are likely to insist on enforcing state abortion bans.

«We have a movement — a religiously based movement that’s led by the churches and can organize out of the church — that wants these laws changed and will want these laws enforced, Reagan said.

In written responses to Senate Judiciary Committee members, Judge Amy Coney Barrett declines to say, if Roe is overturned, whether states could:

-ban IVF
-make abortion, use of certain contraceptives a felony
-make abortion a crime punishable by death https://t.co/WsAIacjquC pic.twitter.com/gaTJmKjxTB

— Sarah McCammon? (@sarahmccammon) October 22, 2020

It’s impossible to know how any justice might rule in a given case. But in a written exchange with Senate Judiciary Committee members, Barrett was asked if states could make getting an abortion a felony or a capital crime punishable by death.

Barrett responded that as a judge and Supreme Court nominee, «It would not be appropriate for me to offer an opinion on abstract legal issues or hypotheticals.