With Trump being elected as the 47th president of the United States, women’s rights will likely change significantly, detrimentally so.
Although Donald Trump has said he is not against abortions, his actions have shown otherwise. Women’s rights do not seem to be a priority in his campaign, as he focuses more on immigration and economic issues. Many people, in fact, resorted to voting for Trump for these specific reasons. The belief that his presidency would lower costs, make living more affordable and keep the borders more secure convinced many to vote for him. However, claiming that Donald Trump’s economy was better and had tanked under Biden is simply false. The economy in the present day is one of, if not, the best in the world. Not only this, but many people fail to realize that the work a president does while in office often takes years to be seen. This means the work done by Obama was likely the reason for Trump’s apparent success in his presidency, especially in his first couple of years in office.
Donald Trump’s effect on women’s rights date back to his first term from 2016 to 2020, when he appointed Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. These people played a large role in the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, leaving the issue of abortion up individual states. Roe v. Wade was a decision ruled in 1973, which established that all women had a constitutionally protected right to abortion. It had been in place for decades, protecting women and their reproductive freedoms. The overturning of this decision led to 41 states enacting some type of abortion ban and 13 having a complete abortion ban, according to Guttmacher.
Some may think that giving the states this power is not bad, as ultimately, the people, to some degree, have the ability to decide what laws are in place where they live — people vote for the representatives that pass the laws. However, for many women living in predominantly anti-abortion states, it can be very dangerous and at times even life-threatening. Not to mention that half the voters are men who should not have such a considerable weight on a decision such as this, as they do not have the ability to become pregnant or experience the complications regarding it.
Banning abortion entirely can lead to women being put in terrible situations, not receiving the proper care they need, making them resort to other dangerous forms of abortion or even needing to give birth and raise a child they may not have the capability to care for. Total abortion bans mean that some women may not even be able to abort in cases of rape or incest. In some states, such as Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, South Dakota, Idaho and Wyoming, legislators have introduced and expressed interest in the act of penalizing women who travel out of state for an abortion.
With the presidential election of Trump and a predominantly Republican Congress and Supreme Court, we are seeing an uneven Republican shift, threatening women’s rights and freedoms. Although the passing of a federal abortion ban being passed is unlikely, the Republican lean of government after this election makes it much more probable than before, leaving many women concerned for their rights in this country.
