Professor Paula Johnson spoke with two local news outlets, NewsChannel 9 and CNY Central, about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In her discussion with NewsChannel 9, Johnson explained that “what has struck me is just how sweeping the opinion is. When we got the draft opinion, we did not get all the concurring opinions and we certainly had not gotten the accenting opinion yet. But now we have all the opinions in their full scope. And I must say from my own perspective, it is quite sweeping and quite devastating.”
The decision implicates not only reproductive rights, but it also implicates rights to other privacy issues that have to do with American citizens. Johnson believes that the ruling insinuates that women’s lives are subordinate to every other person in society, and even to those who are in embryotic stages. She also expresses that this ruling will have a most profound impact on the lives of women of color and poorer women who will no longer have access to safe and legal abortions for the sake of their own health.
When speaking to CNY Central about how this affects women in the State of New York in particular, Johnson confirms that people will legally be able to come to New York for an abortion if it’s illegal in their home state. Out-of-state patients made up about 9% of those who received abortions in New York in 2019, according to the CDC, which is up from 5% in 2015.
“The State of New York would also exercise its authority to not comply with requests, say extradition requests or that sort of thing, where they believe that someone has violated the law,” said Johnson.