How the Anti-Abortion Rights Movement Took Down Roe

good morning we're coming on the air with breaking news from the supreme court that justice is handing down the highly anticipated ruling on abortion in this historic decision the supreme court has now overturned roe v wade the landmark decision ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years the court's three liberal justices dissented writing quote with sorrow for this court but more for the many millions of american women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection [Music] [Music] for the last seven months we've been looking into the anti-abortion rights movement to try to understand how they've gotten to this point of overturning roe v wade through a case called dobbs the jackson women's health organization we revealed their years-long strategy to pull this off their playbook what's next on their agenda and most importantly what this will mean for the millions of people at the center of this issue [Music] my name is kaya and i'm here today at the planned parenthood for a surgical abortion i'm kind of nervous scared and also not having the support with me sucks but you know trying to make the best decision for myself and for the baby itself kya is 18 years old and she's struggling with an unintended pregnancy she's 12 weeks along hello hi dr aman al-sadin is the medical director for planned parenthood's great plains region kaya is one of 50 patients she's seeing today and one of tens of millions of women who could lose access to abortion care we're just going to ask you a series of questions that are required by the state of kansas when you're getting an abortion are you going to want to know how far along you are based on our ultrasound um no okay and will you want to see the ultrasound image no will you want to receive a physical copy of the ultrasound image no do you want to know if you have a multiple pregnancy like twins triplets no [Music] why did you decide to terminate your pregnancy because i knew that i couldn't give a life that was deserved and also i was just too i'm too young i know that there are single parents and young mothers out there who have done it and can do it and aren't fully capable but that's just not my situation there are a lot of states that are outlawing abortion right now kansas is kind of in the middle of this sort of sea of bread and i wonder how your life would be different if you couldn't terminate your pregnancy i would not be able to maintain a job and work and take care of a baby full-time i would um probably ultimately give the baby up for adoption there would be a piece of me out in this world that is just somewhere and that was devastating for me i couldn't that's why i'm here i can't i can't do that was this an easy decision for you oh no no this was a very hard decision for me i cried for weeks after i saw the sonogram i i cried instantly seeing the sonogram because my heart was filled with love but also with fear and just hopelessness and it was rough it was very rough because i would never see myself in this position ever ever i had always been super careful and it just happened the anti-abortion rights movement has been quietly laying the groundwork to outlaw it at least 10 states have already enacted bans so for millions of women across the south and midwest kansas is one of the closest states that still has legal abortion care that could soon change in august voters will decide whether to reverse a state constitutional protection that would open the door to criminalizing abortion [Music] for a lot of people kansas is sort of the last place they can go to access this care are you concerned that abortion could be outlawed here uh yeah absolutely i think about that every day um and that could be catastrophic how do you expect your clinic will be affected in coming months there's going to be kind of this displacement that happens when these very populous areas don't have access to what i consider basic healthcare we'll do as much planning as we can but this clinic has the capacity to see a certain amount of people it's not nearly going to be enough what are pregnant people facing unplanned pregnancies going to do in the south in the midwest who don't have access we're looking at a situation where those people won't be able to access it and then you have this like state mandated forced pregnancy forced birth situation i mean i don't see how the maternal mortality rate isn't affected by this when you don't allow people that are very sick or have dangerous pregnancies to have the option of having an abortion in order to maintain their health or save their life you're going to end up with more complicated pregnancies higher infant morbidity mortality and higher maternal morbidity and mortality that's been proven time and time again control over women is for years one powerful christian legal organization has been meticulously planning a strategy to overturn roe v wade with god's help we don't just stand we win alliance defending freedom or adf has been involved in 67 supreme court victories and single-handedly won more than a dozen mostly related to religious freedom like fighting for prayer in public schools and to make it legal for businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples in cases like dobbs which the supreme court just ruled on this is how adf works first they identify like-minded legislators attorneys general and governors then they write bills for those lawmakers to tweak and introduce they offer free legal advice if the law is challenged adf helps defend it in court if they lose they appeal and eventually they petition the supreme court this is exactly what they did with the state of mississippi and dobbs the jackson women's health organization [Music] in short their plan worked i'm looking forward to this next presentation by denise harley so she's senior counsel for alliance for defending freedom thanks for your expertise thanks so much i'm so excited that we do have this connection with these faith institutions the important thing is the message and the culture of the sanctity of life and i totally believe when abortion is no longer mandated we are going to start to wake up and realize that we were in a collective veil of ignorance in this nation agf senior attorney denise harley agreed to sit down for a rare interview she leads all of adf's work involving abortion adf and you know your your colleagues in the movement have done you know what many people thought would be impossible for the last 50 years how have you done it well uh we give the credit and glory to god frankly um we are a faith-based non-profit and um what we've seen is something that we probably never could have imagined so what was adf's role in this dobbs case so we worked very closely with mississippi from the very beginning including we had a hand in crafting the legislation of the 15-week bill coordinating advising them during the pendency of the litigation and then at the supreme court we have been you know alongside them all the way offering just as much help as we possibly can would you consider yourselves co-counsel in this case so denise has already said as much as you can possibly say about our involvement so we really can't address any more questions okay but just to clarify did you all write the arguments at the center of this case so again we we really can't address anything having to do with like our involvement past what denise has already addressed okay okay could you speak to that you know strategy of baiting the opposition abortion providers to you know sue the state for you know what they see as an unconstitutional law you can get to the supreme court by losing or winning okay so if you lose you get the opportunity to appeal if you lose from a federal trial court then you can appeal to the federal appellate court if you lose in the federal court of appeal you can petition to the supreme court that's what mississippi did in this case you know i think there are a lot of people in this country who have woken up in the last few weeks and said what is happening there are states across the country that are passing these bans including complete bans how orchestrated has that effort been states are now saying we finally have the ability to protect unborn life to protect maternal health to get rid of this gruesome procedure that we believe has been destroying families and traumatizing people and absolutely taking innocent human lives the tune of hundreds of thousands a year i wonder if you know well-organized well-funded christian legal organizations like adf writing legislation you know sharing that template legislation in states across the country offering free legal services defending that legislation in court i wonder if if that's democratic i don't i guess i'm not following your question of what would not be democratic about the whole idea and the basis of america we have free speech we have freedom of religion we we have the freedom of conscience to have beliefs to act on those beliefs to share those beliefs to assemble with people who agree with us it's not lawmakers in these cases who are writing the laws you know and so i think there are a lot of people who feel like there are organizations like adf that have more influence than really voters do and in this case about what women are and are not able to do with their bodies oh well goodness gracious this is what all um you know interest groups would try to do and aspire to do as much as possible aclu planned parenthood neighbor i'll do this all the time that's what the first amendment allows of course there are a lot of women who would argue you know what about my freedom to make medical decisions with my doctor about my own body well i would say abortion is not health care it is uh it's a procedure that takes a human life and that was never a constitutional or fundamental concept that um a woman or a father or a doctor or anyone would be able to take an innocent human life it's definitely not one of our constitutional rights i i think people wonder why particularly when these things aren't public these are private meetings why these groups should be able to you know dictate the lives of millions of women when it comes to this decision i mean adf doesn't get to dictate anything our vision for a healthy america is that abortion is unthinkable and unnecessary after the supreme court announced their decision adf confirmed they were in fact on mississippi's legal team and wrote the arguments at the center of the dobbs case on the state level adf's playbook only works if they have solid relationships with lawmakers across the country now that roe has been overturned the power goes back to the states but in order to understand what's happening in state legislatures across the country you have to come to the epicenter which is the texas state capitol texas didn't wait for the supreme court's ruling on jobs the state made headlines in september when they passed senate bill 8 known as the texas heartbeat act or sb-8 the law gives civilians the power to sue anyone who helps a woman get an abortion state senator brian hughes authored the bill it's now been used as a model by more than a dozen other states hughes agreed to show us which states have already or are likely to outlaw abortion 13 of those states have trigger bans that can now be enforced since the court's ruling triggered them last week [Music] many of these states like texas had pre-row statutes that stopped abortion except to save the life of the mother so they'll come back into effect and of course many states have also passed trigger laws texas louisiana mississippi of course arkansas oklahoma tennessee missouri kentucky ohio west virginia chances are pretty high iowa of course i want to say wisconsin as well i think michigan is also on the list isn't it indiana in the dakotas nebraska kansas montana idaho so what we're seeing now is that more than half the country is certain or likely to ban abortion or attempt to ban abortion basically overnight that's right that's exactly right what happened in texas can help explain what's now happening in other states after sba passed last september abortions in texas dropped by 60 percent since then there have been roughly 3 000 fewer abortions per month thousands of women are leaving the state for care others have no choice but to go through with their pregnancies did you consult with any women any moms while drafting this bill oh yes we certainly did in fact we've heard testimony from women really all across the spectrum some women who have chosen life and are glad they did some women who made the choice to have an abortion or dealing with that i wonder more about the moms who have co-morbidities who are living in poverty yes who could die and do die during pregnancy childbirth and postpartum did you consult with them speaking about the mother's house i want to be clear in texas if there's a risk to her life or her health then there's an exception so we've had that in texas for a long time and that's still in place with the heartbeat law i think it's just important to note though oftentimes the mother's life is at risk well beyond the point that they can have an abortion while they're in childbirth and postpartum you know even months after giving birth women can die from complications with pregnancy and delivery and so you're talking about a condition that the doctors aren't able to detect exactly i'm not trying to argue i want to understand i want to follow what you're talking about now my point is this maternal mortality is a massive problem in texas you're 43 on the list of states when it comes to that issue for many people forcing them to go through with a pregnancy and with childbirth can put their life at risk the people of texas feel strongly that that little baby growing inside her mother's womb is a human being worthy of protection and so we set out to protect the little baby's life while we love and support and respect the mothers during and after the baby comes during the women's rights movement of the 1960s the supreme court ruled in griswold v connecticut that the constitution protected the right to privacy as it relates to birth control this laid the groundwork for roe v wade and then eight years later justices decided abortion was also implicit in that right january 22nd 1973 will stand out as one of the great days for freedom and free choice at the same time in the early 70s the country's most famous anti-feminist advocate phyllis schlafly and her grassroots organizers ensured the equal rights amendment was blocked when you make the laws apply equally to men and women you end up taking away many of the rights that women now have the era would have given women equal rights in the constitution it would have also cemented their right to abortion [Music] you're listening to k-talk radio kbj 1640 am bringing you live local two-way talk good morning this is gal raziq at k-talk radio i'm here with marianne christensen and mary taylor and we are going to be talking today about something great and exciting of course and that is the overturn of roe versus wade one of schlafly's main deputies was gail ruzika she's been wielding power in utah politics and beyond for decades gail had a hand in writing the abortion ban that was just enacted in utah her main goal for the last 50 years do whatever possible to overturn roe v wade we're not through fighting because the other side will continue to try to make abortion legal well gail they really are talking about that already we've got to stay on high alert one of the things that i am hearing is that the pro-choice side is complaining that the rape exception should not have to require a police report if there doesn't need to be a police report then we are just protecting perpetrators that's the first place they're going to start trying to chip away at our trigger bill and we we need to stand our ground on that the fight will never be over because you know the fight for life never ends what do you remember about when the supreme court announced their decision on roe v wade it was a shock it was a shock when it happened and and then it was everybody just kind of said now what do we do so it seems like that supreme court decision really fueled the movement well of course yeah absolutely for me it started with that i suddenly had to start figuring out what can i do what can i do to make a difference on this how can we stop this from happening there's got to be something we can do and we got to do it fast never in a million years i think you know it's going to be 50 years from now before we have a chance to stop this how has the pro-life movement been so successful one legislator one time was speaking to a group and i was in the audience and he acknowledged that i was there and he says when i get there in the morning she's already there and when i leave at night she's still there but she does change her clothes so i know she went home and that really is who we are it's not just me and we try to all work together and the big thing is trust and trust and not caring who gets the credit i wonder how alliance defending freedom adf has helped with that work oh there i i love i love adf they're they're so helpful i've never called them for anything on this issue that they haven't been right there with answers what can we do to help and they're very good at it and they're very good at it what do you make of the younger generation now leading parts of the movement who are relying more on social media or making you know polished videos that go online and get millions of views it's wonderful the only thing i always tell everybody is don't just get on there and talk about the issue and then do nothing you have to do something if you have a sign in your hand i want you to raise it one two three [Music] millennials and gen ziers are now all over instagram and tick tock racking up views by pushing anti-abortion messaging through a much younger lens saying that a woman won't be as successful if she has a child is actually pretty misogynistic and degrading you want a culture that minds their own business when innocent human beings are being killed honestly that sounds like something slave owners would have said so proudly in the last several years they've framed that messaging with leftist language feminism science human rights it is the sexual revolution and the abortion movements both largely driven by men that have waged the real war on women women weren't made to want to kill to destroy we are made to fiercely fight to protect that is authentic feminism a feminism that demands true equality under the law for all people born and pre-born lyla rose became a national figure after she filmed undercover at several abortion clinics and posted the videos online they went viral [Music] i want to terminate this pregnancy because of the gender like i said because the um don't tell us that we do we don't want to know after planned parenthood threatened legal action accusing rose of deceptively editing footage which she denies rose sought the help of adf and adf saw an opportunity they backed her legally and gave her media training [Music] and a pro-life star was born why do you do this well it's my passion it's a group of students and i we do this work together to investigate planned parenthood and hold them accountable for these crimes the science is conclusive here biology is clear here human life begins in the womb it's possible to make our country and our world pro-life rose has become a sort of messenger in chief for the anti-abortion rights movement through her media company live action our following is now nearing six million combined and our view count is i think at one over 1.5 billion now combined video views that's a huge amount of people it's a huge amount of people i just wonder if there's a sort of strategy style language that you're using that really speaks to our generation and younger social media is a really powerful engine and it can be a powerful engine for good or for bad but when you combine it with facts and creative abilities to make it really attractive for people so they can really understand it human interest stories i think that's a winning combination do you have a sense of how many minds you've changed people who are gonna we do actually so it's really exciting where most engaged followers are teen um and young 20 women like 18 to 24 women and when we survey them 38 of our last surveyed group said that their minds were changed in abortion it's not lost on you that the other side's criticism of you is that you're misleading that you spread misinformation what's your response to that yeah the misinformation is coming from the pro-abortion side that's lying about the humanity of the child that's lying to women and telling them that violence against a family member is empowerment for them that's saying that you can't do better than abortion that that's what you're going to have to do if you want to pursue your dreams i'm interested to know like what you would say about women who of whom there are many in our country who got an abortion and were empowered by it and don't regret their decision well there's always going to be stories that people will tell themselves to justify what they did and i think that's one of the really sad parts of the pro-abortion movement is when they then they really like stuff the pain or the hurt down because women feel like they have to walk around and say like i'm glad i had my abortion maybe you're not giving i don't enough credit for making their own decision and not being influenced by anyone and being empowered by that decision i mean do you feel like you're giving women enough credit i think a lot of the women and i mean the thousands of women that we've interviewed or surveyed or talked to over the years the common theme when faced with a pregnancy where they felt like they had to have an abortion is pressure it's fear it's feeling like they have to do this a recent ucsf study showed that five years after having an abortion more than 95 percent of women said it was the right decision for them in 2019 there were more than 300 000 abortions in the 26 states that have or are likely to outlaw abortion imminently for the thousands of people who will be forced to carry out their pregnancies the anti-abortion rights movement says there's a catch-all solution pregnancy resource centers or prcs like this one prcs are typically funded by anti-abortion rights advocates when prcs or crisis pregnancy centers both of which have been accused of spreading misinformation and persuading women away from abortion have faced legal turmoil adf has represented them in court how are you going to learn to be a good mom by following through with my therapy and learning from my doctors this is courtney barker she considered abortion in her first trimester but decided to research adoption instead so what did we talk about today um that there is actually resources here in this program for adoption that there's families actually waiting so this is called a life book and it's just them sharing their life with you their kids look at why they're adopting what's important to them the cottage provides food mental health services job training and a pathway to adoption what would you look for if you were looking through these books probably someone like alex and stacy that are young looks like they're really compatible it's a big family right that's a big family see that would be perfect you know the cottage is also a maternity home where she and other mothers with unplanned pregnancies live once their residents give birth they offer formula diapers and a bassinet for up to a year while this is a lifeline for those who have access there are many more moms who do not receive the resources they need several years ago courtney was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia she self-medicated with meth cocaine and alcohol and before landing at the cottage she was homeless she's now in recovery mental health is something that i think is hard for a lot of people to talk about even though it's really common are you open to talking about some of those challenges that you've had yeah actually yeah i would like to what are some of the symptoms that you experience my erratic behavior i suffered with anxiety a lot my behavior would have acted out in the past i'm now dealing with that and looking for other coping skills other techniques to express correctly when the baby's here is there any part of you that worries that like your symptoms of bipolar and schizophrenia may resurface or that you'll relapse in some way yeah i worry about that a lot i was like sleeping on a park bench a year ago six months ago and i want to be a soccer mom all of a sudden like doesn't mentally that doesn't make sense to me so there's just a lot of emotional preparations the number of people who need support like courtney will likely increase dramatically oklahoma recently passed a near total ban that criminalizes performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy far more women will now likely be forced to give birth often at the most vulnerable time in their life lana smith executive director of the cottage is preparing for that influx there's always going to be women who are hurting and find themselves pregnant and need help no matter what the laws are and so we are headed to our new maternity home it's on about 100 acres on a ranch [Music] what are the real life challenges that these women realize yes real life challenges all of our obviously clients who live in our maternity home were homeless before and living on the streets right under um in an alley or underneath a highway um i mean yeah we've seen them everywhere if they're not homeless they're bouncing from friend to friend's couch and usually doing things giving things that you know they normally wouldn't want to do but they have to be like prostitution prostitution anything um you know selling drugs for someone doing things that they wouldn't want to do but they feel like i have to do this because i have to have roof over my head i have to have food to eat i have to have some type of safety this is my new room this is where i'm going to be sleeping and then the baby's bed is going to be right there i'm going to be keeping all my baby stuff in here so before i moved in i decided that i was gonna name him sam they had this which i think is just a sign from the gods if you didn't have help from these organizations where would you be i mean i i would be in a really bad place is there any part of you that's still considering adoption yeah i mean there was but i kind of really just got over that so have you made your decision yeah i'm gonna keep him wow yeah he's gonna be mine yeah and i mean it's it's kind of awesome that i get to have that feeling and i get to realize that it is a choice and it is an appropriate one mm-hmm [Music] all right this is your first baby is such an incredible life-changing event you will be an amazing mama wish you all the best lemon always i'm gonna cry i know you do with this new law you know inevitably there are going to be a lot more women in need yes that's expensive yes how will you afford to serve them all of our funding is donor and grant funded we've talked to legislators we've talked to state representatives and talk to them about ways that it could change in the future we are busy but we can always take more moms we can always expand our services and help in any way we can the oklahoma legislature has allocated three million dollars to supporting the six thousand women facing unplanned pregnancies each year split evenly this amounts to roughly forty dollars per mother per month add the thousands of more women who will now be forced to carry out pregnancies it's not nearly enough we're at the oklahoma state capitol to meet with senator nathan dahm he's written some of the strictest abortion laws in the country what's clear is that these laws will create an incredible financial burden what's unclear is who is going to pay for this are there enough resources for these mothers particularly women who would have tried to access abortion but now are unable to yes there are plenty of resources out there and available um and not only just from the resource side of the woman being able to care for the child if she chooses so how much public funding goes to these mothers in need um i don't have the statistics on that i mean i can get you those specific numbers um but um there's like i said there's not just public money that goes to it there's also private resources do you have a sense of how much it costs to raise a child in this state um in oklahoma i mean our cost of living is much less than a lot of other states but um it's not inexpensive for sure but again if the individual doesn't want to incur that expense and everything there are option opportunities i guess i'm trying to understand you know how you know that there's enough resources when you don't actually know how much it costs the mother to raise a baby well because with the pregnancy resource centers that i talk to they have more than enough supplies that they are continually reaching out to and they're proactively trying to give out their supplies and trying to help these mothers how do you measure that i mean you seem very confident that like this won't be a problem but there were nearly 5 000 abortions in this state in 2019. i mean that is a lot of women who are going to be looking for alternative options and for a lot of particularly low-income women they're going to have to go through with these pregnancies we've had an increase in revenue and everything so we can always if there is that increased need through the public side of things we have that option and that flexibility to be able to put more money into that if it is not being met through the private sector or other means while lawmakers make promises to provide a safety net for mothers it's often states that restrict abortion that have the weakest social programs on the private side prcs and maternity homes can be life-saving for women but funding isn't consistent or reliable so when one of these homes loses a lease for instance it can be devastating for their residents they end up homeless their lifeline gone hi desiree hello how are you let me help you that's what happened to 27 year old dasharee crooks hi little bud thank you so much what's his name uh hi arias aren't you a cutie dasharae and her five-month-old son arias have been couch surfing at friends houses since her maternity home closed down several months ago hi there's your smile that's what i was looking for they live in louisville kentucky one of the states that's outlawed abortion in the last week as these laws go into effect there will likely be thousands of more people landing in dasharay's position broke and in need of support i think a lot of single moms don't really get enough credit just the mental stress that they have to go through and and you try to keep yourself together you know because you want your baby to see the best party can i ask how much money you have in your bank account nothing at all i have put in a lot of applications and you know i just found my son a babysitter so i'm now able to do interviews it's like you need child care to get a job yes you can only pay for childcare once you have a job exactly so i'm actually going to visit a church today to see if we can get assistance with food dashery is waiting on government housing and getting by on donations and support from food banks [Music] do you have any financial support like food stamps or anything i've applied but they're waiting on a paper or something and they said they would give me assistance well i don't wanna i don't know ain't you perfect yeah man hey bud let's get that burp out you're just a happy little guy yes are you just a happy little guy damn mama baby any teeth yet no no yes they're coming yeah oh there it is [Laughter] i think this is your food here thank you so much thank you i see you have a little one do you need like diapers and yes i do size threes here you go thank you so much thank you thank you so much yes that just fixed my day well good i'm glad i made your day thank you so much thank you that was great that's a good hookup right there yes it was like i really don't have anything i'm thankful i was just wondering like oh my god like nobody's really here oh my god so so yeah it's it's really good to feel like this right now so i'm really thankful i can't believe it you're a strong woman yeah [Music] [Music] would you consider yourself homeless right now yeah i've been homeless since i was pregnant and i didn't have my baby's father to really be there and help me out with money or things to eat or it was hard my son gets a lot of love but look where we're at it's it's tough when people say that they care you know and you really see if they care in the moments when you really need it yes what are some of the other things that people don't realize about your situation that i'm in this situation the type of person i am i've tried and i'm still trying so i don't know i'm just tired i'm tired i'm doing everything alone so it's hard you're going to be so smart you're going to be so sweet you're going to treat women so good he's going to be so amazing him already is [Music] the christian right is far from done supreme court justice clarence thomas wrote that the same argument used to overturn roe could be used in cases that established the right to contraception and same-sex marriage and the anti-abortion rights movement is now strategizing how to make abortion completely illegal state by state including by prosecuting those prescribing abortion pills you know it's almost analogous to kidnapping where if someone took your child out of state and that would be a federal crime what about a child in the womb who is solicited out of state by someone who is promoting drugs would the state have an action there will you pursue any cases that could try to categorize pregnancy termination as manslaughter or homicide or in some way go after the mom i and adf are completely against criminal sanctions on the mother i think the sanctions should be on the perpetrators which is either the abortion providers a doctor a facility or mail order pharmacist selling abortion drugs are you going to pursue other precedents in the supreme court griswold dealing with birth control a burglar fell dealing with same-sex marriage the majority of our cases that we want are very simply freedom of speech that's really what it comes down to whatever you believe whatever you want to say in the united states of america you should be able to say that and that's the overwhelming majority of what we've done in the supreme court it's crazy for them to say that they speak about freedom and want freedom for all what about my choice to my own anatomy what about my mental state what about my health an ideal america is where americans are free to live and work according to their beliefs where marriages and families are strong and healthy that i think is the ideal for everyone strong healthy families to me look like two parents or even just one parent who loves their children is able to support their children they have a clean warm bed to sleep in at night i want a family i want my own child i want to have those things it's just it wasn't in the cards right now but what i've seen time and time again is that is a very short term shock surprise sadness and the joy of that baby the joy of a human life is is immeasurable and women are strong women are capable we can figure it out what do you say to people who say no you can do it you can have a baby you can go to school you can work you can live the life you want to live no how about no how about you listen to me how about i tell you what i'm good for it don't tell me what i can do i'm telling you sitting here telling you i can't do this listen to me my words matter [Music] the turn away study started in 2007 we recruited just under a thousand people from 30 abortion facilities across the country and each facility was chosen because if you are too far along in pregnancy for that site no other abortion facility within 150 miles would do an abortion later so really the idea was to recruit people who are just over the limit who we thought would carry the pregnancy to term just under the limit who received an abortion we followed all these women for up to five years calling them every six months to do interviews in english or spanish has anybody done a more thorough study in this area this is definitely the biggest study of the consequences of abortion in the united states how much more likely are women to slip below the poverty line if they're denied an abortion we found that women are more than three times as likely to be below the federal poverty level if they were denied an abortion compared to receive it one important thing to note is that being denied an abortion affects so many aspects of people's lives their chance that they're in a better relationship the chance that they've found a better job that they have more stable housing and all of those together mean that people who are denied abortions are less likely to have the circumstances later to have a wanted child those who receive their abortions are more likely to go on and have a wanted child later under better circumstances state governments are passing these laws are they also allocating enough funding to support these women no the the public safety net is not strong enough to support low-income mothers whether the pregnancy was intended or unintended women are much more likely to report that they don't have money for basic living needs like food housing and transportation when they're denied an abortion compared to receiving it it looks like 26 states are likely to attempt to outlaw abortion what concerns you it is the case that people with resources will travel out of state but the people without resources the people who are low income who are minors who are disabled who are in hospitals can't just pick up and travel out of state and so in fact these laws in these states mean that the most privileged may go on and get their abortion and the least privileged the most um already experiencing hardships those people will be the ones who carry unwanted pregnancies to term i'm michael lairmont editor-in-chief of vice news too often traditional news outlets shy away from the real stories and experiences of those living through global conflicts not vice news our reporters are on the ground fearlessly covering the human stories that shape our world you and millions of others can continue to read watch and listen device news for free but we hope you'll consider making a one-time or ongoing contribution of any size advice.com contribute every contribution no matter how big or small helps support the journalism vice news brings to you every day thank you you

Channel: VICE News

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Keywords: VICE News, VICE News Tonight, VICE on HBO, news, vice video, VICE on SHOWTIME, vice news 2020, roe v wade, roe vs wade, abortion law

Id: LDafHP4pjD0

Length: 45min 19sec (2719 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 02 2022