First US states ban abortion, Biden denounces a “tragic error”

Joe Biden during his speech at the White House on June 24, 2022. AP - Andrew Harnik

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

United States President Joe Biden said Friday that the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the right to an abortion was a "

" and the result of " 

 " when nearly half of US states could ban voluntary termination of pregnancy for women.

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" 

," the President of the United States said.

The nine-judge

, which has long borne the imprint of the American religious right following the appointments made by Donald Trump, " 

 " by invoking ancient jurisprudence, he said. he lamented in the grand entrance hall of the White House.

Joe Biden, whose popularity rating is shaky, has promised to do "

", by means of decrees and regulatory decisions, to try despite everything to protect access to voluntary terminations of pregnancy, now threatened in half of the US states.

Guarantee women travel to a state where abortion would remain legal

In particular, the president pledged to protect the right of American women to travel to a state where abortion would remain legal, as well as access to abortion pills, used at the very beginning of pregnancy.

But he recognized that his room for maneuver was reduced and that only the American Congress could restore this right which all American women had enjoyed since 1973, by passing federal legislation which would override the decisions of the States, and in particular those in the hands of the Republicans.

I know that now so many women are going to have to face incredibly difficult situations.

I hear you.

I support you.

I am with you.

The consensus, the consequences for the American people, the central principles of equality, liberty, dignity, and the stability of the rule of law demanded that Roe v. Wade not be overturned.

Joe Biden: 'My administration will use all of its appropriate legal powers'

Recalling that one of the magistrates, the conservative Clarence Thomas, publicly pleads to review case law founding the right to contraception or marriage for all, Joe Biden said: "

 ".

A right to abortion that could be banned in half of the States

In the wake of this Supreme Court decision, Missouri announced that it was banning abortion, twenty-five other states could follow.

The clinics in South Dakota or Georgia have already closed their doors, while a dozen liberal states, on the contrary, authorize the right to abortion, such as California or New York, which have already committed to defend access to abortions on their soil.

“

 ,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a tweet accompanied by an image showing him ratifying the text that “truly” ends the abortion in Missouri - State which had only one clinic allowing such an operation.

Republican Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, announced that abortion was now illegal in this northern state of the United States, under a so-called "zombie" or "trigger" law which had been drafted in in advance, to come into force automatically in the event of a change in jurisprudence at the Supreme Court.

Shortly after, the Republican governor of Indiana announced that he would convene the legislature of this other state in the north of the United States to pronounce the ban on abortion as quickly as possible.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research center that campaigns for access to contraception and abortion around the world, half of the States should ban abortions in the more or less short term.

Among these states: Florida, Texas, Arizona, Montana, Wisconsin, Alabama and Ohio.

Almost immediate consequences in more than a dozen states

And even by guaranteeing interstate travel for women, travel remains costly, and the Supreme Court's decision will further penalize poor or single-parent women, who are overrepresented in black and Hispanic minorities.

This is emphasized by the defenders of the right to abortion.

It is therefore from now on the States which will legislate on the question of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy recalls

,

.

Thirteen of them have in reserve what are called "trigger laws", laws ready to apply almost immediately, within 30 days of this decision expected and even hoped for in conservative America.

Laws to prohibit abortion with sometimes exceptions in the case of rape, but not always.

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• United States

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