The Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision on abortion restrictions any day now. The case, Whole Women's Health vs. Hellerstedt, will be the most significant decision on abortion in over two decades.
In the June issue of Glamour Magazine, Wake Forest University professor Phoebe Zerwick covers the issue of reproductive rights. With a decrease in abortion providers and legal clinics, Zerwick tells WFDD's Bethany Chafin that some women have taken matters into their own hands.
On the rise of DIY abortions:
I think what's important about this trend toward do-it-yourself abortions is that women who find themselves pregnant and unable or not wanting to have a child at that point, it seems pretty clear to me that women will find ways to have an abortion regardless of what the restrictions are, regardless of what the law is. Women in Latin America, where abortion is forbidden discovered how to use Misoprostol to induce a miscarriage. So, regardless of what you think about abortion, or what your ethics are, or what your ideology is, I think it's really important to understand what women on the ground are doing in the face of these kinds of restrictions.
On the Supreme Court case - Whole Women's Health vs. Hellerstedt:
Whole Women's Health runs several abortion clinics in Texas, and a couple of years ago the Texas legislature passed some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. And in this case, the laws that are being challenged did two things. They required doctors who work in an abortion clinic to have admitting privileges at the local hospital, and they also required abortion clinics to meet standards that are generally set for ambulatory surgical centers. In Texas, if these laws take effect, they'll result in the closing of all but, I think, nine or 10 abortion clinics. Whole Women's Health sued, and the case has ended up in the Supreme Court. They heard arguments back in the spring and the ruling is expected this month. What's at stake is whether or not the constitution allows states to set highly restrictive standards for the way abortion care is provided.
On where North Carolina falls in the national landscape on abortion laws:
There's an organization in Washington called the Guttmacher Institute, which keeps track of all kinds of issues having to do with reproductive health. Their data shows that North Carolina is not the most restrictive state in the country, but the abortion laws here are fairly restrictive. This year a new law took effect that requires a 72-hour waiting period between the consultation and when a woman can have an abortion. There's also a law that took effect this year that requires that after 16 weeks of pregnancy, if there's a sonogram taken, that the sonogram be shared with the state health department.