Reproductive Rights Survey

The organization 3.14Action has launched a nationwide Reproductive Rights Survey, via email, asking Americans to speak out for or against restoring (and, where appropriate, protecting from anti-abortion initiatives), abortion rights legislation.

BY CARLOS MATÍAS

This pro-choice legislation has been entrenched in the U.S. legal system for nearly half a century, since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. In 1992, it was upheld in its most essential aspects by a new ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

However, the right to abortion was wiped out just over a year ago. In June 2022, the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling gave every state a “free hand” to restrict it, or even ban it altogether, with no exceptions. Nonetheless, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, Alaska law includes constitutional protections for abortion. The Alaska Supreme Court has interpreted the privacy provision found in the state’s constitution to protect a pregnant person’s right to make reproductive decisions, including abortion, as a fundamental right, and more protective than the U.S. Constitution.

Since 1973, with the Roe v. Wade ruling, there has been great social and political debate in the United States over whether and to what extent abortion should be legal; who declares its legality or illegality; how the Supreme Court should act