Thousands protest against US abortion ruling
The US Supreme Court on Friday paved the way for bans on abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that gave women the right to decide for themselves whether to terminate or continue a pregnancy. Several states have already reacted by tightening their abortion laws, while thousands demonstrated against the decision. What does this mean for human rights?
Perhaps this is just the beginning
Expressen fears further drastic decisions:
“In the worst case this will only be the beginning of a conservative offensive against liberal values in the US. The three Supreme Court justices who opposed the ruling write in their dissenting opinion: '[this decision] places in jeopardy other rights, from contraception to same-sex intimacy and marriage'. Conservative Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, writes that these very rights are 'mistakes' that need to be corrected.”
Maternal mortality will increase drastically
This will result in many women having illegal abortions, writes historian Marius Oprea in Mediafax:
“The scale of maternal mortality as a result of abortions will reach apocalyptic proportions in the US. The tragedy of the mothers will be followed by the tragedy of abandoned newborns, for which the US social system is utterly unprepared. On the other hand, not much will change for the educated and/or rich class: sales of contraceptives and measures to prevent pregnancy will grow and money can solve everything, including an abortion in an exclusive private clinic in a more permissive US state or in Europe.”
Right-wing fringe now mainstream
Historian Joan Wallach Scott observes a fateful shift in the US's political spectrum. She writes in L'Obs:
“The loss of women's right to abortion, to control their bodies for their own and their family's interests, is one aspect - in this terrible reactionary moment - of the political triumph of the authoritarian right. A right that is marked not only by cruelty, racism and sexism, but also by malevolent madness. ... Since Donald Trump's presidency, groups that were once considered fringe, even crazy, have become mainstream. ”
At last the people will have a say again
The Spectator is happy that state legislatures will once again be making decisions on this knotty issue:
“Even if you are pro-choice you should still support this Supreme Court ruling, at least if you value a healthy political process based on democratic debate. ... Nothing remotely resembling a right to abortion appears anywhere in the US constitution. ... Decisions like Roe amount to lawmaking: they belong in legislative, not judicial, chambers. ... Whatever you think on abortion, getting nine unelected men and women in Washington to prejudge the issue will no longer work. Quite right too.”
Reform the Croatian constitution now!
This shocking ruling should also have consequences in Europe, demands journalist Gordan Duhaček in Index:
“The right to abortion must be enshrined in the Croatian constitution. We have the chance. The moment has come. Now, now, now! Those who are not ready for the fight deserve political ruin. We don't need such racketeers. That is why I want to say very clearly: I expect all parliamentary parties that consider themselves left-wing or liberal to start a petition for a constitutional reform introducing the right to abortion, and that all other social actors who care about women's rights join in.”