Shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Governor DeSantis signed a law lowering the limit to 15 weeks and six days, with no exceptions for cases of rape, incest, or human trafficking: abortion is only permitted if the mother’s life is in danger. The latest change happened just last Friday in Iowa, where Supreme Court voted to block the reinstatement of a rule pushed by Governor Kim Reynolds that outlawed abortion after the sixth week and amounted to a near-total ban.įew places better embody the ever-changing landscape of post-Roe America than Florida, where this time last year it was legal to terminate a pregnancy up to the 24th week of gestation. Jasmine, a 23-year-old patient, waiting for an abortion last July at one of Planned Parenthood’s 18 clinics in West Palm Beach, Florida. The result is a map of “chaos and confusion,” as defined by Kelly Barden of the Guttmacher Institute, an independent organization that works at the intersection of politics and reproductive health. Six other states, with Republican majorities, have passed restrictive rules during this legislative session that, when they go into effect, promise to leave large regions of the country, mainly in the south and midwest, without access to abortion. In six others, laws were ready to go into effect as soon as Roe fell and although they have been challenged in the courts, they are well on their way to doing so. Thirteen states have already banned abortion completely. There is also a lot of misinformation and uncertainty, and it is often not easy to discern what is legal from what is not. It has been 12 months of referendums, angry parliamentary discussions and judicial appeals. The decision has also unleashed a multi-front war between two irreconcilable sides. The ruling overturned the half-century-old precedent set by Roe vs Wade (1973), restored the states’ ability to legislate on the issue, and pierced the lives of women like Alejandra. June 24 will mark one year since a conservative-majority Supreme Court struck down federal protection for abortion in the United States. “It’s not about me anymore, it’s that I have a six-year-old daughter, and, frankly, I don’t trust my mother to take care of her.” She makes the gesture of caressing her belly with her hands and adds: “There are days when I wake up with this joy, but then I remember that I simply can’t.” She came to the clinic alone. “I’ve been told I could die,” she continues. That she should not “carry it to term.” She is eight weeks along but doesn’t want to risk it: she fears that if she leaves it any longer, the new law signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, which will lower the legal limit for abortion in the state from 15 to six weeks, will take effect. Because of her epilepsy, the gynecologist has warned her that her “wanted” pregnancy is dangerous. “I’m desperate, it’s a matter of life and death,” she says impatiently. She sits in a room with four other women separated by hospital curtains. She is waiting for her appointment to have an abortion at the Planned Parenthood Golden Glades clinic in Miami. Alejandra is 32 years old and has a tense expression.
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