Earlier this week, news broke that the Supreme Court, in a leaked initial draft of majority opinion, had voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case in which the court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.

Though a final decision from the Supreme Court has not been announced, social media was filled with stunned responses, with many admitting they never thought it would even come close to happening. One person who was not shocked: Cecile Richards. “Over the past few years, more and more restrictions around abortion and reproductive health have been passed,” she says. “It was clear that this was an issue that was gaining a lot of traction.”

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Richards served as the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action fund for more than a decade and wrote about her activism in her 2019 book, Make Trouble: Stand Up, Speak out, and Find the Courage to Lead. Since stepping down from her position at Planned Parenthood, she has become the co-chair of American Bridge 21st Century, a research, video tracking, and rapid response organization for Democratic politics.

Here, Richards speaks exclusively to Oprah Daily about what she feels are the implications of Roe v. Wade being overturned.

How did we get to the point of Roe v. Wade potentially being overturned?

Support for abortion rights and legal abortion has actually increased over the years. And women have continued to access abortion services at pretty much the same rate. It has been a decision by the Republican Party to use abortion to agitate and energize a part of their party. The states we are seeing ban abortion are the states led by Republicans. It has been a terrible, horrific confluence of events—where you had a president, Donald Trump, who made abortion his calling card and only appointed justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. He got three judges onto the Supreme Court—it’s a math problem, really.

Are you surprised by how surprised many people seem?

This past fall, we did research at American Bridge along with Planned Parenthood and Emily's List to understand, after the Texas abortion ban, if people believed this was a real threat. An overwhelming number of people thought this would never happen. It’s clear in the reaction we’ve seen since the leaked opinion—folks, including some of us who were holding out hope, thought it wouldn’t happen. So now we are faced with the stark reality that a constitutional right that generations of people have had is about to go away—and fast. This is not going to be a matter of years. This is going to be a matter of days, weeks, months.

What do you think is at the root of all of this?

It’s about politics. The folks that rail about saving babies and supporting women—look at their voting record. Don’t listen to their words; look at how they vote. It’s abundantly clear that this is about maintaining political power. These guys in power are at risk. We have more women in Congress and more people of color in Congress than ever before. And that is starting to make a difference in the white-male-dominated political system that we’ve all lived in for our entire lives. All of this is a response to that.

Mississippi is a good example of what someone says not aligning with what’s happening. The attorney general there argued that women didn’t really need abortion access anymore because they are doing so well and having so much success in their careers. But Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the country and they have a maternal mortality rate that is twice the national average. In terms of the well-being of women and children, what he is saying is just not true. And the same legislature that passed the abortion ban also voted down efforts to extend healthcare access to women on Medicaid from two months to a year. The hypocrisy is blatant.

What other implications do you see?

We just had a 26-year-old woman in Texas imprisoned for trying to terminate a pregnancy. She was not only imprisoned; she was held on a half a million dollar bond. It was an illegal arrest, and eventually she was released, but the damage had been done. Texas has a bounty hunter system. Any person who is pregnant and is trying to figure out how to terminate a pregnancy can’t speak to a friend, relative, religious leader, teacher or anyone really—because that would subject them to potentially being turned in. Frankly, a police state has been designed. If this passes, I think we will hear more and more of these types of stories—and not just in Texas. In states that ban abortion, we could start seeing doctors and nurses going to prison for helping women.

Will a ban on abortion stop them from happening?

It never has, and it never will. Abortion existed before Roe v. Wade, and people died. When Texas tried to ban abortion before, we had women crossing the border to get abortions or women trying to induce their own abortions. We’re going to see more and more of that. It’s unconscionable that women would have to do this without any kind of medical care oversight. So, it’s not a question of if women will be harmed and if pregnant people will be harmed; it’s just a question of when.

What do you think will happen to reproductive healthcare centers in states where abortions are banned?

Clinics that only provide abortions will have to shut down. A lot of places will be forced to. I can’t speak for Planned Parenthood, but I know they’ll do everything they can to continue to provide other services in those areas. Every time the government gets involved in ending reproductive healthcare access, clinics close, and sometimes it takes years and years for them to reopen, if they ever do. A few years ago, after efforts by the governor and legislature in Texas to shut down healthcare clinics that provided reproductive services, Planned Parenthood had to close in El Paso. It took years, but another organization was able to raise the money to reopen the clinic. The director of that clinic called me a week after they reopened and said they had women coming in for their annual exam that hadn’t been to the doctor since the clinic had closed. For women with low incomes, access to healthcare, particularly reproductive healthcare, can be tough—there are huge healthcare deserts. The danger of this isn’t just maternal mortality, it’s undetected breast cancer, it’s a lack of Pap smears, a lack of access to affordable, high-quality birth control—the list goes on.

What can people do about what’s going on?

First, take care of the people around you. A generation of young people are losing a right. Their futures are going to be determined by whether or not they have the right to control their bodies and make decisions about pregnancy and childbearing. Support abortion funds and local abortion providers. I also think it’s important for people to continue to tell their stories. The stigma around abortion is significant. I told my story about having an abortion, and women still come up to me and say thank you. This is a moment when we can destigmatize abortion. It is part of the lived experience of millions of people around the world, and there really shouldn’t be a stigma around it. Finally, you can get politically involved. Find someone who is running that you agree with and support them—voting is important. As for the people who already represent you, call them. If you agree with the stance they’ve taken in your state, call to say thank you. If they don’t, call to let them know that. And protest. I saw a tweet the other day that said, “It’s not enough to be angry; go vote.” But I say, it’s not enough to vote; be angry.

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Bethany Heitman

Bethany Heitman has spent 15 years producing content for women; she is the former editor-in-chief of PeopleStyle and has held senior leadership positions at Cosmopolitan and Seventeen. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York