Prior to 1973, women in the United States who wanted an abortion faced extreme dangers. Since they could not obtain safe and legal abortions, women practiced self-induction and potentially fatal methods such as falling down stairs or ingesting poisons. This dark era ended on Jan. 22, 1973, when the Supreme Court ruled safe abortion legal in the Roe v. Wade case.

But now, women’s fundamental rights are under attack, and anti-abortion politicians fail to acknowledge that criminalizing the procedure will not eliminate it, but may force women to return to that dark era.

Senators confirmed a number of extreme conservatives to lifetime positions on federal courts, and in at least nine different states, legislatures passed early abortion bans, some as early as after six to eight weeks of pregnancy. But every pregnancy differs; while some women know they are pregnant early on, it can take others many weeks to realize, something that these abortion bans do not take into account. If a woman who has only missed her period by one or two weeks can no longer have the procedure, the result is a de facto ban on all abortions.

Such politicians also fail to consider that women should be the only ones in control of their bodies. In a country where the legislating body of our government is primarily composed of men, it is unjust to limit the reproductive rights of the underrepresented women.

The anti-abortion movement spreading throughout the nation will set women’s rights back decades. Abortion is a medical procedure. A fundamental right. A law established by Roe v. Wade that should not be overturned. It should not be a national debate, as women deserve the choice and control over their own bodies.