- Women's constitutional right to abortion seems to be in peril after a leak of a major Supreme Court decision.
- It would deal a blow to women's personal and financial security if the high court scraps Roe v. Wade.
- Democrats stepped up calls to enshrine Roe v. Wade into law, but it's a long-shot.
For just about 50 years, Americans have had a constitutional right to an abortion. Now, that might be in peril.
On Monday night, Politico reported that the Supreme Court was preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade. The outlet secured an unprecedented leaked draft opinion from the highest court in the land set to strike down the landmark ruling, which SCOTUS later confirmed to be authentic — although it's far from a final decision.
If Roe were to be overturned, abortion would become illegal in 23 states, and might become restricted in several others.
"The right to an abortion is just one component but an important component of women's full rights under the United States Constitution," Elyssa Spitzer, a reproductive rights expert at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, told Insider. "If the court decides that the right to abortion is no longer protected, then something that women should always be able to take for granted will no longer exist."
Over the last few years, women and trans Americans have seen their economic, physical, and personal security imperiled, and policy hasn't stepped up to address those challenges. A Dobbs decision striking down Roe would be yet another big setback.
Proposals in Congress to establish new social benefits like affordable childcare languish. Currently, the social safety net for parents has some big holes. There's no federal paid leave, paid sick days, or mandated minimum wage above $7.25 an hour. Monthly child tax credit checks are no longer going out, a measure that helped cut poverty and provided lifelines to many.
That all compounds with the economic repercussions of banning abortion. Women who want an abortion and are turned away from one "experienced an increase in household poverty lasting at least four years relative to those who received an abortion," according to the University of California San Francisco's Turnaway Study, which interviewed 1,000 women over five years.
According to that study, years after they were denied abortions, women were more likely to "not have enough money to cover basic living expenses like food, housing and transportation." Their debt goes up, and their credit scores go down.
In a post-Roe world, abortions might be costly or difficult to obtain. Abortion seekers in states that have it banned will see the distance they have to travel grow — and incur costs like time off work and finding childcare.
Democrats intended to strengthen the welfare state for families in their economic proposals last year, but those all effectively died last year. No Republicans voted for the bill to pass the House, and it never made it past the Senate due to resistance from at least one Democratic holdout.
Overturning Roe could throw more Americans into unplanned or unwanted parenthood and a precarious economic situation — all without the supports Democrats have been unable to pass.
"We don't have accessible high quality child childcare. We don't have paid family and medical leave," Vicki Shabo, a paid-leave expert at the think tank New America, told Insider. "Our schools have been underinvested in and when people fall on hard times, they too often can't get the support that they need. We also have cultural expectations around work that make it very hard for people to both hold jobs and care for their families."
Democrats issued fresh calls to codify Roe v. Wade ahead of an expected Supreme Court decision in the summer. They tried earlier this year to pass legislation that would achieve that, but failed to reach the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
"We start by making the case by requiring everyone to vote in public. Let's take step one," Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told Insider. "And then let's hope that works."
A new attempt to pass that legislation probably won't succeed. Most Republicans lambasted the leak instead of focusing on the ramifications of the high court nixing abortion. And Democrats will likely run back into the filibuster if they do try to codify Roe.
"If every lawmaker who applauds this decision were actually interested in the wellbeing of women and families and children, they would immediately pass national paid family and medical leave, paid sick days and guarantee quality affordable childcare," Shabo said. "But I don't see any of them rushing out to do that."