Rival camps dig in for fight after US abortion ruling

Protesters hold placards during a demonstration in downtown Los Angeles on June 26, 2022, two days after the US Supreme Court released a decision striking down the right to abortion

Elected leaders across the US political divide rallied Sunday for a long fight ahead on abortion -- state by state and in Congress -- with total bans in force or expected soon in half of the country.

Two days after the US Supreme Court scrapped half-century constitutional protections for the procedure, abortion rights defenders kept up their mobilization, with several hundred gathered outside the high court during a candlelight vigil in Washington Sunday.

Conservative-led US state legislatures have moved swiftly, with at least eight imposing immediate bans on abortion -- many with exceptions only if a woman's life is in danger -- and a similar number to follow suit within weeks.

And Democratic governors in Michigan and Wisconsin have stepped in to try to keep abortion legal in their Midwestern states.

Speaking on ABC's "This Week," Noem also voiced support for legislation banning "telemedicine abortions" in which a doctor prescribes pills to end a pregnancy -- set to become a key resource in many places where abortion is illegal.

States should now focus on helping mothers and newborns by expanding services including adoption, he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Fears that the Supreme Court's strong conservative majority -- made possible by Donald Trump -- will now seek to target other rights like same-sex marriage and contraception have fueled the nationwide mobilization since Friday.

President Joe Biden has condemned the Supreme Court's ruling as a "tragic error" -- but with power now resting with often anti-abortion state legislatures, he has also acknowledged his hands are largely tied.

In Wisconsin, where an 1849 law banning abortion except to save the life of the mother may go into effect, Governor Tony Evers vowed to offer clemency to any doctors who face prosecution, according to local media.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned nightmare scenarios may soon come true -- as women are forced to continue with unwanted pregnancies, travel long distances to states where abortion remains legal, or undergo clandestine abortions.

A CBS poll released Sunday showed that a solid majority -- 59 percent -- of Americans and 67 percent of women disapproved of the court's ruling.

In the Virginia city of Lynchburg, police were investigating a case of vandalism Saturday at an anti-abortion pregnancy center -- which was spray-painted with graffiti and had its windows smashed.

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Originally published as Rival camps dig in for fight after US abortion ruling