From the OP's link:
"It was reported this month that the Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, at which point more than half of all U.S. states will instantly ban abortion. “Here is what it means on a practical level in terms of women, and men, and all genders: Privacy rights are in jeopardy,” Harris said. “When you look at the privacy rights that are in jeopardy, it could very well include the right to obtain contraception. It could very well include the right to marry someone of the same sex.” "
First of all, the Supreme Court has not yet voted to overturn that ruling. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade, as it should, all that means is that the right to an abortion is not a constitutional right. One might assume that since the right to an abortion was founded on the right to privacy, one could imagine that every other right mentioned by Kamala Harris is also in jeopardy. But that is in fact the way it is supposed to be, either you take the necessary steps to enshrine such rights in the Constitution (Amendment process), or you pass national or state legislation to codify such rights. The SC ruling doesn't mean the US Congress can't pass legislation to prevent or limit abortion bans, contraceptives, or same sex marriage, with whatever restrictions are deemed to be necessary. Such laws would be civil rights, meaning that subsequent legislation could deny those same rights, just as they could at the state level. If you don't like that, tough shit. That's the way our government works.
Having said that, such talk by Harris, Biden, and others is mostly scare tactics. As we speak, there is a bipartisan effort to legislate a Women's Reproductive Act of some sort in the Senate, so maybe they find some kind of compromise on the issue. Maybe such a bill would also codify the right to contraceptives and same sex marriage, assuming such isn't already codified. Failing that, it falls to the states to legislate their own laws regarding these issues. Politicians who ignore the wishes of the electorate can be held accountable for whatever they legislate.
Finally, maybe there will be fewer unwanted pregnancies if it becomes harder to get an abortion. If I'm not mistaken, there already is a decline in pregnancies overall anyway. And there is a rise on abortion pills in lieu if a medical procedure where you can get the medications online.
In 2001, only 5% of all abortions were via medication, a figure that rose to almost 25% by 2011 and 39% in 2017.
By 2020, the last year for which numbers are available, a full 54% of all abortions were done by pill, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.
It's believed the figure is even higher now after the relaxation of federal restrictions in December 2021.
Abortion by pill is used to terminate at least 54% of pregnancies in the U.S., a number expected to rise even higher if Roe v Wade is overturned.
www.usatoday.com
