A Supreme Court ruling a year ago gave states a free hand to decide on abortion. Since then, several states have rushed to ban abortions.
A year ago, the US Supreme Court made a decision that overturned the right to abortion, which had been valid for almost 50 years and applied to the entire country.
The decision made abortion a matter for each state to decide for itself.
In the immediate aftermath of the June 2022 Supreme Court ruling, several Republican-majority states rushed to effectively ban abortion altogether or at least heavily restrict access to it.
Democrat-led states have also rushed to enact abortion laws, but these changes have sought to strengthen abortion rights.
The situation now is that half of the states allow abortion, and half prohibit it practically completely or severely restrict it. Abortion can, for example, only be considered for a short time at the beginning of pregnancy or when the mother’s life is in danger.
In six states, courts have suspended the tightening of the law pending appeals.
In Alabama, abortion is prohibited even after child rape
The possibility of obtaining an abortion now depends entirely on the place of residence.
One of the extremes of the denialists is Alabama, which does not allow abortion even for a minor rape victim. Also, for example, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas have banned abortion even in cases of rape.
Some states have enacted so-called heartbeat laws, which prohibit abortion from the moment the fetal heartbeat can be detected.
A heartbeat can be detected in an ultrasound examination around the sixth week of pregnancy.
California, for example, is among the states that guarantee broad abortion rights, which has also extended legal protection to abortionists from other states.
California forbids assisting the authorities of other states if they try to investigate or prosecute abortion providers or those who work in abortion clinics. California has also prohibited the release of abortion medical records, even if subpoenaed by judicial authorities in another state.
The states of New York and Washington, for example, also protect abortionists from other states, he writes The New York Times magazine.
The majority of Americans support the right to abortion
The majority of Americans support the right to abortion, according to a poll published by the American public service radio channel NPR in April straw poll.
61 percent of the respondents supported the right to abortion, which is six percentage points more than a year earlier.
In the opinion of the majority of supporters, there must be a time limit for obtaining an abortion, but not as low as it is now in many states that have enacted strictures.
In the survey, 37 percent of the people registered as opponents of abortion.
59 percent said they think the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion a year ago was wrong.
reporter Juri von Bonsdorff tells about the situation one year after the abortion decision:
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