► Why does the White House denounce a “catastrophic” court decision on abortion in Arizona?
Three months after the revocation of the 1973 “Roe vs. Wade” decision, which made abortion a constitutional right in the United States, several conservative American states continue to implement total or partial bans on termination. voluntary pregnancy. In Arizona, a local judge issued a very controversial decision to this effect on Friday, September 23. In Pima County, the second county in this southern state, where the city of Tucson is located, Judge Kellie Johnson restored the application of a law banning abortion, including for victims of incest or rape. This decision was taken the day before the entry into force in a local law – therefore suspended – restricting abortion after fifteen weeks of pregnancy, supported by the moderate Republican governor Doug Ducey, but considered too lax by the prosecutor Republican General Mark Brnovich.
“If this decision is confirmed, health personnel will risk up to five years in prison if they fulfill their duty of care; survivors of rape and incest would be forced to bear the children of their attackers; and (pregnant) women with health problems would face terrible risks”reacted in a statement on Saturday the spokesperson for President Joe Biden, Karine Jean-Pierre, referring to “the potentially catastrophic, dangerous and unacceptable consequences” of this judgment.
The Planned Parenthood of Arizona, which should appeal this decision, for its part vilified the local justice for having resuscitated a law “archaic” who risks “send Arizonans back almost 150 years”.
► Why is this decision denounced as a step back?
Judge Kellie Johnson felt that by revoking the Roe vs. Wade decision in June, the judges of the very conservative Supreme Court had wiped out all the texts relating to abortion since 1973 in Arizona. She therefore referred to a 1901 law, partly drafted in 1864, in other words even before American women obtained the right to vote (1912 for local elections, 1920 for federal elections) and before Arizona had officially joined the United States, in 1912.
The most conservative Republicans hail a victory, illustrating a fair return of power to local legislatures, like Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich, for whom this decision “clarifies and harmonizes (the right) on this very important subject..
Before probable appeals are examined at the state level, abortion is therefore prohibited there, except in cases of mortal danger for the mother.
► Does this decision have a political impact a month and a half before the midterms?
Arizona is a hotly contested key state in the run-up to the November 8 midterm elections: and for good reason, it voted for Donald Trump in 2016, before electing Joe Biden in 2020. While the Democratic Party , led by the president, hopes to mobilize voters to defend access to abortion at the polls, the Republican camp knows that too harsh positions on the subject can make it lose points in the polls and deprive its candidates of victory .
One of the duels to watch pits Republican Trumpist Blake Masters against incumbent Democratic Senator, ex-astronaut Mark Kelly. However, Blake Masters, who until recently described abortion as «genocide», recently watered down its position. Distanced in the polls, he only pleads for the prohibition of « very late abortions».