In a historical event last Friday The U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v Wade. The final vote came down to 4 for and 5 against the current law. This action declares that individual states the right to decide the legality of abortion and the rules that apply to it, at the state level. Roe v Wade has been around for nearly half a century and will no longer exist.

With the decision leaked in May, many people were enable to prepare for the restriction of abortion laws. Over half of the states in the US have added restrictions with more likely to follow. Abortion, for all practical reasoning , will no longer be available in most states. This decision will also affect the fall elections and many people long after that. As parents we need to now look at how all of this is going to affect you and more importantly your children. 

What would happen if your teen were to get pregnant and what would be their options? Well this would majorly depend on what state you live in. Some states require you to know about the pregnancy at as early as 6 weeks and for many it is already well past that, with the first sign of pregnancy being a missed period. Most people missed period is not until after as many as 5 weeks, leaving only one week to confirm and terminate pregnancy. Other states are more strict in outlawing it all together while other states are more lenient. Many young expecting mothers will be jumping state lines in order to terminate their pregnancies. Another fear is that young women will take risks to their health by going over the border between the US and Mexico, but these are not the only options and never has been the only way. Adoption has always been an option for young mothers and even for those who just don’t want to be a parent. The expectation of rise in children in foster care and orphanages is obvious because those people who would have chosen to terminate pregnancy now have to carry to full term even if they don’t keep the child.

With the world so divided over what is the right thing to do, sometimes the lines of human rights become blurred and this is an amazing example of that. There are so many ways in which each side can prove their beliefs the morally correct thing to do, but at the end of the day whoever is in the majority will control how the states choose to vote on the subject. If women believe this is an impending wrong against their civil rights then it will be made clear in the voting this fall and in how state laws continue to change. To be heard, whether you’re against or for the new law, you will have to vote to ensure your state hears your opinion and if it is the opinion of the masses then those laws will be written according to the thoughts and actions of its people.

I cannot say whether what happened was right or wrong, but I can say voting and being involved can help your state truly know what its people believe. 

This is not a good nor a bad thing. We now have more control in what the laws look like in regard to abortion through the way we vote. If you are happy with the laws your state has created or unhappy with the changes being made then vote. Vote to keep the laws and vote to change the laws. At the end of the day the majority has the right to say what these laws will look like and that is the power our government gives to us as citizens