States rush to back US abortion ban
Conservative states across America moved swiftly to ban abortion as protests erupted for the second day following the Supreme Court’s thunderbolt ruling on Friday.
Conservative states across America moved swiftly to ban abortion as protests erupted for the second day following the Supreme Court’s thunderbolt ruling on Friday.
The deeply polarised country woke up to a new level of division: between states that will now or soon deny the right to abortion, enshrined since 1973, and those that still allow it.
Thousands of people throughout the US marched through streets and outside the Supreme Court in Washington, carrying signs reading “War on women, who’s next?” and “No uterus, No opinion”.
At least eight right-leaning states imposed immediate bans on abortion – with a similar number to follow suit in coming weeks – after the Supreme Court eliminated 50-year-old constitutional protections for the procedure, drawing criticism from some of America’s closest allies around the world.
In its ruling, the court tossed out the argument in Roe v Wade that women had the right to abortion based on the constitutional right to privacy with regard to their own bodies.
The court, in a decision written by Justice Samuel Alito and joined by four other judges, concluded that Roe was egregiously wrong and said there was no provision in the constitution that implicitly protected the right to an abortion.
The decision means all states now have broad latitude to prohibit or protect abortion as they see fit.
Fuelling the mobilisation of protesters, many now fear that the Supreme Court, with a clear conservative majority made possible by Donald Trump, might next set its sights on rights such as same-sex marriage and contraception.
President Joe Biden, who has also voiced concerns the court might not stop at abortion, spoke out again on Saturday against its “shocking decision”.
“I know how painful and devastating the decision is for so many Americans,” said the president, who has urged congress to restore abortion protections as federal law, and vowed the issue would be on the ballot in November’s midterm elections.
Women in states that severely restrict abortion or outlaw it altogether will either have to continue with their pregnancy, undergo a clandestine abortion, obtain abortion pills, or travel to another state where it remains legal.
“We are going to see some nightmare scenarios, sadly,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Air Force One as the president headed to Europe for G7 and NATO summits.
“That is not hypothetical,” she said.
Missouri was first to ban the procedure on Friday, making no exception for rape or incest, joined as of Saturday morning by at least seven other states: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah.
Several Democratic-ruled states, anticipating an influx of patients, have already taken steps to facilitate abortion, and three of them – California, Oregon and Washington – issued a joint pledge to defend access in the wake of the court’s decision.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul last month affirmed her state would remain open for abortions.
“We will not stand idly by,” she said. “Anyone who needs care, we welcome you with open arms.”
Abortion providers said they had seen a surge in donations since the ruling, as they braced for the long hard road ahead.
“In the 24 hours following the court’s devastating decision, Planned Parenthood … saw a 40-fold total increase in donations compared to a typical day – more than half of whom are new donors,” said Kelley Robinson, vice-president of advocacy at the largest abortion provider in the US.
“This is just the beginning, and we won’t back down.”
Clinics in several states closed or suspended service after the decision.
Friday’s demonstrations mostly passed off without incident – although police fired tear gas on protesters in Phoenix, Arizona, and in the Iowa city of Cedar Rapids a pick-up truck drove through a group of protesters, running over a woman’s foot.
In Washington on Saturday the scene was again mostly peaceful – barring the odd shouting match between abortion rights advocates and opponents.
Carolyn Keller, 57, who travelled from New Jersey, said she was enraged by the ruling, warning: “They came after women. They will come after the LGBT community and contraception.”
But counter-protesters such as Savannah Craven stood firm.
“It’s not a personal choice to have an abortion, it involves two people and unfortunately that choice ends in the ending of someone’s life,” she said.
As protesters made clear, while Friday’s ruling represents a victory in the religious right’s struggle against abortion, the movement’s ultimate goal is a nationwide ban.
That goal is now within sight in about two dozen states that are expected to severely restrict or outright ban and criminalise abortions.
Several large US companies pledged to provide health coverage for out-of-state abortions, releasing statements announcing or reiterating intention to reimburse employees if they need to travel for an abortion.
Yelp and Airbnb were among the companies to announce such benefits last September after a Texas banned abortion after six weeks, or before many women know they are pregnant. Others, including Citigroup, Tesla, Starbucks, Levi Strauss, JPMorgan Chase and Amazon also announced the benefit in following months.
Disney added its name to the list on Friday, assuring employees of access to reproductive care benefits “no matter where they live”.
AFP
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