What has happened one year after the end of federal protection for abortion in the US?

For millions of women in the US, life changed on June 24, 2022. The End of a Half-Century of Federal Protection of Abortion Rights It brought significant changes to the country’s legal landscape, which a year later is struggling in a “confusing” field of increasingly restrictive laws, according to observers and experts.

The resolution of the Dobbs case against the Jackson Women’s Health Organization was an unprecedented shock to the US judicial system and society, which has placed reproductive rights and access to abortion at the center of social discussion.

The unprecedented repeal by the Supreme Court of its own ruling in the Roe vs. Wade case, which in 1973 legalized access to safe abortion nationwide, was considered a huge victory by the most conservative Republican sectors and an immense blow to the movement. in defense of reproductive rights, with repercussions in the short and long term.

“The ruling in the Dobbs case was a democratic victory for life that generations fought for,” said EV Osment, spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the leading anti-abortion groups in the US.

After the end of federal protection, the legislation was left to the states, which moved quickly: some to declare near-total bans on interruptions or limit the window of time in which clinics or doctors can legally perform procedures , while others issued laws to protect access.

“The legal landscape now in this regard is very confusing and complicated, and more hostile than before,” he told the voice of america Lawyer Noel León, member of the NGO National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), based in Washington.

What has changed?

More than 25 million women of childbearing age in the US live in states where – after the ruling in the Dobbs case – severe restrictions on access to abortion have been imposed. This means that 2 in 5 Americans of childbearing potential are barred from legally and safely terminating their pregnancies in their areas of residence.

After the repeal of Roe vs. Wade the change has been rapid. From last June until now, 14 states have almost totally penalized abortion at any stage of pregnancy. Others have made it difficult to access medical procedures after six weeks, a period that experts say is too short to make a decision or even determine a pregnancy.

Meanwhile, other territories rushed to protect the right. In 25 states, abortion continues to be legal until at least 24 weeks of pregnancy, of which 20 have shielded access to safe termination of pregnancy through constitutional amendments or laws.

Because laws vary from state to state, many women cross borders, sometimes into neighboring territory, while others travel hundreds of miles to safely undergo the procedure.

Following restrictions in Tennessee, in the southeastern US, the Memphis-based family planning center CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health opened a clinic three hours away in Carbondale, Illinois, where providers do of health are allowed to care for patients who wish to abort.

“They come from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and even Texas,” he told the agency. PA the general director of the center, Jennifer Pepper, who commented that with the relocation of services, “now (patients) have to travel much further.”

In the last year, some 50 lawsuits related to abortion have been filed in the US, many of them based on the right to personal autonomy or religious freedom.

Bans or restrictions are on hold in at least six states, while the courts decide. Iowa and South Carolina are the only territories where the state Supreme Court has permanently rejected abortion restrictions.

help networks

Networks for advice and facilitation of access to the pills used as the most common method of abortion in the northern country have also been created. Pro-life groups have taken to court their petition to withdraw the authorization of the drug mifepristone, approved decades ago for this type of procedure by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

for now, the Supreme Court has preserved access to the pillbut analysts fear that the entity could issue a ruling in the future that also annuls this possibility.

Organizations and activists have also moved to provide support and assistance, both legal and financial, for those who are unsure of the laws in their states or have been “caught up in this chaos,” said Noel León of the NWLC.

“We’ve been involved in policy-making work at the federal level as well, protecting and expanding access to abortion, a terrain that has become more confusing this past year,” he explained.

Faced with this “difficult landscape,” the NWLC launched, along with four other organizations, the Abortion Defense Network, which upholds the premise that “everyone deserves access to safe and affordable abortion care.”

The Network “is designed to connect advisers and lawyers, both for legal representation and advice, with people who have been caught up in this new legal framework or even just have questions,” León clarified to the VOA.

On the eve of one year after the end of federal protection for abortion in the US, the NWLC announced the activation of the Abortion Access Legal Defense Fund. Abortion Access LDF) to help with legal expenses for people who face legal consequences, both for having sought to terminate their pregnancy themselves, and for relatives or relatives who have helped someone in search of an abortion.

In several instances, the states penalize those who offer their help to women who want an abortion, both health providers and those who take patients in their vehicles.

“What the Fund seeks is to help both patients and family members, parents, friends, even teachers who provide information about abortion and who face legal action for it. We believe that all people deserve to have access to legal representation, regardless of their ability to pay,” stressed León, director of the initiative.

Hispanics and African Americans, the most vulnerable

The lawyer also insisted that “communities of color, particularly Latinos, suffer the consequences in states with more restrictive laws.”

“These communities already face barriers and discrimination in accessing medical care,” he added.

A study published this June by the NGO National Partnership of Women and Family reported that 15.4 million women of color live in 26 US states that have implemented or are about to implement bans and restrictions on abortion.

Of these, 6.7 million are Hispanic and 6 million are black women.

For these people, the price of not having access to a legal and safe abortion becomes dramatically higher, “with significant negative consequences for their lives, plans, health and economic security,” the study says.

Last April, the governor of Florida and Republican presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis, signed a law to limit abortions up to six weeks of pregnancywhen many women do not even know they are expecting a child, in what activists denounced as a kind of total ban.

This action, celebrated by members and conservative legislators of the Republican Party, has set off alarm bells for defenders of the rights of Hispanics and African-Americans, groups that are already disadvantaged in access to health care and other resources.

Some 817,900 black women and more than 1.3 million Latinas of reproductive age live in Florida, of which 570,000 are financially insecure and 585,200 are already mothers.

In the specific case of Hispanic women, immigration irregularity, lack of health insurance and language barriers make it difficult to access medical services, difficulties that are now added to the restrictions on abortion for those who in many cases do not have the conditions to form or increase families.

Abortion at the center of opinion and politics

Following the repeal of Roe v. Wade, the issue of abortion jumped to the social and political scene as one of the priorities, in the midst of a midterm election period and future presidential elections where the pre-candidates have already begun their campaigns.

surveys such as those from the Pew Center find that most Americans are in favor of the right to terminate a pregnancy. About six in 10 Americans (62%) continue to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with 36% who say it should be illegal in all or most cases .

Although opinion is in favor, studies also show that there is a majority in favor of implementing restrictions for more advanced stages of pregnancy.

Last November, abortion rights moved the needle and it became one of the main factors why the Democrats fared better than expected in the midterm elections.

It has also become a key issue in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

This Friday, one day before one year after the ruling in the Dobbs case, former Vice President Mike Pence, one of the most important Republican candidates, insisted that “the battle for life is far from over.”

“We have not reached the end of our cause … we have simply reached the end of the beginning,” Pence told hundreds of attendees at the annual Faith & Freedom Coalition conference Friday. in washington.

Most Republicans believe his opposition to abortion rights could remain a stronghold, even as Democrats insist this is precisely the point that will win him in 2024.

The conference of the Christian conservative organization was attended by almost all the contenders for the Republican Party nomination. Former President Donald Trump, the favorite in the polls of his supporters, will be the keynote speaker on Saturday, the year of the Dobbs ruling, while Ron DeSantis, his closest competitor, gave a speech the day before.

Just a few miles away, Democratic President Joe Biden, who is seeking re-election in 2024, reiterated his strong support for a woman’s right to choose for herself.

“We will not let the most personal decisions fall into the hands of politicians,” he said. “Make no mistake, this election is about ballot freedom once again,” she said at an event in front of activists.

Biden, a fervent Catholic and who until now had left the lead on the issue of abortion to his vice president, Kamala Harris, thus spoke out in favor of the complex issue, hoping to move those who defend this right to the polls.

[Con información de The Associated Press]

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