(Washington) Two years after a historic ruling by the Supreme Court, abortion has established itself as an essential theme in the electoral match between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, with scarlet red lights for the Republican camp.
On June 24, 2022, the high court, profoundly overhauled by the former president, overturned the famous Roe v. jurisprudence. Wade, who guaranteed the federal right of American women to have an abortion, giving each state the freedom to legislate.
The country is now fractured between the twenty or so states having decreed bans or strong restrictions, mainly located in the South and center, and those on the coasts, which have adopted new protections.
The Supreme Court’s decision has thrown America into deep legal uncertainty, opening up other questions around in vitro fertilization, for example.
The temple of American law must also soon render another highly anticipated decision.
The Supreme Court must decide whether Idaho hospitals must follow federal guidelines and perform abortions in certain situations putting women’s health at risk, or whether they are subject to the conservative state’s virtual ban.
“Health crisis”
“This is a health crisis, and we know who is responsible: Donald Trump” attacks Vice-President Kamala Harris, on the front line on the subject, according to extracts from a speech she is due to give on Monday in Maryland ( east), before going to hammer home the same arguments later in Arizona (southwest), a potentially decisive state for the November election.
The Democrats believe that with the defense of the right to abortion they have a powerful argument to grab precious votes from women and young people.
Since the Court’s ruling, conservatives have lost almost every referendum or vote that raised the issue of abortion, even in states that are usually largely theirs, such as Ohio, Alabama and Kansas. .
Over the past two years, “the pro-abortion movement has discovered that Americans care much more about this right than they had anticipated,” notes Professor Mary Ziegler of the University of California, Davis. “And so they are trying to take advantage of this situation through electoral initiatives,” she explains.
President Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic who has long been cautious on the issue, has himself become a champion of the right to abortion, and will not hesitate to point it out on Thursday during the first debate with his rival.
“Donald Trump is solely responsible” for the “nightmare” caused by the Supreme Court’s decision, the Democrat criticized in a press release Monday morning.
Miscarriage
Her campaign team unveiled an advertising clip in which a woman says she suffered a refusal of care in Louisiana for a miscarriage at 11 weeks of pregnancy, “a direct consequence” of the former president’s decisions, she said. facing camera.
Democrats have encouraged mini-referendums on abortion in several swing states to be held on the same day as the presidential election.
Their logic is simple: pro-choice votes could greatly benefit Joe Biden and mobilize voters who might otherwise have been tempted to snub the vote.
According to a Fox News opinion survey published Wednesday, 47% of voters consider the issue of abortion “extremely important” to decide between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Trump ambiguous
On abortion, the Republican billionaire, who never misses an opportunity to point out that it was through his judicial appointments that the Supreme Court made its historic turnaround, is now deliberately ambiguous.
“You have to follow your soul and conscience on this issue, but don’t forget that you also have to win elections,” he said in a video in early April.
For example, the Republican candidate is not campaigning on a very unpopular promise to ban abortion throughout the country through federal law, as the religious right would like.
“The best you can do if your position is unpopular… is not to clarify it,” says Professor Mary Ziegler.