Manvi Singh looks into how Roe v. Wade impacts Indian students.
It’s been over a month that the Roe v. Wade judgement was overturned. Yet it remains and will arguably be one of the most contentious decisions pertaining to human rights. Several stories have come to light as a part of this conversation.
Dr. Savita Halappanavar was a 31-year-old bright and accomplished woman, who lived in Galway, Ireland, and worked as a dentist. However, her death sentence had already been codified into law in 1983 in the form of the 8th Amendment that banned abortion in the Catholic country of Ireland- a punitive measure against innocent women. She passed away in 2012 after contracting an infection, septicemia, after being denied an abortion on the grounds of the fetus ‘still having a heartbeat’, even when it was an inexorable fact that it would not survive. She became a martyr for the abortion movement in Ireland. Her face and her story were what people rallied and marched around to finally ensure the protection of a woman’s right to abortion in Ireland, which came to effect on January 1st, 2019. A mere three years after the strenuous triumph in Ireland, a pernicious reversal of fifty years worth of progress in human rights in the United States of America came in the form of the overturning of Roe V Wade. The U.S. has always been the default cornerstone to look up to by the rest of the world when it comes to human rights and democracy, as proudly advertised by the country itself numerous times throughout history. However, this development has revealed how diaphanous the apparent safety and security of women is in any part of the world. The reversal has been predicted to deeply affect marginalized communities. Through this blog piece, we focus on how this issue is pertinent to Indians, Indian Americans, and International Students.
Adhering to the deeply ingrained partisan nature of politics in the country, U.S. states demonstrated a striking split in the way they would utilize the Supreme Court’s decision of leaving abortion rights up to each state. 13 states (Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming) already had trigger bans in place that would go into effect immediately in case Roe v Wade was overturned. Conversely, 16 states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) alongside DC had laws in place that would protect abortion rights. Including the 13 trigger ban states, a total of 26 U.S. states are likely to act on the overturning and severely restrict abortion rights. The impact of the trigger ban was felt jarringly in an abortion clinic in Houston, Texas- a state with a highly concentrated Indian American population (443.3K). Even though the ban would not go to effect until 30 days, the clinic canceled the 10 appointments scheduled for the day in trepidation of being prosecuted by the state, which also had other laws against abortion (laws of the 1960s) predating Roe v Wade that were never repealed. There was disbelief, shock, tears, and most hauntingly- numbness in the faces of the women who had come in for a second chance at life. Their lives were completely debilitated with the quickness and relentlessness of lightning. For states with such laws in place, the next option is to travel over state borders to be able to access an abortion. In states like Texas, which is engirdled by states with little to no abortion access, distant travel needs to be undertaken for the procedure. Even if travel is scheduled somehow, the states that protect abortion rights would have an influx of people seeking an abortion, making it nearly impossible to get access on time. This situation is more terrifying for international students.
As of 2021, the number of Indian students studying in the United States increased by 12% (25,391 additional students compared to the previous year). Out of these, 37% of the students were female. Out of the 10 states mostly favored by international students, 4 protect abortion rights, while 6 severely restrict them. The overturning of Roe V Wade is a petrifying situation for international students stuck in a state that has stripped away women of this life-saving right. In addition to the various apprehensions and encumbrances that arise with trying to adjust to an environment stranger to anything they have ever known, students now have another baleful threat to overcome.
Living thousands of miles away from home, they are paralyzed and stranded and travel is seldom easily accessible- not to mention, costly. Furthermore, there is a myriad of other nuances related to culture, gender, and society that one battles with, for even when removed from the surroundings, these beliefs stay strongly rooted in them and their fellow Indian peer group. While the boundaries set by one’s own culture lighten but persist, the ubiquitousness of misogyny and rape-culture still envelopes the university experience- a fact that is echoed in the often untold stories of many young women. Such is the story of our anonymous guest writer in the following paragraph, where she recounts her experiences and explains what the overturning of Roe V Wade means for her as an international Indian student:
“ I come from a very conservative and controlling family, and when I secured a place in my dream university abroad, I was beyond elated. The thought of having limitless freedom had me daydreaming. My university experience kicked off with these same expectations. I befriended some fellow international Indian students, and together we all explored this new world we had been plunged into. However, this concept of limitless freedom translated into a much horrible meaning for a boy I called one of my closest friends there. One night, he came to my room and what was supposed to be a normal conversation like usual turned into the stuff of every girl’s nightmare — he raped me. I was devastated. When I tried to speak up, I was immediately threatened by him, and slut-shamed and victim-blamed by the girls in the group. But my worst fear was getting pregnant with his child. The potential pregnancy would be my death sentence. Furthermore, this would have been solid evidence of him assaulting me, and this fact pushed him and a group of men he knew into threatening me. He was a psychopath, and I was scared of what he and his friends might do to me. On the other hand, breaking this news to my family, who are extremely conservative, would have led to me being confined to my house and being emotionally and physically abused till the end of my days. Not just that, I could never imagine living with a child, who was born out of this atrocity. Even the thought of having no access to abortion at that stage scares me to death right now. I feel for all women who will be affected by this horrible loss.”
This is the story of many young women, who are often forced to abandon their goals and dreams due to circumstances designed to keep women in the cycle of servitude. Though such extreme and painful circumstances should not be the only reason to warrant abortion rights, it has been found on numerous occasions that even these reasons fail in providing women with empathy and access to basic healthcare. Women and what they do with their bodies are not grounds for debate or scrutiny- still, certain conservative beliefs prevailing in Indian societies curtail women through slut-shaming, victim-blaming, moral-policing, and guilt-tripping. Even though the abortion laws in India are much more liberal than the current reality of the United States, the legal safeguards are negated by what goes on in the streets. Unsafe abortions are the third leading cause of maternal deaths in India (resulting in 8 new deaths every day), with many women still living in fear of acknowledging premarital sexual activity, needing consent from their husbands for abortion even though the law does not require it, and resorting to unsafe abortion methods leading to infections and even death (67% of the total abortion procedures conducted are considered unsafe). Such is the state of a country where abortions are protected by the law- what happens when the law takes those rights away? This development puts the lives of thousands of women at risk.
Resources:
So, what are the resources one can look towards? Even though President Joe Biden signed an executive order exercising his power to try and safeguard the right to abortion, many pro-choice activists believe that it would have little to no effect. In such a case, it is up to those seeking an abortion to practice discernment and keep knowledge of the options they have. A group of journalists, activists, and artists on the Instagram account @themeteor keep updates on any developments regarding abortion rights in different states and also provide lists of resources on their account. Quoting a graphic listing resources,
- Aidaccess.org ships pills from overseas to all 50 states.
- PlanCPills.org connects you to pill providers in your state, and offers vetted info.
- Mayday.health connects to providers and gives information on mail forwarding if you’re in a state with a ban.
- ReproLegalHelpline.org offers advice on your rights.
- MAHotline.org support if you’re self-managing an abortion or miscarriage.
- AbortionHotline.org gives medical info and referrals.
- INeedAnA.com connects you with providers.
- ShoutYourAbortion.com is a home for pill advocacy.
- HeyJane.co offers abortion pills in NY, CA, WA, IL, CO, and NM.
Additionally, the idea of mobile abortion clinics is gaining traction to provide abortion access in states where it is banned. An organization called Just the Pill would be launching a fleet of mobile clinics and stationing them alongside state borders, providing consultations for medication abortions, dispensing pills, and providing surgical abortions. The vans ‘take approximately 8 months to build and are nondescript, devoid of signage, and bulletproof.’ For those seeking the procedure in the deep south, deploying floating abortion clinics in the Gulf of Mexico to bypass stringent restrictions has been proposed by Dr. Meg Autry, an obstetrician, gynecologist, and professor at UC San Francisco. Organizations such as the Brigid Alliance ‘book, coordinate and pay for travel, travel expenses, and child care, serving as a single, trusted point of contact for every step of the journey.’ Additionally, many prominent companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Conde Nast, Netflix, Disney, Sony, Warner bros Discovery, and so on are retaining or expanding their healthcare benefits for employees to cover the expense of interstate travel to facilitate abortion. However, the scope of interstate travel is an issue that is developing in real-time, with states like Texas and Oklahoma trying to ensure punitive measures for those ‘aiding and abetting’ abortion through travel.
University Action:
Universities like the University of Michigan, where abortion remains legal, anticipated the overturning of Roe V Wade as soon as the draft was leaked by the Supreme Court. President of the University, Mary Sue Coleman, and Michigan Medicine CEO Marschall S. Runge established a ‘university-wide task force on abortion care access.’ University of California President Michael V. Drake, highlighting his stance against the overturning of Roe V Wade, made the following statement: “We strongly support allowing individuals to access evidence-based health care services and to make decisions about their own care in consultation with their medical team. Despite this decision by the Court, we will continue to provide the full range of health care options possible in California, including reproductive health services, and to steadfastly advocate for the needs of our patients, students, staff, and the communities we serve.” However, for the most part, colleges are severely underprepared for the situation, according to an article by Bianca Quilantan for the Politico. The restrictions on abortion access would either leave college students to raise children on college campuses or drop their education. Colleges aren’t prepared to adequately support students who are parenting and getting their education at the same time.
Comments by Indian American Lawmakers
Many Indian-American lawmakers condemned the Supreme Court ruling, releasing numerous statements concerning the issue. Jay Chaudhari, a North Carolina state senator criticized the decision, calling it a huge setback to the progress in women’s rights in the past decades, while simultaneously urging citizens to prepare for the imperative upcoming elections in a way that ensures attacking this problem. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democratic Congressman from Illinois unequivocally sided with women’s right to choose in his statement. U.S Vice President Kamala Harris stated in her address at Plainfield Illinois, “This is the first time in the history of our nation that a constitutional right has been taken from the people of America. And what is that right? — some might ask. It’s the right to privacy. Think about it as the right for each person to make intimate decisions about heart and home; decisions about the right to start a family, including contraception, such as IUDs and the morning-after pill; decisions about whether to have a child, including, as Senator Durbin mentioned, through in-vitro fertilization; decisions to marry the person you love — Obergefell v. Hodges, Loving vs. Virginia.”
The overturning of Roe V Wade instigates a conversation about notions that transcend present time- failures and successes of society that would always be relevant, problems that would arise repeatedly because the root cause persisted. The actions of lawmakers aren’t mere statements written in a book- they affect real people in extremely tangible ways- making or marring lives. Such changes alter the lives of all, but their influence is felt differently across communities- owing to nuances of culture, gender, religion, class, and race. In times like these, it is essential to have conversations within communities and exercise the power of choosing representatives who would truly work for our benefit.
Sources
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/27/world/europe/savita-halappanavar-ireland-abortion.html
https://nypost.com/2022/06/24/houston-clinic-suspending-abortions-amid-overturning-of-roe-v-wade/
@themeteor, instagram
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA3q01gxt_k
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/24/roe-decision-colleges-pregnant-students-00042246
