I haven’t seen a thread yet? Supreme Court to overturn legal right to abortion in the US.

[AlternativePerspective]

Roe v Wade: US Supreme Court may overturn abortion law, leak suggests www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61302740

And if this is successful, how long before similar decisions are made over here and elsewhere where women still have the right to bodily autonomy.

This has been grimly inevitable for a while now. I recall some posters on this site telling me they wanted Trump to win because abortion rights were worth jeopardizing so long as it meant self-ID laws wouldn’t come to pass. Well, congratulations I guess.

This is a useful map of which states will probably now restrict access to abortion.

It's worth remembering that some states may well vote to criminalise travelling for an abortion.

There will be no federal backstop to prevent that (which is the point of R v W).

So Amazon & other companies including that as an employment right goes only so far.

(Plus the idea of a company generously adding it as an employee benefit, supposedly to make them seem liberal, is deeply revolting and no substitute for actual legal rights.

US politics is just ….

I honestly don’t know how people are going to work through this.

the majority of the US electorate don’t want Roe v Wade overturned.

the fact this has happened is just a signal as to how incredibly dysfunctional politics is in the US.

it’s incredibly worrying.

So upsetting. Women’s rights are being fucking removed left right and centre.

I find it hard to get my head around the merging of the judiciary and politics in the US. That senior judges are appointed by politicians and rule on laws based on their political persuasion. So different to the UK.

Terms for life is a big issue. The judges appointed during Trump's term could potentially be there 40 years from now.

Everyone saying it couldn't happen in the UK need to pay attention.

The growing anti-trans movement are working hand in glove with the American right. They have been actively trying to dismantle the Gillick test that allows minors access medical treatment without parental consent dependent on their own individual level of competence. They failed to do that so far, but they haven't given up. And if they win, that will impact on abortion access for girls as well.

Meanwhile, not specific to the abortion issue, but the explosion in LGBT+ hate crime, the embrace of the term 'groomers' for anti-LGBT folk to describe anyone who they disagree with on gay or trans rights, the growing hostility to any sort of LGBT+ inclusive sex education with the implication that the only reason to want children educated about LGBT+ relationships is out of a sexual interest in children - all of that is becoming more and more prevalent in the UK, to the point that as a queer parent and a woman, I am doubly concerned about the direction of travel here in the UK - not just in the US.

It is becoming harder to be a woman and a lesbian (and not for the reasons anti-trans people claim) and harder to be the parent of a child raised by queer parents. Right here. In the UK.

Absolute bullocks!!

The womens rights movement (not anti trans as you’ve been told a billion fucking times) in the uk has for fuck all to do with right wing fuckwits in the USA

as we’ve said repeatedly you can’t defend what you cannot name. Men however they present are not women. TW will never ever face abortion

Who knew that by systemically removing women from feminism and centreing men instead, that rights that only affect women of the biological cunty kind would be under threat in the USA?

so many womens groups in the USA rushed to affirm that male women had life soooo much harder than actual women. They wanged women under the bus without a second thought

it’s appalling, it’s desperately sad but it is not remotely surprising because when you deny biological reality as mattering to women, this is where you end up

it’s appalling, it’s desperately sad but it is not remotely surprising because when you deny biological reality as mattering to women, this is where you end up

This move by the SC has been decades in the making by conservative factions. It's false to say it can be attributed to the recent trans debates.

you get the impression some 'feminists' are almost pleased that Roe v Wade is being struck down so they can use it as a gotcha moment.

I am not referring to any women's rights movement - I am referring to the anti-trans movement. I am part of the womens' rights movement. The anti-trans movement is making things worse, not better for women.

That is why pretty much everyone who is pushing against the right to choose is on the same side of them in trying to deny trans people rights. Because they are allies with the same world views.

That is why pretty much everyone trying to say my DC's classmates shouldn't be allowed to learn that there are such things as families with two mums (because apparently that would be 'grooming') are on the same side as the transphobes. Because they are allies with the same world views.

It's also bollox to claim no links between UK transphobes and the US right wing. Look at the collaboration between the Heritage Foundation in particular and a who's who of British transphobia.

My brother is not American but has lived there for a number of years now. He just phoned me in shock that things are going backwards.

It seems weird that a country like the US doesn’t have settled law on such matters. It’s hard to imagine law like this being overturned here. It really is a very odd place, a complete outlier amongst developed nations, and in somerespects almost 19th century.

It’s hard to imagine law like this being overturned here.

Is it?

Anyone who thinks this decision happened because the left/feminists in the US were too concerned with trans rights has zero understanding of American politics and history. It is a completely different context to the UK.

It is very unlikely that a law making it a crime to leave the state to get an abortion would be allowed to stand. That would be an unconstitutional limit on freedom of movement. It's why you can cross state lines to gamble even if it's illegal in your own state.

I’m absolutely sickened by this. Trump doesn’t even care about abortion personally, he just traded this off for political support. If this happens, women will die. Poorest and most vulnerable first.

You think it is?

Why? The only downwards revision was the reduction from 28 weeks to 24 for some grounds (basically "social grounds") This amendment was to reflect advances in technology to enable premature children to be born alive earlier in a pregnancy. No term limit was applied to other grounds and abortion is still permitted without limit for the, for want of a better expression "serious health grounds"

That happened in 1991. There's been a few calls since to reduce it again but they have come to nothing.

28 weeks was one of the longest time limits of any country and 24 is still one of the longest.

Yes, @Blossomtoes , I think it is. Culturally, and probably more importantly here, legally, we are very different to the US.

A reminder that as much as some think/wish otherwise, the UK is still politically way more European than it is American. I hope this kind of regression stays on the other side of Atlantic.

One big frustration is that the right to abortion at the federal level always hinged on a specific interpretation of the 14th amendment to the US constitution. It was never an actual law passed by congress. That is where this is all hinging.

The frustration comes in in that congress has had 50 years to act and pass a law, some of that time, they could have passed it unilaterally over the opposition. Unfortunately, they didn't.

Also: fuck everyone somehow turning this into a trans issue. This is the Trumpian right, and if you think they're pro self-ID then god help you.

I’ve reached the point now where absolutely nothing would surprise me. Culturally this country has changed beyond all recognition in the last 50 years and it’s escalating. Legally? Does any politician care about the law? Currently the government can push through anything it likes with a 70 odd majority of nodding dogs all passively doing as they’re told. I think it’s very foolish to be complacent and even more so to believe a word this government utters.

Actually in the case of abortion the UK is an outlier even in Europe. Finland sets the limit at 20 weeks, Germany 22 and only the Netherlands has it at 24. The UK also has no mandatory waiting period.

My god that’s horrific.
so you can’t easily access contraception, or abortions. Meanwhile I’m sure their benefit system is ready and willing to support all these children. Support people who aren’t financially or emotionally stable to parent effectively.

I went on the pill when i was about 14/15 because of heavy debilitating periods. To not have that would have left me barely able to work.