Criminalization of pregnancy has already been happening to the poor and women of color

Porch’se Miller, a community organizer raises a fist in solidarity at a rally in front of the Georgia State Capitol after the overturning of Roe. Wade by the US Supreme Court on June 25, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Haley McMahon says every time she hears someone say “you can’t ban abortions, only safe abortion,” she shakes her head a little.

McMahon studies abortion access and she says while women will certainly die because of the Supreme Court’s decision, this idea of women dying from back alley abortions is stuck in the past. “I understand why people go to that talking point,” she says. “But that’s just not where the evidence points.”

Medicine has advanced over the past fifty years. Now there are self-managed abortions — known as SMAs — pills people can take to safely terminate a pregnancy from home.