by Abby Walden (staff writer)

In 1973, Roe v. Wade was decided by the US Supreme Court and protected people with uteruses’ right to choose, yet abortion is still a highly debated topic across the United States. During the Trump administration, abortion rights came under attack over and over again. With a pro-life president in office and a conservative leaning Supreme Court many states sought to pass total or near abortion bans in the hopes that it would reach the Supreme Court and they would have the opportunity to essentially overturn Roe v. Wade. Instead, these bans were ruled unconstitutional in lower courts each time under lawsuits from Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. 

As these bans failed, Trump sought another route signing the “Protect Life Rule” or  “Gag Rule” and reinstating the “Global Gag Rule” or Mexico City Policy. The domestic gag rule effectively bans Planned Parenthood and other abortion health services from serving people who rely on Title X. Title X is a family planning federal program for people who are low-income or underinsured who may not have other access to health services. This executive order mandated that in order to continue receiving and participating in Title X, clinics are required to not tell their patients how to safely and legally access abortion aka give them all the information about their sexual and reproductive health care options unless the patient brings up abortion on their own. It also requires that clinics have separate places within their facilities, accounting and staff for Title X patients. It is important to note that the Hyde Amendment blocks federal funds from being used for abortions so none of the Title X funds were ever used to perform abortions in the first place. 

The rule essentially defunded Planned Parenthood and other abortion-providing clinics because they did not have the resources to follow these regulations and that is exactly what Trump and conservatives meant it to do. Although the rule was blocked in Maryland, a 9th circuit court of appeals ruled against Planned Parenthood causing them to leave Title X shortly after. Planned Parenthood clinics previously provided the family planning needs of 41% of the women on Title X. It also left 6 states without Title X providers. Planned Parenthood and similar clinics provide many other crucial services besides abortions including birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, and general health exams. This decrease and for some people complete removal of access to these services disproportionally affects people of color, LGBTQIA2+ people and people living in rural areas, something not uncommon of Trump policies. 

The attack on health and abortion services didn’t stop with domestic policies, as Trump reinstated and expanded the “Global Gag Rule”. This rule “restricts foreign governmental organizations that receive US funds from using non-US provided funds for any services, referrals or… advocacy on abortion outside the US”. The rule has been implemented by Republican administrations and rescinded by Democratic ones multiple times, but in the past has only applied to some of US global health funding. Trump continued his atrocious attacks on bodily autonomy by appointing Amy Coney Barrett, an extremely pro-life conservative, to the Supreme Court towards the end of his term. Not only are these attacks against people’s rights to control their bodies, but they also strip them of crucial access to reproductive health services and those that prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place. Reducing and/or removing access to abortions doesn’t decrease the number of abortions, only the legal and safe ones. Many people argue that abortions are against their religion or consider abortion murder of “an unborn child” which is actually a fetus aka a mass of cells. In a country that is so proud of its supposed freedoms, it should not be so hard for people to understand that if they are against abortion, they simply do not have the right to get one. Their personal or religious beliefs do not get to dictate what a person does with their own body.On the other hand, President Biden is pro-choice and in his first month in office has already taken steps to get the government’s hands out of the medical decisions of people with uteruses. On January 28th, he signed an executive order rescinding both the global and domestic gag rules and effectively restoring funding to Planned Parenthood. Biden has also expressed support for repealing the Hyde Amendment. In just his first few weeks in office, Biden has taken important steps to protect reproductive rights and although bans like the one in South Carolina (currently suspended pending a lawsuit) continue to be proposed, the country is moving in the right direction.