If abortion becomes totally illegal or strictly limited in half the country,
said Irin Carmon, women won’t need to get the back-alley or coat
hanger abortions of the 1950s. They’ll be likely to turn to the easily
available drugs mifepristone and misoprostol to “end a pregnancy by
their own hands.” That means ambitious local prosecutors in red states
could hold only one person—the woman—legally accountable, and
“there is little doubt that states would delight in prosecuting her.” For
public relations purposes, the anti-abortion movement has long insisted
on a logical inconsistency: “Abortion is murder, but women shouldn’t
be held accountable.” Yet at least 17 women have been arrested since
2005 and accused of self-inducing abortions. If Roe v. Wade is overturned,
or states restrict abortion to the point where it’s unavailable,
tens of thousands of desperate women will obtain abortion pills from
pro-choice activists or online pharmacies. (That phenomenon is already
occurring.) The women most likely to be caught and prosecuted, of
course, will be poor women of color. “Supporters of abortion rights
should get ready for what illegal abortion in America will look like.”
Abortion will go underground, and women will be sent to prison.
