The right to abortion in the US does not reach its 50th anniversary

Half a century after the legalization of abortion in USAthe country celebrates that anniversary with the sentence that authorized it revoked and an open battle between those who fight for the complete abolition of this practice and those who defend the right of women to decide on their bodies.

The protests carried out these days by supporters and detractors crystallize the citizen division around a decision that on January 22, 1973, when the Supreme Court positioned itself in favor of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, marked a before and after in history US.

The case had been brought on behalf of Jane Roe, the legal pseudonym of Norma McCorvey, who was fighting then-Dallas prosecutor Henry Wade over a Texas state law that allowed abortions only to save the woman’s life. At that time, 30 of the country’s 50 states had similar laws.

McCorvey was a single mother pregnant for the third time, but was unable to have the desired abortion. Although she won the case, by the time the Supreme Court pronounced her sentence the baby, a girl, had already been born and had been given up for adoption.

This 50th anniversary is symbolic for both sides. Critics of abortion hail the June court ruling as a first step, and supporters see it as evidence that you can’t let your guard down.

The anti-abortion organization March for Life estimates that since that first ruling “some 62 million lives have been lost due to legal abortion,” and estimates that the number of voluntary terminations of pregnancy will drop from the current 900,000 per year, according to its data, to about 200,000 in this new stage “post Roe”.

His goal is not only to change laws at the federal and state levels, especially now that the Republicans have taken control of the Lower House, but also “to change the culture so that abortion is ultimately unthinkable.”

THE BATTLE OF THE DETRACTORS, THEREFORE, HAS NOT ENDED

Since last June, 18 states have banned abortion or have severely restricted it, and in 13 of them access to this service is practically impossible, although there are exceptions. But in the country there are 50 states.

“People often forget that it’s not just about the pregnant woman, but also about the baby in her womb,” Jennifer Milbourn, coordinator of the Abortion Survivors network, told EFE. Her mother, an alcoholic, tried to abort her 44 years ago, but when she went to the clinic it was too late and after doctors failed to aspirate her fetus they sent the woman home.

When abortion was not legal in the United States, undergoing one carried great legal and health risks, recalls EFE Carrie Flaxman, senior director of law and public policy litigation at Planned Parenthood, the largest network of reproductive service clinics in the US. .

“It subjected people to surveillance, investigation, arrest, prosecution and other types of criminal sanctions. This was destroying families, careers and lives. Roe decriminalized abortion by acknowledging that it is a right protected by the 14th amendment of the Constitution, ”he explains to EFE.

Half a century later, the decision of the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, annulled that advance.

“As a result, one in three women of reproductive age in the United States – and more trans and non-binary people – no longer have access to abortion in their state,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, stresses to EFE. .

Some women are forced to travel hundreds or thousands of miles outside their home state for medical care if they can afford it, she adds, and others miscarry outside the health system or are forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term.

“We must continue to work to adequately fund and advocate for sexual and reproductive health programs. The Supreme Court’s decision means that the path to restore and protect the right to abortion passes through the states, so the fights to protect and restore access will be fought at that level,” concludes the Planned Parenthood leader.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.