Moving beyond Roe
Blog | January 22, 2026
Welcome to the modern reproductive rights movement.
For decades, reproductive rights advocates fought to protect baseline abortion access under the protection of Roe v. Wade. That time is over. As threats to our democracy continue to ramp up across the country, we’re witnessing how attacks on bodily autonomy are at the root of authoritarian governance.
Roe was the bare minimum. Our fight is to create a culture and country where abortion is safe, legal, accessible, and destigmatized. Our fight is to have more freedom over our bodies, our communities, and our care.
Abortion Forward is a founding member of the State Abortion Access Network, a network of reproductive freedom organizations from across the country bound together in our work to create a ground-up movement to fortify abortion access for everyone.
Long before the fall of Roe, people seeking abortions — especially Black and brown abortion seekers — were shamed and criminalized. The protections from Roe did not mean access, affordability, or even safety for many. Without its protections, criminalization is a reality laid bare for all to see. We know in ban states, no amount of privilege saves you from the cruelty of abortion bans.
We are contending for protections beyond Roe that center abortion access and reproductive justice. Our communities don’t just deserve to give birth when and if they choose — they deserve to thrive with access to food, clean drinking water, and safety from state surveillance and violence.
Since the fall of Roe, voters in states across the nation, red and blue, have consistently supported protecting abortion access each time it’s on the ballot.
In Missouri, abortion rights advocates passed a constitutional amendment to protect reproductive freedom. The citizens who pushed for that advancement are continuing to speak up in the face of an opposition-led effort to undo the amendment.
In Maryland, voters approved the Right to Reproductive Freedom amendment, a constitutional amendment that enshrines the right to reproductive freedom, including making decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s pregnancy, in the state constitution.
In Texas, the very state where Roe originated, voters in deep-Red Amarillo rejected a law that sought to block abortion seekers from traveling on their roads to get out of the state for care.
In Ohio, advocates fought against the nation’s first six-week abortion ban bill for nine years before it was signed into law. Our ballot initiative fight required a coalition to defeat a special election solely designed to make it harder to amend the state constitution before winning abortion rights in the general election.
In Virginia, advocates have won a new ballot initiative through the state legislature, working within the halls of government to protect everyone’s right to safe and legal abortion care.
We have power, and the majority of Americans are unified in their support of abortion access. Our opponents know this, which is why anti-abortion politicians and extremists have continued to push restrictions in every state — harassing patients and providers inside and outside of courtrooms at every opportunity, and seeking to steal our access to medication abortion, a safe resource available to people across the country.
Our opponents seek to make abortion a divisive issue. But these wins at the ballot box post-Dobbs confirm what we have known all along: Abortion is more popular than both political parties, and when it’s on the ballot, removed from a party or candidate, it is always a winning issue.
In 1973, Roe was a landmark. In 2026, it is a legacy we can commemorate and look beyond to regain freedom over our own bodies. We must center and uplift storytellers to bust abortion stigma and transform our culture.
We will no longer beg for scraps and whisper in the shadows. We must boldly proclaim that abortion is joy and fight for governance with reproductive justice at the center. Together, our state organizations will fight against any state and federal restriction that steals autonomy over our bodies. We all deserve to build our futures and lives on our own terms.
