US abortion rights under threat: The spectre of a post-Roe America
- 2 years ago
The recent leak of a confidential US Supreme Court document has confirmed the conservative-majority court's intention to overturn Roe v. Wade, the ruling that has guaranteed access to abortion throughout the United States for nearly 50 years. Such a decision would have an unprecedented impact on 75 million women of childbearing age. But at the instigation of the Republican Party, some parts of the US, such as the states of Texas and Oklahoma, are already turning into a medical desert for women who seek a termination. Our correspondents Valérie Defert and Pierrick Leurent report on the "post-Roe America".
Every morning, in front of the Tulsa Women's Clinic in Oklahoma, the same scene repeats itself: patients arrive to park in front of one of the few clinics that currently still perform abortions in this largely conservative state. Their cars are immediately wedged between anti-abortion demonstrators trying to dissuade them from terminating their pregnancy and volunteers from the clinic, like Susan Braselton. Wearing a rainbow vest, she comes out to welcome the women, protect and reassure them.Such a scene is not unusual in an America where the right to abortion, guaranteed since 1973 by the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling, is being seriously eroded in around half of the states. The governor of Oklahoma has already taken inspiration from a law passed last year in neighbouring Texas that bans abortion as soon as a heartbeat is detected – usually at around six weeks. He is now expected to sign another bill, passed by Oklahoma's legislators on May 19, that prohibits all abortions with few exceptions.Six weeks into their pregnancy, many women are still unaware that they are pregnant and the recent restrictio... Go on reading on our web site.
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Every morning, in front of the Tulsa Women's Clinic in Oklahoma, the same scene repeats itself: patients arrive to park in front of one of the few clinics that currently still perform abortions in this largely conservative state. Their cars are immediately wedged between anti-abortion demonstrators trying to dissuade them from terminating their pregnancy and volunteers from the clinic, like Susan Braselton. Wearing a rainbow vest, she comes out to welcome the women, protect and reassure them.Such a scene is not unusual in an America where the right to abortion, guaranteed since 1973 by the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling, is being seriously eroded in around half of the states. The governor of Oklahoma has already taken inspiration from a law passed last year in neighbouring Texas that bans abortion as soon as a heartbeat is detected – usually at around six weeks. He is now expected to sign another bill, passed by Oklahoma's legislators on May 19, that prohibits all abortions with few exceptions.Six weeks into their pregnancy, many women are still unaware that they are pregnant and the recent restrictio... Go on reading on our web site.
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