Almost half a century after abortion was decriminalized in the United States, a new law tries to curb it.
This Wednesday, strict legislation came into force in Texas that prevents the interruption of abortion. pregnancy after six weeks of gestation, the period in which “pro-life” groups believe that fetal heartbeat can be detected, although medical authorities assure that it is a “misleading” criterion.
The law came into force after the conservative-majority US Supreme Court failed to respond to an emergency appeal filed by civic organizations and abortion providers.
Late on Wednesday, the Court voted 5-4 in favor of not blocking the law , in a ruling in which the presiding judge of the High Court, John Roberts, took a position on the side of the progressive magistrates, but was insufficient to reverse the majority decision.
The president of Est United States, Joe Biden, circulated the new law and promised to defend “the constitutional rights” of women.
“The extreme law openly violates rights and will significantly affect women’s access to health care “He said.
” Access to almost all abortions has just been cut off for millions of people, “said the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU, for its acronym in English) .
The new law
Since the decision of the Supreme Court of 1973 known as Roe v s Wade, American women have had the right to abortion until that the fetus is viable, that is, capable of surviving outside the uterus. Usually this occurs between weeks 22 and 24 of pregnancy.
The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, enacted in May the so-called “Law of the heartbeat”, which gives any individual the right to sue doctors who perform an abortion after six weeks, a period in which many women do not know they are pregnant .
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said that the term “heartbeat” is misleading and that what is detected at this stage is “a portion fetal tissue that will become the heart as the embryo develops. ”
The legislation makes only one exception in the medical emergency, requiring written proof from a physician, but not for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest .
A From now on, Texas women who wish to have an abortion after six weeks’ gestation will be required to travel across state lines, an average of 400 km, as estimated by the Guttmacher Institute in favor of abortion.
“It is incredible that Texas politicians have gotten away with this devastating and cruel law that will harm so many,” he told the newspaper The Guardian Amanda Williams, director of a pro-abortion organization.
How is it different from other restrictions?
Although this is not the first restriction on abortion in the US, it is the most severe.
Most of the laws that have been previously proposed have been based on criminal sanctions or some form of regulatory punishment and many have been paralyzed in the courts.
Instead, Texas law authorizes “a private civil action right,” which allows individuals to sue to enforce the law even if they themselves have not been harmed and without criminal penalty for filing cases that may be false.
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An ordinary American, from Texas or anywhere else traveling to that state, can now claim up to US $ 000. 000 in civil court damages against abortion providers and the doctors, and possibly anyone involved in the process.
That means that clinic staff, family members, or anyone who supports the procedure could, in theory, be sued.
Kim Schwartz of the Texas Right to Life organization, which supports the measure, told the BBC that most anti-abortion laws are “Held in the court system for years” and this “frustrates the will of the people.”
But the ACLU and other critics have suggested that Texas law will uphold “a bounty hunting plan ”Of costly“ lawsuits ”designed to harass women seeking abortions.
What is the position of the american nses?
Abortion has long been one of the most controversial social issues in the country.
However, Pew Research Center surveys indicate that nearly 6 out of every 10 Americans believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
This number has been relatively stable over the past two decades, but masks a partisan divide: only the 35% of Republicans support that position.
In conservative Texas, an April poll found that nearly the half of state voters support a ban on abortions after six weeks.
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