This week you will likely have heard the news that some changes have been made to the abortion laws in Donald Trump’s America.
A number of US states have passed legislation that will make terminating an unwanted pregnancy illegal. This is despite the fact that one in four American women will have an abortion before they turn 45.
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota and Missouri are just some of the states in the United States that have introduced legislation to restrict abortion rights this year.
So why is there so much focus on Alabama?
The new bill Alabama passed is the strictest anti-abortion law in the country.
Their Republican-controlled state Senate voted in favour of a bill that effectively bans all abortions, except in cases where the health of the mother is at risk.
Crucially, the new legislation allows no exemption for cases of rape or incest. This means that doctors who perform an abortion in Alabama could face up to 99 years in prison – a longer sentence than those convicted of rape.
Fears are growing that the slew of anti-abortion legislation will see Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, ultimately overturn Roe vs Wade, a 1973 Supreme Court decision that affirmed that access to safe and legal abortion is a constitutional right.
So whilst, as of right now, abortion is still legal in the 50 states (as these laws are yet to take effect and need to pass through the courts), it very soon could be a different story entirely.
Top Comments
Countries with safe and legal access to abortion and family planning have the lowest abortion rates in the world, the countries with the least access have higher abortion rates by a huge margin, according to a study by The Grattan institute. If republicans really wanted to lower abortion rates, they would have more access to family planning not be madly slashing funding and closing clinics. But they don't, this has nothing to do with abortion rates and everything to do with control.
These laws are designed to keep women in poverty as single mothers and in their place with men in charge. Abortion must be decriminalised in NSW now.