Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed state law prohibiting abortion after the 6th week of pregnancy. It will be possible to interrupt it only for medical reasons. The law has already entered into force, and may soon begin to operate in other states. Read today in USA.ONE:
Oklahoma women banned from having abortions
Dozens of other US states are on the way.
Abortion is banned in America
A model for Oklahoma was a law that had previously been passed in Texas. According to it, individuals will be able to sue doctors who provide abortion services after a 6-week period. In addition, from August 2022, those who perform abortions may begin to receive a prison sentence. And Oklahoma is not the only state to be affected.
On Tuesday, May 3, information was leaked from the US Supreme Court that in the near future the verdict in the case "Roe v. Wade", recognizing women's constitutional right to abortion, will be terminated at the federal level. This means that the states will decide on the regulation of this sphere of human activity on their own. In some of them, the Republicans have already prepared relevant bills.
The Supreme Court confirmed the leak, as well as the authenticity of the document, but said that it does not reflect the final position of the judges on this issue. If the decision is published unchanged by the end of June, dozens of US states will be able to completely ban abortion. Termination of pregnancy was allowed in the United States in 1973 after the sensational case "Roe v. Wade". And now, almost 50 years later, everything can change.
Religious activists, conservative judges and conservative state legislatures are trying, if not to abolish the right to abortion in the country, then to make it as difficult as possible to allow the procedure or reduce the number of clinics that perform it. For example, in Kentucky, doctors are required to show a woman the heartbeat of her baby in the womb, even if she doesn't want to. Opponents of abortion attack and set fire to clinics, and some even crack down on doctors.
In opposition to them, there are activists who advocate for the protection of women's rights. They help them get to clinics in other states or get the medicine they need. Conservatives are fiercely fighting them. So, in the spring of 2021, Texas passed a law banning abortion from the moment the fetus has a heartbeat (after the 6th week). Moreover, the victims of rapists, incest and teenagers were no exception. Any American could sue a doctor who ended an unwanted pregnancy.
In December 2021, the Supreme Court refused to consider a complaint against this law due to the majority of votes among conservative judges. The court is also considering a complaint against a law passed in Mississippi, according to which it is illegal to have abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy, even for victims of violence and incest. True, this is nothing compared to the prospect of the complete abolition of "Roe v. Wade". The leak of this information has become a real sensation.
The decision in the new case was made by Judge Samuel Alito, which is why the text turned out to be so radical. It was written in February of this year and sent to colleagues for their consent. The document states that "Roe v. Wade" "monstrously wrong" and is based on "very weak" grounds that led to "destructive consequences". According to the judge, the right to abortion is not protected by the US Constitution, which means that individual states have the right to decide for themselves whether to prohibit it or not.
A source close to the court confirmed that 5 conservative judges support such a decision. Cancellation in "Roe v. Wade" will mean that 22 US states will enact total or partial bans on abortion: 9 of them adhered to rules that were in effect before the 1970s, and 13 introduced special laws that will take effect after the ban is lifted. The number of legal abortions will be reduced by at least 14%, and women will be forced to risk their health by using dangerous home remedies.
A complete ban on abortion remains a very unpopular measure in America. Only 20% of residents support such a decision. It is expected that the Supreme Court verdict and the resulting laws of the southern states will help the Democrats get into Congress in the elections in November. The left wing of the party calls for a federal guarantee of the right to abortion. Representatives of the Democratic factions in both houses of Congress consider Alito's text "the biggest restriction of rights in the last 50 years".
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