United States: Kentucky could be the first state without access to abortion
Audio 02:36
Pro-abortion protest outside the United States Supreme Court in Washington, March 4, 2020 (illustrative image).
SAUL LOEB / AFP
By: Carlotta Morteo Follow
7 min
Thousands of women in nearly 400 cities across the United States marched this Saturday against the appointment of Conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a devout 48-year-old Catholic mother of 7 who could be named by Donald Trump before the November 3 election to replace Ruth Barber Ginsburg, who died on September 18.
The Supreme Court would then be firmly anchored in the conservative camp (6 judges against 3) for decades.
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One of the challenges of this confirmation
: the right to abortion at the federal level.
If the Roe versus Wade law were to be called into question, and overturned by the Court, the States would then be free to vote independently to ban abortion in their territory.
In Kentucky, a very conservative “Bible Belt” state, the local Republican majority has already successfully banned the opening of any new abortion center.
It could well become the first state without any access to abortion, since there is already only one clinic practicing abortion on its territory.
Report from our correspondent in Louisville.
They are there every morning: “
Miss, don't do that
!
"
In front of the clinic"
A free women
"is his name, anti-abortion activists are trying to dissuade women who come here learn or have an abortion.
They pray and recite the words of the Gospel, in front of appalling photos of dead fetuses.
On the sign held by Tanneur, thirty-something with a mustache, a professional carpenter and a Protestant pastor, we can read: “
Here we kill babies, give them to me instead, I will adopt them.
"
“
Again this morning I walked alongside fathers to tell them to go get their wife inside, to go get their baby, because it is valuable
!
In our culture, we now believe in this lie that a child is a burden in life, but God tells us that children are a gift.
"
And for this father of 5 children, who will vote Donald Trump in the next election, there is no reason to justify an abortion.
“
From a Biblical point of view, I believe that if a man rapes a woman, he is the one who should be sentenced to death, not the innocent child.
"
The pro-abortion activists are there too, and they wear orange armbands to distinguish themselves, and offer to escort the women to the clinic to prevent them from being literally snapped up by the anti-abortion activists.
“
It's a personal choice and no one should decide for you, vote on your behalf, or even give you their opinions on what you want to do with your life.
It does not concern them.
"
Clarence works in the hospital sector.
Volunteer accompanist for the clinic for 3 years, she is generally worried.
“
The right to voluntary termination of pregnancy is under attack across the country.
And with the appointment of Amy Conney Barret to the Supreme Court, some say "
you're too stressed out, she's not going to overturn the Roe versus Wade decision
" that legalized abortion, but she might actually get the idea across. that it is only legal before six weeks of pregnancy, for example, when you cannot hear a heartbeat.
Which, in fact, amounts to banning abortion
.
"
According to several surveys conducted in recent years, 10% of Americans want to ban abortion.
In fact, 3/4 of Americans want it to remain legal across the country, but there to be more restrictions.
A minimum of 24 hours of reflection before the medical procedure for example, or even a reduction in the maximum abortion period which is 20 weeks of pregnancy in most states, 1/3 of Americans would like it to be reduced to 12 weeks, as is the case in France for example.
Note that embryo research is also less regulated in the United States than in Europe, and the sale of aborted fetuses for research purposes is legal.
Complex, sensitive ethical issues that politicians and the media often summarize as a Manichean choice, “For or against” abortion.
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