(Washington) American cities are expecting many demonstrations on Saturday after the very conservative Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to bury the right to abortion.
Posted at 8:41 a.m.
When this historic about-face was announced, leaving the right to authorize or prohibit abortion to the choice of States, a handful of them took the opportunity to immediately ban abortions on their soil.
President Joe Biden has denounced a “tragic mistake” that “puts the health and lives of women at risk” and called on Americans to defend the right to abortion during the midterm elections in November.
While clinics in Missouri, South Dakota or Georgia closed their doors one after the other, Democratic states, such as California or New York, pledged to defend access to abortions on their soil.
This revolution was sparked by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn its landmark “Roe v. Wade”, which since 1973 guaranteed the right of American women to have an abortion, the majority of its judges considering it today “Totally unfounded”.
“The Constitution makes no reference to abortion and none of its articles implicitly protects this right”, writes Judge Samuel Alito. “It is time to return the issue of abortion to the elected representatives of the people” in local parliaments.
This formulation is close to a preliminary draft judgment which had been the subject of an unprecedented leak at the beginning of May. Even if it was expected, it prompted thousands of people to express their joy or their sadness in front of the temple of law, in Washington.
“It’s hard to imagine living in a country that does not respect women’s rights,” said Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat, 49, stifling a sob. “We are entering a new culture of protection of life”, rejoiced conversely Gwen Charles, 21 years old.
Friday evening, a crowd was still present around the huge white building, in the capital, as well as many cities of the country like in Saint-Louis, Missouri, in front of the last clinic which practiced abortions in this State. , the first to announce on Friday the ban on abortions in the wake of the court decision.
PHOTO ANGELA WEISS, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
Protest outside the last clinic to perform abortions in St. Louis, Missouri
On Trump’s record
The judgment published Friday “is one of the most important in the history of the Supreme Court since its creation in 1790”, notes health law professor Lawrence Gostin. “It has already happened that it changes its case law but to establish or restore a right, never to remove it,” he told AFP.
The decision goes against the international trend to liberalize abortions, with advances in countries where the influence of the Catholic Church remains strong, such as Ireland, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia.
The judgment crowns 50 years of a methodical struggle led by the religious right, for whom it represents a huge victory but not the end of the battle: the movement should continue to mobilize to bring as many states as possible into its camp. or to try to get a federal ban.
It is also part of the record of former President Donald Trump who, during his mandate, profoundly overhauled the Supreme Court by bringing in three conservative magistrates who signed this judgment.
This decision, “it is the will of God”, welcomed the Republican billionaire on the Fox channel.
The three progressive magistrates dissented from the majority which they say “endangers other privacy rights, such as contraception and same-sex marriages”, a concern rekindled by calls from one of the conservative judges to reopen these files.
A country cut in two
Among the many demonstrations on Friday evening, two were marked by violence. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a pickup truck rammed into a group of protesters, injuring a woman, according to local media.
And in Arizona, police have admitted using tear gas to disperse protesters who “repeatedly banged on the windows of the state Senate.”
PHOTO JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ, USA TODAY NETW VIA REUTERS
Demonstration outside the Arizona Senate in Phoenix
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research center that campaigns for access to contraception and abortion in the world, half of the States should ban abortions in the more or less short term.
Within hours Friday, at least seven states immediately made all abortions illegal.
In one part of the country, women wishing to have an abortion will therefore be forced to continue their pregnancy, to manage clandestinely, in particular by obtaining abortion pills on the Internet, or to travel to other States, where abortions will remain legal.
Anticipating an influx, these mostly Democratic states took steps to make abortions easier to access on their soil, and clinics began to shift their staffing and equipment resources.
But traveling is expensive and the Supreme Court ruling will further penalize poor or single-parent women, who are overrepresented in black and Hispanic minorities, abortion rights advocates point out.