LAUSR

In the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision and its overturning of the constitutional right to an abortion in the United States, much attention has been focused on the immediate consequences of reduced bodily autonomy. There has been less attention on the mental health toll that is bound to follow. Indeed, American Psychological Association President Frank Worrell warned that this Supreme Court decision—and the ensuing restrictions on safe abortion—would exacerbate America’s mental health crisis (1), already brought into sharp focus by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As the ramifications of this Supreme Court decision ripple outward, the damage to the mental health of women, particularly women who are already underserved, must be addressed by expanding access to mental health services and integrating such support directly into reproductive care. Most women who have abortions in the United States are racial and ethnic minorities or of low socioeconomic status, so these restrictions will most severely impact already marginalized populations. Black women, in particular, may be at the highest risk because they are less likely to seek out and receive mental health care (2) and five times more likely to obtain an abortion than their White counterparts (3). Our history is rife with attempts to control minority women’s bodies, from raping enslaved women to 20th-century eugenics programs targeting more than 100,000 Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous women (4). The intergenerational legacies As the nation comes to grips with the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling, the need for mental health support, especially among women who are already underserved, has come into sharp focus. Image credit: Shutterstock/Johnny Silvercloud.