[ad_1]
This week, Alabama adopted the most restrictive ban on abortion, closely followed by Missouri, which passed its own strict anti-abortion laws. Other bills have already been passed or are being passed by the legislatures – both parties expect the issue to be considered by the Supreme Court.
This momentum has propelled women's reproductive rights to the forefront of political debate, with leaders moving from the Congress floor to the election campaign where the debate on the 2020 elections is already at its height.
Nevertheless, the national political struggle against the right to abortion comes at a time when 77% of voters support access to abortion in the event of rape and incest during the first year. quarter.
"We believe that women understand that their rights are under fire from critics and that it is absolutely necessary to ensure that the right policy makers make the decisions," said Christina Reynolds, vice president of communications for EMILY's List. "What we have seen is a group of mostly male Republicans making very bad decisions on behalf of the women of this country."
"It's a deliberate Republican effort to end the abortion and remove that right," Reynolds said. "I think a number of us thought it was going to happen, for those of us who had not done it, it was a mass awakening."
But anti-abortion activists have argued that Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion, was "far from being a well-established law".
"Across the country, science and compassion are gaining momentum, and the response to the abortionist extremism practiced in New York and Virginia is prompting to recognize the humanity of the United States. unborn child in law It is clearer than ever that Roe is far as a law established in the eyes and heart of the American people, and this is reflected more and more in the state legislatures ", said Susan B. Anthony List, President of the Council, Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement. "The American people want a new debate and a new direction, achieved by consensus and based on the love of mothers and babies."
"The time has come for the Supreme Court to let this debate go from the front. "
At the state level
Alabama's adoption of an almost total ban on abortion, with no exception for race and incest, was a remarkable development this week.
This was a further step in the state-to-state strategy of pitting enemies against abortion to the dismantling of the right to abortion in this country, and an alarm bell for women who do not have the right to abortion. had not paid attention to the flurry of restrictive abortion bills that quickly passed through the state legislatures. this year.
"Many Americans, including myself, disagreed when Roe v. Wade was returned in 1973," Republican Governor Kay Ivey said this week when the bill was signed (which also states that doctors who perform abortions risk 99 years in prison). . "The authors of this bill believe that it is time, again, that the US Supreme Court reconsider this important issue and believe that this law could offer the best opportunity for this to happen."
Alabama's law has also drawn the attention of the nation because Ivey promulgated it just a week after Georgia's adoption of its bill. " heartbeat "prohibiting abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The twinning of the two measures immediately electrified the debate during the 2020 presidential race, forced Democratic donors to contribute to advocacy groups for the right to abortion, and even fueled the debate in Hollywood on the subject. opportunity to stop current productions in Georgia.
Family planning officials have registered at least 15 abortions that have already been adopted by state legislatures this year. Four of the bills would prohibit abortions from six weeks, and the Alabama law alone constitutes an absolute ban. On Friday, the Missouri House passed a bill banning abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. this would allow exceptions for medical emergencies, but not rape or incest. Already approved by the Senate, he is now heading to the office of Republican Governor Mike Parson, who has announced that he will sign it.
"Do not forget that these politicians are trying to fight for the right to access abortion during an election year – making sure that the question of the". Abortion occupies a central place in the minds of voters, "said Kelley Robinson, executive director of Planned Parenting Action Fund. "The vast majority of Americans support access to abortion, and they vote for this issue."
"We know that this is not what the voters want.We know that this is not what the Americans want.We know that support for access to abortion goes beyond party boundaries, "added Robinson. "We are already seeing this discord created within the Republican Party – it is impossible for this to turn against voters across America."
The answers roll in
The reaction of Republicans on Capitol Hill has been moderate – reflecting the problems that a fierce debate over abortion could create in next year's elections – even the minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy said he was not in agreement with the Alabama law. President Donald Trump was unusually quiet when the law was passed, even though he increasingly accused Democrats of advocating late abortion at his election rallies.
Meanwhile, the 2020 Democrats have all vigorously denounced the Alabama law, calling it a dangerous violation of women's rights in that country.
"They are trying to overthrow Roe v. Wade, it's wrong, and we're going to fight back," Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren told CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill Wednesday. On Friday, the senator introduced a new proposal calling on Congress to codify federal protections on the right to abortion, warning that efforts to cancel Roe v. Wade "could work well".
Ironically, the stormy debate over restrictive measures imposed by the states took place at a time when a record number of women were elected to Congress and to the country's state palaces.
California representative Jackie Speier said the heat, anger and uncertainty surrounding anti-abortion bills could upset the 2020 election cycle in an interview with Jake Tapper on Wednesday. from CNN.
"If you thought that the pink hats worn by women after the 2016 elections – and the 3 million women who marched in this country – were an important gesture, just wait for this case to be submitted to the (Supreme Court) judges and whether they should overthrow Roe v. Wade, "said Speier. "It's an image in which you'll see women with pitchforks."
The political complexity of dealing with restrictive abortion laws, like that in Alabama, has immediately been revealed, with some congressional Republicans quickly being distanced from the measure. Maine Republican Susan Collins, one of the pre-eminent votes on Kavanaugh, called the Alabama bill a "dreadful law" and said she could "imagine" that A judge can conclude that this is consistent with "a precedent.
McCarthy, a California Republican accused of attempting to recover the majority of his party in 2020, said at his weekly press conference that he was opposed to the Alabama law. because she "goes further than I think".
"I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and mother's life, and that's what I voted on," McCarthy told reporters.
Akin spoke of "legitimate rape" and suggested that the body of a rape victim could prevent unwanted pregnancies. Mourdock said that he believed that even a pregnancy at the origin of rape was "something that God had planned to do".
Trump did not put forth Alabama's new law this week, but he kept his promises to evangelicals with his judicial appointments, including to the Supreme Court, which is now dominated by five conservatives. At his political rallies, he used increasingly graphic language to accuse Democrats of adopting an extreme abortion agenda.
"Democrats are aggressively pushing late abortions, allowing children to be ripped from their mother's womb, right up to the time of birth," Trump told a rally in Panama. City, referring to "the possible execution of the baby."
Proponents of laws such as the Alabama bill have become more explicit about their judicial goals.
"We will fight with everything we have"
While the issue of abortion has been a prominent part of the political debate for decades, this new crisis comes at a time when women's rights and political power are seen as ascending forces, in part as a return. stick for Trump.
Two years after the start of the Trump administration and in the midst of the #MeToo spillover, women voters overwhelmingly voted in 2018 to elect more than 100 women in the House of Representatives for the first time.
Many young women voted in mid-term elections last fall; some were new activists who had solicited their mother for the first time, as they considered Trump's rhetoric and Kavanaugh hearing results to be in jeopardy of their rights.
Six Democrat women now run for president, highlighting issues such as pay equity, the cost of child care, racial disparity in maternal mortality rates – and now reproductive rights.
Democratic presidential candidates quickly advanced the argument that the draconian abortion laws passed by the state legislatures had jeopardized the landmark 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the 50 states.
"These extremist Republican lawmakers know the law, but they do not care," writes Warren in his proposal to codify federal protections for abortion rights. "They want to go back, ban abortions, and deny women access to reproductive health care, and they hope the Supreme Court will support their radical play." I'll be honest: it could work. . "
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand traveled to Capitol Hill, Georgia, on Thursday, promising to "lead the fight for women's civil rights across the country."
Californian Senator Kamala Harris denounced Alabama law in a series of protests in New Hampshire, and made a call to action for Democratic voters.
"Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and now Alabama – these anti-abortion bills are not a coincidence, it's a concerted effort by the GOP to overthrow Roe v. Wade, "tweeted Harris. "I'm tired of this violent attack on women's body autonomy – we will fight with everything we have."
Harris, former Texas member Beto O 'Rourke, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders have all sent missives to their list of donors after the announcement. enactment of the Alabama law, encouraging donors to contribute to advocacy groups of abortion. Harris told his donors in a later email that they had raised $ 160,000 for these groups on Wednesday.
Buttigieg discussed at length the laws of Alabama and Georgia during a speech delivered Thursday in Chicago, where he asserted that Trump was "able to form a coalition essentially around a promise, explicit or implied, to overthrow Roe ".
"I do not think you're free in this country if your reproductive health can be criminalized by the government," Buttigieg said in a speech Thursday night in Chicago. "See in Alabama that if a person is raped and that she asks for an abortion, the doctor who is treating her will be punished with a longer prison sentence than her rapist, which leads me to wonder if the discussion about freedom in this country has derailed. "
Caroline Kenny and Casey Riddle of CNN contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link