Idaho passes law restricting abortion

New episode of the vast conservative offensive to hinder the right to abortion in the United States. The US state of Idaho passed a law on Wednesday March 23 authorizing civil lawsuits against health professionals practicing voluntary terminations of pregnancy (abortion).

This law, signed Wednesday by the governor, allows the families of women who have had an abortion – as well as the parents, even in the case of rape – to file a complaint against the clinics or doctors who carried out the intervention. It is modeled on a law that has generated considerable controversy in Texas.

The text has been denounced by human rights defenders as well as by the White House. “Legislators have openly bragged about this law as a means ‘clever’ to limit access to abortion” bypassing justice, said Lauren Bramwell, of a powerful civil rights organization, denouncing a text “irresponsible”.

A White House spokeswoman called the Texas law and its siblings a crude attempt to undermine the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 “Roe v. Wade” decision, which guaranteed women’s right to abort. “Over the past six months, Texas law has had profoundly negative effects, forcing women to travel hundreds of miles to access care”she castigated, noting that the impact of such laws was particularly strong on women with low incomes and living in rural areas.

A total of 1,844 measures related to contraception and abortion were introduced in 46 states between January 1 and March 15, the Guttmacher research institute counted. (article in English)which campaigns for the right of women to control their bodies.