The quake was triggered in Washington, the seat of the US Supreme Court, but the quake has already started spreading across the country.
Friday, June 24, the highest court in the United States decided to invalidate the Roe vs. Wade judgment which granted, in 1973, the right to all American women to have an abortion. From now on, abortion is therefore no longer a constitutionally protected right across the Atlantic, which means that the States can legislate on the question themselves.
This decision had been in the air for a long time, which is why a number of States had already adopted “trigger laws”. Understand: Laws already approved and ready to go into effect if Roe vs. Wade is overturned, says the Washington Post.
Thus, as of this Friday, seven states have already banned abortion, namely: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Dakota. States located mainly in the South and the center of the country, considered more conservative than those of the Pacific coast and the Northeast of the United States.
Seven states have already crossed the Rubicon and seven others should follow suit in the coming month, notes the American media, since they too have a law already ready which will apply, however, within thirty days. These are Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Texas, Tennessee, North Dakota and Mississippi.
Additionally, five states, Georgia, Iowa, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Ohio, have pending laws, so far blocked by the courts; Indiana is expected to vote one in July. In all likelihood, these six states will therefore soon join the group of those where abortion is prohibited systematically or in most cases.
On the other side of the fence, there is a group of states that already legally defend the right to abortion and will in all likelihood continue to do so. Among them are California, Oregon, Washington State to the west, as well as New York State to the east, and all the other states north of this coast encompassing the metropolises of Boston, or still the capital, Washington DC. A total of 21 states legally protect abortion today and should continue to do so.
Between these two blocks of States clearly anti-abortion and protecting the right to abortion, there is a nebula where the fate of this fundamental right remains uncertain, concludes the Washington Post.