The Supreme Court of the United States agreed on Monday, May 17 to reconsider women's right to abortion, which, given its strong conservative majority, augurs a historic turnaround in favor of opponents of pregnancy terminations .

The high court, of which a third of the nine judges were appointed by Donald Trump, will in a few months review a law in the state of Mississippi that prohibits most abortions from the 15th week of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest. 

"The alarms are ringing loudly in the face of this threat," immediately commented Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights which has taken legal action against the Mississippi law.

"The Supreme Court has just accepted to study a text which, without a doubt, violates nearly 50 years of its own decisions", she underlined.

Threatened "Roe v. Wade"

The High Court in fact recognized in 1973 a constitutional right to abortion in its emblematic judgment "Roe v. Wade".

She then clarified that women can abort as long as the fetus is "not viable", which corresponds to about 22 weeks of pregnancy. 

Part of the population, especially in religious circles, remains fiercely opposed to voluntary terminations of pregnancy (abortion) and conservative states, particularly in the south and center of the country, have over time adopted laws to restrict women's access to these interventions.

But laws that directly contradict the framework set by the Supreme Court, including those prohibiting all abortions or limiting abortions to the first weeks of pregnancy, have so far been systematically struck down by the courts.

The Mississippi law, which dates from 2018, was thus blocked at first instance and then on appeal.

Its authors then decided to lodge an appeal with the temple of Law.

The Supreme Court could have refused to take it up, as it does in the vast majority of cases, which would have validated the previous decisions.

By agreeing to examine the appeal, it suggests that it could influence them. 

"A compromised court"

His decision was applauded by opponents of abortion.

"This is a historic opportunity for the Supreme Court to recognize the right of states to protect unborn children from the horrors of painful and late abortions," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List group.

"Anti-abortion policies have abused their powers for this precise moment: to give the opportunity to a compromised Supreme Court to take away the right to abortion", lamented on the contrary Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood, which manages many clinics practicing abortions.

During his tenure, Donald Trump brought three magistrates into the Supreme Court, two of whom replaced justices protecting women's rights: the conservative Brett Kavanaugh succeeded in 2018 to the moderate Anthony Kennedy, then Amy Coney Barrett, a fervent Catholic opposing abortion, replaced feminist champion Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died in September 2020.

Their arrival at the court galvanized opponents of abortion and states have multiplied restrictive texts in the hope of providing an opportunity for it to take up the subject again.

According to Planned Parenthood, more than 500 abortion restrictions have been enacted since the start of the year.

According to experts, it is likely that the high court, which will deliver its decision in 2022, will not completely invalidate the Roe v.

Wade but decreases its scope, providing more and more latitude to states to ban abortions, which risks increasing territorial disparities in the country.

In Mississippi, a Bible Belt state, only one clinic currently performs abortions in the city of Jackson.

With AFP

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