Why medical support for safe abortion is growing in a post-Roe world

While the right to safe abortion has been restricted in the United States, elsewhere, governments are liberalising abortion laws.

In June 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned its own decision from 1973 in the landmark Roe v Wade case, which until then protected the right of American women to legal abortion. This resulted in a wave of state-level initiatives to ban abortion. Today, 21 US states partially or fully restrict access to abortion.

As a result, women in the US face significant barriers in obtaining safe abortions – with legal uncertainty and lengthy court cases to determine their access to reproductive healthcare. These restrictions have affected not only women seeking to terminate an unwanted pregnancy but also those who have suffered miscarriages, often limiting their access to emergency medical assistance.

Medical colleagues in the US confirm that these ever-changing restrictions are leaving many fearful of prosecution, forcing doctors to make agonising decisions that could compromise their ability to provide essential and lifesaving care.

As healthcare workers, we have seen what happens when women are denied this vital medical service.

Abortions performed outside of formal medical care, in unsanitary conditions, put women and girls at high risk of serious health problems, even death. Each year, an estimated 35 million people around the world resort to unsafe abortion, with devastating consequences. Countless lives are lost, and hundreds of thousands more women are left to endure the physical and emotional trauma of preventable complications like infertility and chronic pain.

However, as we mark this year’s International Safe Abortion Day, there is also some good news to celebrate: Medical