{"id":6616,"date":"2025-09-30T04:57:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=6616"},"modified":"2025-10-27T23:44:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T23:44:29","slug":"more-life-or-more-death-how-abortion-regulation-has-become-the-angel-of-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=6616","title":{"rendered":"More Life? Or More Death? How Abortion Regulation has Become the Angel of Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carolyn Nsimpasi<\/em><\/p>\n

Associate Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

A US Supreme Court decision that ignited national upheaval and stirred global reactions: the overturn<\/a> of Roe v. Wade<\/em>. On June 24, 2022, the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson<\/em>, eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion and returned the power to regulate abortion to individual states. This ruling ended nearly 50 years of federal protection for abortion rights. Overnight, women and girls lost their right to choose, were stripped of the power to shape their own destinies and suddenly had fewer rights than their mothers before them. This ruling is one of the most fundamental infringes on one\u2019s basic human rights.<\/p>\n

Roe v. Wade<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On January 22, 1973, the US Supreme Court ruled that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion was unconstitutional.<\/a> The opinion asserted that a set of statutes criminalizing abortion in many instances violated a constitutional right to privacy \u2013 a right they interpreted as part of the broader liberty guarantee of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although the Court did not believe one to have an unchecked right to terminate pregnancy, it sought to balance the fundamental right to privacy with a state\u2019s compelling interests in protecting the health of pregnant persons and the prospective development of human life. As a result, the Court formulated a timetable<\/a>: during the first trimester, a state could not intervene in a person\u2019s right to an abortion; during the second trimester, a state could regulate abortion procedures to protect the health of pregnant persons, however it could not enjoin abortions; and from the end of the second trimester, a state could regulate or prohibit abortions in order to protect the pregnant person\u2019s health or to preserve fetal viability. Nonetheless, a state could not criminalize abortions that were required to safeguard a pregnant person\u2019s life or health. Although there were a few challenges<\/a> to Roe v. Wade<\/em> after its ruling, it had not been overturned\u2026 until now.<\/p>\n

Aftermath of Roe v. Wade<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Across the country, states left and right have reacted<\/a> to the overturn of Roe v. Wade<\/em>. There was a rapid, dramatic reduction<\/a>in abortion access: within 30 days of the decision, 43 clinics in 11 states ceased abortion services; by 100 days, that figure rose to 66 clinics across 15 states; and brick-and-mortar providers across the U.S. declined by about 5% between 2020 and March 2024. Moreover, there had been a rise in medication abortion and cross-state travel. By late 2023, approximately one in five abortions were medication-based. However, abortion pills now represent about two-thirds of all abortions, and countless women travel to permissive states for care. In particular, states like Illinois saw a 45% increase in abortions due to patients traveling in from restrictive states. Even more tragic \u2013 \u00a0women and girls living in abortion ban states are at a significantly higher risk<\/a> of death during pregnancy and childbirth than those that live in non-abortion banned states. A mother\u2019s risk of dying is nearly twice as high in banned states. Moreover, Black mothers living in banned states are more than three times as likely to die as White mothers in those states. Lastly, economic analysis<\/a> from the Institute for Women\u2019s Policy Research shows that limiting abortion access reduces women\u2019s workforce participation, educational attainment, career advancement, and earnings\u2014especially affecting Black women.<\/p>\n

Behind every clinic closure is a woman forced to carry an unviable pregnancy. Behind every interstate trip is a teenager navigating fear, shame, and logistics. Behind every maternal death statistic is a family grieving the preventable loss of a daughter, sister, or mother. These aren\u2019t just numbers \u2013 these are lives. It is imperative that we not only recognize these consequences but also push for policies that restore and protect reproductive rights, ensure equitable access to care, and dismantle the systemic barriers that disproportionately harm marginalized communities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It has been over three years since the overturn of Roe v. Wade<\/em>, and our society is still dealing with the devastating ramifications of the ruling. Although in a few states the 2024 midterm elections allowed voters to illustrate their support for reproductive rights<\/a>, there is still is an uphill battle to conquer. As of July 2025, 12 states have total or near-total bans on abortion with few exceptions<\/a>. With this, the Institute for Women\u2019s Policy Research reports that Black women continue to have disproportionate barriers of access to essential reproductive health care today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the\u00a0overturn of Roe v. Wade <\/em>has reshaped U.S. reproductive rights, with profound effects on healthcare access, public health, and economic opportunity. Among this lies the consistent reality that marginalized communities invariably shoulder the heaviest burden<\/a> of this ruling.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A US Supreme Court decision that ignited national upheaval and stirred global reactions: the overturn of Roe v. Wade. On June 24, 2022, the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion and returned the power to regulate abortion to individual states. This ruling ended nearly 50 years of federal protection for abortion rights. Overnight, women and girls lost their right to choose, were stripped of the power to shape their own destinies and suddenly had fewer rights than their mothers before them. This ruling is one of the most fundamental infringes on one\u2019s basic human rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,1],"tags":[108,1738],"class_list":["post-6616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal-of-regulatory-compliance","category-uncategorized","tag-abortion","tag-roe-v-wade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6616"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6684,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6616\/revisions\/6684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}