Here’s How It Could Threaten Birth Control Access

Topline

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Friday and gave states license to ban abortion—increasing the likelihood that many contraception methods like birth control pills and Plan B could be targeted next, which some lawmakers have already suggested they want to do.

Protesters hold up placards in a pro-abortion rights march in Reno, Nevada, on May 7.

SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Key Facts

The Supreme Court overturned Roe entirely on Friday, ruling the 1973 decision was “egregiously wrong” and there is no federal protection to abortion under the Fourteenth Amendment, which declares states can’t deprive people of “life, liberty or property, without due process of law.”

The court specified in its ruling that the decision only applied to abortion and not to other precedents, but experts have nevertheless projected overturning Roe could threaten the court’s 1965 ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, which established the right to privacy and legalized birth control (for married couples only at the time), since it was based on similar legal grounds.

Justice Clarence Thomas also argued in his concurrence to the ruling he thinks the court “should consider” Griswold—along with other court rulings on LGBTQ rights—and overturn those decisions through future cases, saying the court has “a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.”

Some Republicans have already expressed opposition to Griswold, suggesting that precedent could be challenged in court next, such as Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters.

Even if Griswold isn’t overturned, some abortion bills already threaten contraception access by defining the life of an “unborn child” as starting at fertilization or conception, which could be interpreted to apply to contraceptive methods like Plan B.

While many state’s existing abortion bans explicitly state they don’t apply to contraception—including in Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Louisiana—some other states’ laws, such as in Missouri, have raised concerns for how they’ll be interpreted.

Crucial Quote

“If we had to guess, we suspect the prospects of this Court approving bans on contraception are low. But once again, the future significance of today’s opinion will be decided in the future,” liberal Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor wrote in their dissent against the court’s abortion ruling. “At the least, today’s opinion will fuel the fight to get contraception, and any other issues with a moral dimension, out of the Fourteenth Amendment and into state legislatures.”

Contra

Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, denied to Forbes that anti-abortion advocates would try to target birth control access next, calling the suggestion “scaremongering.” “Restrictions are not gonna happen,” Tobias told Forbes. “Contraception is not taking the life of an innocent human being.”

What To Watch For

Whether Republican lawmakers will start taking aim at contraception by introducing bills that ban it specifically or could be used to restrict it. Idaho state Rep. Brendan Crane, who chairs the Idaho House’s State Affairs Committee, suggested in May that lawmakers could discuss banning emergency contraceptives like Plan B, and Louisiana lawmakers proposed an abortion ban—which ultimately failed—that could have been construed to restrict contraception.

Big Number

68%. That’s the share of U.S. adults in an April Morning Consult poll who said states should provide free access to birth control if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Large majorities—including approximately half of Republicans—say they’d support making birth control even more accessible if abortion is restricted, with 65% backing increased public funding for family planning and birth control services and 62% favoring requirements for all employer health insurance plans to cover birth control.

News Peg

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday as part of a case concerning Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban and whether states can restrict the procedure even before a fetus is viable. Justice Samuel Alito delivered the court’s opinion, which said Roe was “egregiously wrong” and argued the case should be overturned because the right to an abortion is not expressly stated in the Constitution or “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.” Four justices—Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett—signed on to Alito’s opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts issued a separate concurrence agreeing with the judgment and court’s the three liberal justices dissented.

Key Background

Critics have warned the court’s broad ruling would likely have far-reaching consequences, and in addition to birth control, critics have also said rulings upholding same-sex and interracial marriage could be at risk, as well as the court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that struck down racial segregation in public schools. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has also signaled he may challenge a ruling that granted public education to undocumented immigrants.