US Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights,

[Delphinium20]

www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473 This is a draft opinion, but it looks like it will pass.

I know most of this board is UK based, but just wanted to share how gutted I am about this. This is a result of the GOP stacking our courts w/conservative judges and will impact hundreds of thousands of women in my country. I'm just feeling really hopeless about feminism right now. The left calls us 'pregnant people' but the right has made us as breeders under law. I'm just utterly saddened by this news.

I’m hoping it’s been leaked so that the outrage will result in the draft being amended.

It's truly terrible and terrifying although was on the cards as soon as the Supreme Court became majority conservative.
Of course, this will disproportionately affect poorer, less educated women.

Blessed be the fruit.

Trump packed the SCOTUS with conservative, Republican judges.

I doubt this draft will be amended.

I suspect it was leaked by a more liberal member of staff.

Biden may be a Democrat, but a huge portion of the governmental machinery is Republican.

That would be nice, but gerrymandering and the bipartisan society with optional voting meaning there isn’t really a centre anymore means it’s not that simple. Plus the left struggles to campaign for women, as evidenced by the travesty that’s the aclu and planned parenthood’s takes!

Perhaps all US women should refuse to have sex until their rights to contraception and safe abortion are enshrined in law for perpetuity. See how the male legislators like that.

It is a dark day. I also have strong American connections and feel like I no longer recognise the place.

@Nancydrawn, in theory a state law ruling it illegal to terminate an ectopic pregnancy could be struck down by an appeals court or, ultimately, by the Supreme Court, as unconstitutional. One would like to think that even this Court would protect women’s lives to that extent. But I am not certain.

They ended up withdrawing the ectopic pregnancy language from the bill. I don't think a law like that would actually pass. My thought was more that people who once thought this a reasonable idea are the sorts of people who will be putting the legislation together in the states legislatures across the country.

Also, to the poster who said this was "under the noses" of PP and the ACLU, you really don't know what you're talking about. Planned Parenthood in particular has been fighting this every step of the way in courts and providing abortion support on the ground in contexts I'm not sure you've comprehended, like living with daily violent and even death threats.

I think this deserves to be spoken about without descending into typical MN GC rhetoric, but I will say this: the men and women who put the ablation bills into place that triggered this case did so right next to bathroom bills and don't say gay bills. They're the same people. The anti-abortion, anti-gay, and anti-trans strains of political thought are deeply threaded together in the states.

Horrifying.

Can they bring the new judge in faster?

This is chilling. And it's not just about abortion. If it's overturned then other things that depend on the right to privacy are also under threat - gay marriage, homosexuality, birth control. To all those who thought Trump's election wasn't a catastrophe, we were not over-reacting.

Don't be complacent here either, British women. Telemedical abortion wasn't scrapped last month but it was not a given it would be allowed to stay. Sajid Javid is not a fan of buffer zones around abortion clinics and was against continuing telemedical abortion. We've seen this government legislate away vast swathes of rights in just the last month. Watch them very carefully indeed - Rees-Mogg is not the only one who wants to take our rights to bodily autonomy away. Johnson, I suspect, leans towards being pro-choice but we know he will do anything to stay in power regardless of whatever his "beliefs" may be.

I wish there was something we could do from over here.

It wold be irrelevant, as she's not replacing any of the 5 who are said to concur, 3 of whom are young Trump picks.

This has been on the cards for a few years and I do believe it is coming our way. A PP referenced the recent debate about telemedical abortion and the growing opposition to abortion within government.

I read something this morning that said there are studies showing that abortion rates don’t change much whether they are legal or illegal, but death and injury to women does. There was no reference and it could easily be social media bullshit, but does anyone know if there are such studies?

Thanks NancyDrawn.

Very bleak.

And just like that, any discussion around trans-women being women can just fuck off frankly.

Its not their rights that are being taken.

Completely agree @Nancydrawn how tf can anyone say PP hasn't done enough on abortion rights. So many groups and individuals have been advocating abortion rights for decades, as a result of which about 70% of Americans actually do favour keeping abortion legal. This just shows how undemocratic and unaccountable the Court is today, that a corrupt and criminal president can push through his nominees to lifelong appointments. Women will die because of this decision and what can we do.

I think the only thing we can do is have states where it is legal ramp up their access routes, so women can go out of state, although of course not everyone will be able to.

Anti-abortion states are trying to criminalise going out of state to get an abortion but I think even this Court would strike that down as unconstitutional.

This is really chilling, terrifying in fact and I'm in the UK, god knows how American women are feeling today 💐

As an American living in the UK, I don't see the UK going down the same path on abortion and contraception (though I know things have been different in NI). There just isn't the same level of religious fundamentalism propped up by big donors.

The bigger danger I think is that UK right-wing types can learn a lot from this really toxic blend of extremism and big money and gradually taking control of all levels of government, down to the extreme local level. And some of those major US right-wing funders are increasingly getting involved in UK politics. So they can apply all this to other issues that will also hurt women.

Ha yes. Came on to say the US is truly edging towards Gilead.

It is so unbelievably sad for women across the country and hard to understand from outside the US. But we do forget that the majority of the USA is very right wing Christian church goer types and this sits very well with them.

I cannot fathom the direction of travel here. Fighting for the rights of unborn children over their mothers rights; but when I read the statistic a while back that death by guns overtook death in traffic accidents for under 18s in America it really is a fucked up place to be.

Disclaimer: not that the UK or any other country is without problems. Just being clear on that before people jump on me!

Seriously - wtf is happening in America that they're going so backwards on so many things at the moment?

It's absolutely dreadful what is happening to women's rights and there doesn't appear to be any real challenging of this even by women - why is this? Why are American women accepting this?

The lives that are going to be lost and permanently ruined because of this is astounding!

If elected representatives come up with unpopular policies they could lose their jobs at the next election, or is this something more sinister?

If only it were that simple.

I also am hearing from friends/family there about huge problems with gerrymandering, making it difficult for people to register to vote, making it difficult for voters to access voting stations etc so this is all being very manipulated

Perhaps all US women should refuse to have sex until their rights to contraception and safe abortion are enshrined in law for perpetuity.

Could make a good point - but what about the victims of rape and Csa?

Don't be complacent here either, British women.

I agree - more gradual/subtle here but women's rights are being eroded

Travelling to other states I would imagine is only possible for those with the funds/resources to do so. Where does that leave the poor and sick?

This is so shocking.

What this does is kick the matter back to the legislatures. The federal Congress is unlikely to pass a country-wide law. So what will happen is that each state will pass different laws. In some states, like the Northeast, there are already provisions that if Roe overturns abortion will become legal by state statutes. But in vast swathes of the country (South, Mid-West) abortion will become virtually illegal.

And that's a problem for traveling for abortion. If it was the Northern States, they could set up a system with their Canadian sisters. But you could easily be thousands of miles from provision in some States. Impossible economically for many and that leaves illegal abortion. And let's be honest, that will happen very quickly with devastating results.

Just heart-breaking.

My anger and ire against the right wing continues, but on this one, I am just as angry and frustrated with the left.

The legal right to abortion in the US always hinged on a specific interpretation of the 14th amendment. It was never actually a law passed by congress, signed by the president. No law is actually being ruled unconstitutional here. The Supreme Court is reversing it's own decision.

Congress had 50 years to pass an actual law, some of that time, unilaterally over the opposition. They failed to do so. The democrats were so fucking inept, they managed to lose the presidency to a historically unpopular candidate in Trump. Even worse, their actions since then proves that they haven't learned a damned thing as it relates to the American electorate and actually winning elections.