(Washington) Far from eliminating abortions, the United States Supreme Court’s historic reversal on abortion a year ago has above all created a hellish headache for women, a mess in the courts and a dilemma for the Republican Party.
On June 24, 2022, the high court, deeply overhauled by Donald Trump, overturned its Roe v. Wade judgment, which had guaranteed the right of American women to have an abortion since 1973, and gave each state back its freedom to legislate in the matter.
The same day, the first states banned terminations of pregnancy on their soil, forcing clinics to close urgently or to move to more welcoming lands.
Since then, the country has been fractured between the twenty or so states that have decreed prohibitions or strong restrictions, mainly located in the South and the center, and those on the coasts that have adopted new guarantees.
PHOTO ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Pro-abortion rights protesters gather outside the United States Supreme Court on April 15 in Washington.
The overall impact remains, from a numerical point of view, limited: the professional organization Society of family planning recorded an average of 79,031 abortions per month across the country from July 2022 to March 2023, compared to 81,730 in April/May 2022, a decrease of 3.3%.
“Many people continue to get the abortions they need, but they face more obstacles,” said Ushma Upadhyay, a professor of public health and gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco, for AFP. , and co-author of this study.
” Russian roulette ”
The closure of clinics in a dozen states has prompted tens of thousands of women to travel.
Beyond the economic cost, getting a day off or explaining your absence to loved ones is not always easy. Getting organized also postpones the intervention, later in the pregnancy, and can have a psychological impact.
Not to mention the health risk.
In a complaint, a Texas resident, Anna Zargarian, said her waters broke far too soon for her fetus to survive, but had to travel to Colorado to expel her. The flight was “frightening”: “It was like playing Russian roulette: I could have a haemorrhage, an infection or go into labor at any time. »
PHOTO SUZANNE CORDEIRO, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Anna Zargarian wipes away tears as she speaks outside the Texas Capitol March 7 in Austin.
In the first trimester, Americans can also use the abortion pill. But it is illegal in several states and those who obtain it on the internet or through aid networks “face the risk of being prosecuted”, notes Ushma Upadhyay.
As for those who are forced to carry their pregnancies to term, it is mainly “the poorest of the poorest” and, given the deep racial inequalities in the country, often black or Hispanic women, adds the expert. .
Five million
For her, the future is uncertain. For a year, many donors have mobilized to help women, “but in a year or two, these private efforts will run out,” she predicts.
Likewise, the legal landscape remains unstable. Every restrictive law has been challenged in court, and the outcome of most appeals is yet to be known, including in populous southern states like Georgia or South Carolina.
But the biggest unknown is the abortion pill.
In April, a federal judge withdrew the marketing authorization for mifepristone (RU 486), which the United States Drug Administration (FDA) had granted in 2000 and which has since been used by more than five million women.
His decision was put on hold by the Supreme Court, but an appeals court could validate it soon.
Under pressure
The battle also continues in the political arena and will be one of the main issues in the race for the White House in 2024: 20% of Americans place abortion at the top of their concerns for this election, according to a poll. USA Today/Suffolk University.
President Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic who has long been cautious about abortion, is now posing as a champion of the right to abortion, which has earned him the support of several major family planning organizations in his campaign for a second term.
This strategy, massively endorsed by the elected Democrats, has already avoided the rout announced in the mid-term elections.
The failure of referenda hostile to abortion in the very conservative states of Kansas and Kentucky also tempered the ardor of the Republicans, forced into a delicate balancing act.
To satisfy the religious right, an essential component of their electorate, they push at the local level for very restrictive legislation, prohibiting abortion even in the event of rape or incest.
But anxious not to alienate moderate voters, they are on the other hand more reserved at the federal level, despite pressure from major anti-abortion organizations.
Among them, the group SBA Pro-Life said it would only support 2024 presidential candidates who pledge to promote a law restricting abortion across the United States.
Donald Trump, who boasts of having “buried Roe against Wade” by bringing three conservative judges to the Supreme Court, is kicking for the moment in touch.