The world watched in collective agony and devastation as it was announced that the US Supreme Court had overturned Roe v Wade. Such a decision had immediate impacts across the nation, with states permitted the right to make abortion illegal. Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice organisation, estimates more than half of US states would likely or almost certainly ban abortions, making access to legal abortion “effectively end for those living in much of the American South and Midwest, especially those who are poor.”
For Australian Madolline Gourley, the immediate consequences of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade were a lived reality while passing through Los Angeles on June 30th. After spending time housesitting in Canada, Gourley found herself the subject of interest of US immigration officials who questioned her abortion history and grew suspicious of her intentions.
Gourley was subjected to a pat down and interrogation before being asked to leave the country. In an interview with The Guardian, she described how she was repeatedly asked whether or not she was pregnant, before being fingerprinted, photographed and detained.
“She was walking me from one room to the next, and she asked the pregnancy question again,” said Gourley. “I don’t know if she had forgotten, or she wanted to work out if I was lying or something. I said no, and she looked at me again and said, ‘Have you recently had an abortion?’ I don’t know the thought process behind that…I just thought, ‘What’s the relevance of that to my situation?’”
Gourley was since told that the reason for her deportation back to Australia was one based on the fact that she had breached the conditions of the visa waiver program, which applies to citizens of Australia and other countries who make short visits to the US and other countries for reasons like business and tourism, but not regular employment. Under such a program, Gourley’s house-sitting was not allowed as she received free accommodation in exchange for such services. As Gourley insists, she was never aware of such rulings.
While Gourley hopes to now alert other Australian travellers on such restrictions to ensure they don’t also suffer the same penalisation and questioning, her situation is one that also speaks to the devastating reality that US women now face after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. With independent states now holding the right to make abortion illegal, there are growing concerns not only for women’s safety, but for their reproductive rights at large. It seems clear that such a ruling won’t stop abortion from happening, but will put an end to safe abortions and as those with a disability or are more prone to miscarriage have expressed, forced pregnancy is a death sentence.
