Shortly after Roe established the right to abortion, politicians rushed to undercut the landmark decision by passing increasingly cruel abortion restrictions — including laws preventing people from using their insurance to cover abortion care, mandating care be delayed for a certain amount of time, requiring parental consent for young people, and imposing medically-unnecessary restrictions that raise the cost of abortion or force clinics to shut down entirely. These laws are part of a larger plan to ban abortion state by state, and ultimately nationwide.

Forced pregnancy impacts anybody seeking reproductive and bodily freedom, but not everyone is impacted equally when abortion is banned or pushed out of reach. The burden falls hardest on people who already face systemic racism and discrimination in this country, including people of color, people who are undocumented, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people, as well as people who are young, have low-incomes, or live in rural areas. Fighting these laws is essential to the fight for racial, economic, and gender justice.

In partnership with We Testify, we launched a storytelling series with the shared mission of uplifting the voices of those who have had abortions. Below are four stories from the series that all share one thing in common: the liberation each person experienced as a result of their abortion.

The ACLU is fighting abortion bans, including Texas’ bounty-hunting abortion ban (SB 8), and barriers to care in dozens of courts and statehouses across the country. Our fight will continue until we can put an end to these laws and every restriction that blocks people from getting the care they need.

Below, a glimpse of some of the 25+ ongoing legal battles that the ACLU is currently fighting across the country.