The Violence of Abortion Bans

September 4, 2025

The right to abortion is a right to bodily autonomy and comprehensive healthcare. Government actions that deny such rights to make critical, intimate decisions about our bodies and futures are arguably state-sanctioned violence.

Kylie Cheung, author of Coercion: Surviving and Resisting Abortion Bans, argues that the violence of abortion bans is not an accident; it’s by design. Simply put, abortion bans decrease abortion rates by interfering with people’s access to reproductive health care. That, in itself, is a form of violence. But there’s more: abortion bans carry with them a slew of serious consequences: “rising maternal mortality, child rape victims forced to travel across state lines, increased risk of criminalization, pregnant victims coerced by their abusers.” We must assume that people who support abortion bans also understand and accept these consequences. They, in essence, support increased maternal and infant mortality, coercion, and abuse. As Cheung states: “This is what abortion bans function to do, which is to police and control pregnant people, to feed cycles of abuse, to be this tool in the toolbox of abusers.” Pretending otherwise ignores the evidence before us.

We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation join Cheung’s analysis in full. Our right to sexual freedom, including our right to abortion, is a fundamental human right. Those who attack our rights should be tasked with explaining why they are willing to consign so many people to die or otherwise suffer harm as a result.