A federal judge in Missouri temporarily suspended Tuesday the application of a very restrictive law on the right to abortion that was to come into effect Wednesday in the conservative state of central United States. The judge, Howard Sachs, said the law banning abortions from the eighth week went against the US Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy until the fetus is "not viable", around the 24th week of pregnancy.
The law, he explained in his submissions, "is in conflict with the Supreme Court's ruling that no legislative or judicial limit on abortion can be measured in terms of weeks of fetal development." It did not, however, block the part of the law prohibiting abortions on the basis of sex, color or a risk of trisomy 21 for the unborn child.
Conservative offensive against the right to abortion
"We are encouraged by the court ruling that confirmed the anti-discrimination nature of the law and we look forward to resolving other issues," Republican Governor Mike Parson responded on Twitter. Several conservative states in the center and south of the country have launched a major offensive against the right to abortion by adopting very restrictive laws that have been the subject of legal remedies. They hope ultimately to see the Supreme Court, now a conservative majority, return to its iconic Roe v. Wade who had legalized abortion in 1973.
Over the years, abortion clinics have been subjected to increasingly stringent conditions. In Missouri, the state's last clinic has been suspended since late May in St. Louis, with governor Mike Parson allowing his license to expire. The powerful ACLU Civil Rights Association and Planned Parenthood, which runs the St. Louis Clinic, also welcomed the court decision.
"Missouri's lack of access to abortion remains in place for the time being, and we can not ignore the part of this law that remains in force that allows politicians to interfere in the process. relationship between a patient and a caregiver ", however, tempered the president of Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill Johnson.