Overturning Roe v. Wade: consequences for midlife women’s health and well-being

Abstract

In July 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized access to abortion in the United States. The overturning of Roe v. Wade means women’s ability to choose to have an abortion or continue a pregnancy is no longer protected by the constitution of the Unites States (Rohan, Editorial: Overturning Roe v. Wade: What are the implications for perinatal nurses?, 2021). Consequently, each state can now independently decide the legality of abortion. The purpose of this commentary is to discuss potential consequences of the overturning of Roe v. Wade for women’s health, particularly midlife women’s health, in the United States. The consequences discussed include unintended pregnancy, access to the full array of reproductive health services including abortion, impact on the reproductive health of poor women and women of color, and the impact on midlife women in their caregiving roles.

Expanding the Catalog of Patient and Caregiver Out-of-Pocket Costs: A Systematic Literature Review

“…For instance, pregnant people may face increased financial burden such as expenses for travel, accommodation, and childcare if they must travel out of state to receive abortion care. 67 …”

Predictors of Abortion Attitudes in Medical Students After the Reversal of Roe v. Wade

“…In fact, researchers have found that women who are denied an abortion are more likely to suffer physical and mental harm [8]. Studies that compared women who were able to have an abortion to those who wanted an abortion but were unable to attain one found that women who did not have an abortion were more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and poorer physical health five years later [9][10][11].…”

“…Although there are ample health benefits to providing legal abortions, there have been increasing restrictions and bans placed on abortion since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 and have continued after the Dobbs v. Jackson Health decision in 2022 [2,9]. The current rhetoric in the media with regard to abortion as a procedure with medical consequences to women and the fetus, including depression and infertility, was first used by the primarily if not all-male American Medical Association (AMA) as a response to women's rights movements to maintain power in and control of medical practice, suppress competition of (mainly female) midwives, and as a reaction to women lobbying for rights to attend medical school and study obstetrics and gynecology (OBGyn) [3].…”

“…Studies have also shown that locations that limit access to abortion do not decrease the number of unintended pregnancies, decrease the demand for abortion, or improve women’s health, and are more likely to have fewer safe abortions with more complications [ 9 ]. Higher maternal mortality rates are also seen in places that limit abortion, as the risk of death from childbirth is 14 times greater than that from a legal abortion [ 2 ].…”

“…Higher maternal mortality rates are also seen in places that limit abortion, as the risk of death from childbirth is 14 times greater than that from a legal abortion [ 2 ]. The U.S. has the highest mortality rate of any industrialized country, nearly one death per 1,000 cases of childbirth, and that mortality rate is even higher in states that are more restrictive on abortion [ 9 , 12 ]. It should also be noted that lower income, younger, and racial and ethnic minority women experience unintended pregnancy at significantly greater rates than their non-Hispanic white counterparts and are also disproportionately affected by abortion policy, with Black women having the highest maternal mortality ratio [ 9 , 12 ].…”