The United States is experiencing moments of deep division. The Supreme Court ruling on Friday to repeal federal abortion protection triggered that more than half of the 50 states are enacting laws restricting or directly prohibiting this right.
“It’s a really sad day here at the clinic. There are still a lot of unknowns in terms of what this means for access for our patients,” said Dr. Rebecca Taub, of the Trust Women Clinic in Kansas State.
The US Supreme Court overturned the Roe Vs Wade ruling, which dated back to 1973 and established the constitutional right to abortion.
The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group, estimates that 26 states, mostly in the South and Midwest, will ban abortion following the repeal of Roe Vs Wake, potentially forcing millions of women seeking an abortion to having to travel to states where the right to abortion is protected.
Some bans went into effect automatically on Friday after the announcement in some states, which had pre-approved legislation in case the Roe VS Wade ruling was overturned. Clinics in Alabama, Texas and West Virginia have stopped performing abortions out of fear of legal prosecution.
While Mark Gietzen, of the Coalition for Life, in Kansas, celebrated the Court’s decision and called to work quickly so that the state approves its corresponding legislation, immediately.
“Now we will have to redouble our efforts to pass the “Value Both” Amendment so that what happened in 2019 in Kansas is not an obstacle for this great state to enjoy the great decision handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Some companies position themselves
Several of the large American companies such as Disney, Meta Platforms, Inc, and Yelp, among others, reacted quickly to the news and assured that they will offer financing for travel expenses to their employees in case they need to travel to other states to have abortions.
Alaska Air Group, parent of Alaska Airlines, said Friday that it is “reimbursing travel for certain medical procedures and treatments if they are not available where you live. Today’s Supreme Court decision does not change that.”
In the far west of the country, California Governor Gavin Newson acted immediately on the US Supreme Court’s ruling. Newson signed a state law that protects abortion patients and providers and formed an alliance with the states of Oregon and Washington to defend access to reproductive health services.
“We will not help, we will not be complicit in their threats of punishment, to create fear among those who seek that support. We are proud to provide that help … and we are proud to have the opportunity to be able to codify it, “said the governor.
Fearing that the repressive measures will advance, Cristina García, president of the California women’s legislative group, pointed out: “The laws in particular that are to protect patients and doctors from complaints or who want to take away their license, those laws We are rushing them and we hope that by the weekend we finish those laws, because the need is today”.
Even the Supreme Court follows the principles established in its previous decisions, a doctrine known as decided. The dissenting justices wrote that the ruling violated this long-standing legal precept.
On the other hand, the court ruling set off alarms about other rights such as those of marriage of same-sex couples.
In the reasoning of the opinionthe judge of the US Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, defended that in the future all precedents in this regard be reviewed: “We should reconsider all the precedents of this court on substantial due process”, and specifically mentioned the sentences that protect the rights to contraception, same-sex intimacy and same-sex marriage.
Friday’s ruling is based around a case involving a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
* VOA reporters Celia Mendoza in New York and Verónica Villafañe in California contributed to this report.
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