I now work for a reproductive rights organization in Mexico City, where abortion has just been decriminalized. But here in the United States, our judges have barged into our exam rooms and knocked down our physicians.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently turned its back on women and rejected its own long-standing adherence to historical legal precedent. Using patronizing language and showing absolutely no recognition of women as moral agents capable of making our own reproductive health decisions, the Court has tragically bought into anti-choice lies and rhetoric. By banning a specific abortion procedure that trained doctors have determined to be at times the best and safest method of preserving a woman’s fertility, the Court is telling us that the foundation of Roe vs. Wade is up for grabs. The process of dismantling our federal right to abortion has begun.

This close decision, which bans some abortions after 12 weeks, and could be interpreted to affect earlier procedures as well, was held back by successful legal challenges for more than three years because this new law makes no exception for the health of the woman. In the past, the Court has always considered women’s health to be paramount — a core foundation of Roe vs. Wade — and that physicians were considered to be the best trained persons to decide on the type of procedure safest for a particular woman. This is the first time that the Court has failed to affirm that restrictions on abortion must make exceptions to protect a woman’s health. It’s a seismic shift in the discussion about abortion and reproductive justice. It truly terrifies me.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the decision, stated that the law does not violate the constitutional right to abortion as laid out in Roe vs. Wade, which declared abortion to be a part of a woman’s constitutional right to privacy. In condescending and sexist terms that show no understanding that women are capable of choosing motherhood, the Court’s 5-4 majority have now banned a procedure that the Court found to be disturbing, gruesome, and never necessary.

Having worked in abortion care for more than 30 years, I have been honored to witness, and aid in the provision, of safe and compassionate abortion care for many thousands of women. I fully understand that much of the public would be disturbed by many abortion procedures. Of course, many aspects of medical care/operations/procedures are upsetting to the untrained eye. Do we then ban them for this reason? The answer, naturally, is no. Only in the arena of abortion care and women’s lives is this even entertained.

We will soon see further attempts to restrict safe abortion care and reproductive health services on a state level. Older women who may experience high-risk pregnancies are especially vulnerable, because prenatal tests such as amniocentesis are often not available until mid-pregnancy. The law also puts younger, and frequently poorer, women and girls at even higher risk because they may be unaware that they are pregnant, and/or have inadequate funds to have abortion procedures earlier in the first trimester, which is when the vast majority of safe abortions occur in the United States.

The ongoing disrespect and disdain for women’s lives and reproductive justice we have seen both domestically and internationally under the Bush administration continues to move along. Not being recognized as capable to guide our own pregnancy choices is pure discrimination and is humiliating enough. It is now the law of the land.

How tragic and ironic. We have lost so much already in this country when it comes to freedom, truth, and justice. Now women and their families will lose even more.

The world moves forward, but the U.S. goes backwards for women.

editor@realchangenews.org