Q&A: If Abortion Is Illegal, What Happens Next?
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2022
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
And in the coming days, the Supreme Court will issue a ruling that could fundamentally change the landscape for abortion in the U.S.
The possibility that the court could strike down Roe v. Wade has raised all kinds of legal questions, as people consider what a post-Roe America might look like.
We asked members of the NPR audience what questions they had about abortion access and reproductive rights.
Khiara Bridges, a law professor at UC Berkeley who studies reproductive rights, and NPR's Sarah McCammon, who covers abortion policy, answer some of their questions.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | For almost half a century, the right to an abortion has been the law of the land. |
| 0:05.6 | But last month, that the Supreme Court had draft opinion in the biggest abortion case |
| 0:09.8 | in years was leaked, and it indicated that the Supreme Court may be poised to overturn |
| 0:15.8 | Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion. |
| 0:21.1 | I was appalled that in a democracy, state and federal laws could potentially compel someone |
| 0:29.2 | to carry a pregnancy deterrent against her will, no matter her circumstances, her religious |
| 0:36.0 | beliefs, her moral and ethical convictions. |
| 0:39.8 | Maureen Riley is from Queensborough, New York. |
| 0:42.6 | She's staunchly pro-abortion rights, but there are few issues as highly debated as emotionally |
| 0:48.9 | charged as abortion. |
| 0:50.4 | I believe that all children should be protected no matter how they were conceived. |
| 0:55.5 | Reagan-Barkledge is the National Field Director of Students for Life of America. |
| 1:00.4 | It's the largest anti-abortion student organization in the country. |
| 1:03.8 | I don't think that women should ever feel pressured, you know, based off of their circumstance, |
| 1:09.6 | either. |
| 1:10.6 | And we need to be able to help women through their circumstance and not just throw |
| 1:14.6 | abortion in there as like a bandaid or a solution to solve that problem. |
| 1:18.8 | The court's decision and the possibility that Roe could fall has left many Americans with |
| 1:24.2 | questions. |
| 1:25.2 | It seemed to me that overturning Roe versus Wade opens the door to using law to compel people |
| 1:33.5 | to be either treated or not treated or denied treatment for any health or medical condition. |
| 1:42.4 | Consider this. |
... |
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