The anti-abortionists can chill sparkling wine. The US Supreme Court is currently deliberating on the forms in which abortions should be allowed. The verdict is still pending, but one thing is clear: the law will probably be restricted.
Since Wednesday, December 1st, 2021, it looks like half a century of Kulturkampf will soon come to an end. The winners are already vaguely recognizable, and they clearly come from a darker past. In Washington, the US Supreme Court is currently brooding over the Mississippi state’s abortion rules. They prohibit termination after the 15th week of pregnancy, and as the constitutional judges have now said, this time frame should soon become binding. Maybe not even that. The anti-abortion opponents can put champagne in the cold.
Abortion allowed in the United States in 1973
In essence, it is not just about these and other rigid regulations like in Mississippi and other states, but about the fundamental decision of 1973. The judgment at that time in the “Roe vs. Wade” case still puts the responsibility for an abortion in the hands of those affected Women. The judges lifted the “protection for unborn life” on January 22, 1973 on the grounds that the unborn child would not be considered a “complete person” according to the law. As a result, 46 out of 50 states had to change their laws – this ratio alone makes it clear that abortion advocates in the USA would not have it easy despite the support of the supreme court.
Since then, the issue of abortion has been debated like almost no other in the United States. “Roe vs. Wade” was followed in the truest sense of the word by a religious war that is still raging today. First and foremost, and unsurprisingly, it was the Catholic Church that criticized the Supreme Court decision with fierce objections: According to the US Bishops’ Conference at the time, the verdict was a tragedy for the nation, “not a decision in the two hundred years of American history have such disastrous effects on the stability of a civilized society, “the clergy continued. A few years later, with the “American Life League” from among the Catholics, the first anti-abortion group in the USA emerged. It was the nucleus of a never-ending campaign against abortion.
No exceptions for abortions
The “American Life League” is one of the most radical representatives of the pro-life movement, which has been lobbying professionally against abortion for decades. The so-called “no exception camp” rejects abortions even after rape and incest, or if the life of the mother and / or child is at risk. Even the Catholic Church is now distancing itself from the self-proclaimed warriors of life. With the Evangelicals, on the other hand, fundamentalist Protestants, such extreme positions have been getting better and better for some years.
The right to life movement is not unique to the United States. Nor is it just limited to the fight against abortion. Across the Christian world, activists also agitate against euthanasia, stem cell research, cloning and artificial insemination. But they are particularly successful in the USA, where they protest in front of abortion clinics and harass and intimidate women. Terms such as “Holocaust” and “genocide” are often used very deliberately. The anti-abortion opponents have developed perfidious instruments over the years to bring their worldview to the people. In addition to terms such as “baby caust” and murder, they also make extensive use of the representation of (aborted) fetuses.
Even if some pro-life actions go too far for many Americans, they are not without consequences. According to surveys, the majority of US citizens are and were in favor of the right to abortion – at least under certain circumstances. But around a third also vehemently rejects it, 20 percent even count themselves in the “no exception camp”. The trend has been increasing for several years. To this day, the “March for Life” protest march, which started a year after the “Roe vs. Wade” verdict, is the world’s largest demonstration by anti-abortionists – supported by Orthodox Christians and the Catholic Church.
The triumphant advance of the pro-life movement
It was not until 1992 that the issue of abortion landed again before the country’s highest court. Although the ruling provided for advice and waiting time for women in the future, this did not affect the general right to an abortion. It wasn’t until another 30 years later that the pro-life movement began to triumph. In 2013, for example, North Dakota made abortion difficult. The state decided that a “person” who fertilizes the egg is a legal entity – and is therefore particularly protected. Similar laws were passed in North Carolina and Texas that same year. Since then, things have been going on in rapid succession.
Alabama now ranks first in the anti-abortion outbid competition. The southern state prohibits any abortion “after it is known that a woman is pregnant”. Also in the case of sexual abuse by strangers or family. Doctors who do abortions can end up in prison for life. The laws in Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana are not quite as harsh, but also strict – there the ban applies from the sixth week. At a time when women have not necessarily noticed that they are pregnant.
The anti-abortion opponents got the decisive boost when Donald Trump became US President. The real estate shark had courted the votes of the right-wing and evangelicals in the election campaign – and as a thank you they got back not only the so-called “Global Gag Rule” (a regulation that organizations cut government funds when it mentions abortion), but also an ultra-conservative judge for the Supreme Court: the very devout Catholic Amy Coney Barrett. Together with Judges Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavenaugh, who were also appointed by Trump, the abortion critics in the Supreme Court now have a majority to tip “Roe vs. Wade”.
15 weeks of pregnancy a viable solution?
Whether the seven top lawyers will actually classify the regulation as unconstitutional or curtail it will only be shown by the judgment in mid-2022. But her initial comments do not bode well for women’s rights: “Why should this court be the arbitrator and not Congress, state parliaments, state supreme courts, or the people?” For example, when it comes to abortion law, there could be “different answers in Mississippi and New York, in Alabama and California,” said Brett Kavanaugh. His also conservative colleague John Roberts asked if the Mississippi limit for abortions of 15 weeks gestation might not be a viable solution. This does not seem like a “dramatic departure” from the previous guideline on the viability of the fetus – and it is also “standard” in many other countries.
What “standard” is, however, depends heavily on the country in question: Liberal abortion laws are common in many western industrialized countries, but there are few barriers to this in China. There it was even welcomed when women ended their pregnancies after the second child. In contrast, in Muslim countries such as Iran or Catholic countries such as Malta, El Salvador and Haiti – there is no reason there that would allow abortions. That harsh laws against abortion lead to the opposite of the desired effect can be seen in Central and South America. Although illegal almost everywhere, they have the most abortions in the world for every 1000 women.
Sources: Gallup, Amnesty International, DPA, AFP, “Taz“, daily News, Guttmacher.org, Heinrich Böll Foundation, DW.com