by Karen Pataky, Director, Public Policy & Political Action Committee; Chair, Health Policy Task Force

So ex-President Trump’s SCOTUS nominees are fulfilling their purpose. Roe v Wade will cease to be settled law in one month and several states are ready to make all abortions illegal. Some states are considering murder charges for physicians who perform abortions.

Next month there will be no further rights for any woman to have an abortion in America. Government-mandated motherhood will be the law in a state-by-state manner for almost half of our country. We are already hearing about a few women being threatened with arrest who have sought Emergency Room care for their miscarriage.

Ending the right for every American woman to exert full control over her body is based on the belief that the pregnant woman is merely the vessel for the zygote or embryo or fetus in her uterus. Sadly, bestowing personhood on an intrauterine group of cells impacts all of the pregnant woman’s medical decisions. For instance, when the pregnant woman is diagnosed with cancer, her oncologist will be mandated to care for “both lives,” which means the therapy recommended will be the least toxic to the embryo or fetus, rather than the most effective procedure or medication.

Do not be fooled. The anti-abortion adherents are lying when they say there will be no interference with contraception. They have manufactured falsehoods that hormonal and intrauterine birth control cause “mini-abortions.” Even condoms are forbidden by some “Pregnancy Counseling Centers,” which state “every sperm is a potential life.” (Remember when young boys were warned of the evils of masturbation?)

In closing, let’s not forget that lethal violence has also been part of anti-abortion fervor. Four OB GYN physicians were assassinated 1992 and 1994. Violence recurred in 2007 and 2015 with bombings and arson attempts and murder of more than a dozen employees in health care facilities that provided abortions.

There can be no compromise in maintaining complete and inclusive reproductive health care for every woman in America. And the woman herself must continue to decide what is best for her and her family.

Full stop!

Future op eds will discuss “What Next?”