Roe v Wade overturned – latest: Nationwide protests condemn Supreme Court decision as clinics close across US
Without Roe v Wade, approximately half of US women will be stripped of their right to choose
‘A crime’ Senate has not codified Roe v Wade, says congresswoman
Thousands of protesters hit the streets across the US on Friday and Saturay following the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the constitutional right to abortion care by overturning the landmark 1973 decision in Roe v Wade.
Joe Biden has urged voters to support lawmakers who will codify abortion rights into law, calling the high court’s decision a “sad day” for the court and country after court’s conservative majority took the unprecedented step to strip a constitutional right from Americans.
The president also blamed former president Donald Trump for nominating justices willing to undermine established precedent, while clinics across the US in states that have outlawed abortion prepared to close their doors, even as patients wait to return for appointments.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined protesters outside the Supreme Court shortly after the decision was announced and traveled to her state of New York to join massive crowds demonstrating to protect abortion rights.
France seeks to enshrine abortion rights in constitution after Roe v Wade reversal
Legislation has been proposed in France to “enshrine the respect for abortion” in the country’s constitution after Roe v Wade was reversed by the US Supreme Court.
Auruore Berge, head of President Emmanuel Macron’s party in the National Assembly, told French radio on Saturday that she’d tabled the bill to counter “fierce opponents” of abortion among France’s far-right National Rally.
Ms Berge called the Supreme Court decision “catastrophic for women around the world,” telling public radio station France Inter that “we must take steps in France today so we do not have any reversal of existing laws tomorrow.”
France seeks to enshrine abortion rights in constitution after Roe v Wade reversal
Aurore Berge, head of President Emmaneuel Macron’s party in parliament, said she tabled bill after US ruling
AOC says Supreme Court justices lied under oath, Congress should consider impeachment
Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’s support for impeachment proceedings or investigations into whether Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath have yet to be taken up by Democratic leadership, which is facing pressure from the party’s base as Congress and the Biden administration are under pressure to act on abortion rights.
Progressive activists and abortion rights advocates streaming into the streets in protecsts across the US argue that Democratic leaders have little idea about what to do to protect abortion rights beyond fundraising and campaigning on the issue in the hopes of securing a Senate supermajority in the far future.
AOC says Supreme Court justices lied under oath about Roe v Wade, should be impeached
‘There must be consequences’ for lying during confirmation process, New York congresswoman says
South Dakota governor defends abortion ‘trigger’ law making abortion illegal even in cases of rape of incest
South Dakota’s law banning abortion in nearly all cases – even in pregnancies from rape or incest – went into effect following the end of Roe v Wade protections.
“I believe every life is precious,” Republican Governor Kristi Noem told CBS Face the Nation on Sunday. “I just never believed that having a tragedy or a tragic situation happen to someone is a reason to have another tragedy occur.”
She pointed to what she called the media’s “fear tactics” that are “scaring women” by highlighting the far-reaching health consequences of ending legal abortion care.
North Dakota’s single abortion clinic is moving to Minnesota
Following the activation of a “trigger” law that makes abortion illegal in the state without Roe v Wade protections, the last abortion clinic in North Dakota is moving across state lines to Minnesota.
The trigger law is set to take effect 30 days after Friday’s court decision.
Fargo’s Red River Women’s Clinic, the only provider in the state for 20 years, will “provide service as long as we legally can” before it plans to move to Minnesota, according to CNN.
Stacey Abrams calls for federal abortion protections as Georgia’s anti-abortion law to take effect
Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate for the governor of Georgia, called for congressional legislation to protect abortion access following Friday’s Supreme Court ruling ending constitutional protections for care.
“Allowing each state to decide the quality of your citizenship is wrong,” she told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
Georgia’s restrictive abortion law banning abortions at six weeks of pregnancy – before many people know they are pregnant, or roughly two weeks after a missed period – is set to take effect following a pending federal appellate court ruling.
“Women deserve bodily autonomy, the deserve the right to make these choices,” she said. “In Georgia in particular, in a matter of days, this six-week ban will be the law of the land. That is horrendous, that is appalling an it is wrong. As the next governor, I’m going to do everything in my power to reverse it.”
Lindsey Graham suggests SCOTUS will not revoke LGBT+ rights but defends ‘amazing series of events’ leading to abortion ruling
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham suggests he does not believe the Supreme Court will revoke protections for marriage equality and contraception, after Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurrence with the decision to overturn abortion rights that the court should “correct the error” and revisit those cases.
He then defended the swift appointments of Donald Trump’s nominees to the court – after Mitch McConnell refused to hold any confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland under Obama’s term in office, which would likely have averted the Roe decision, among others – and pointed out that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “chose not to retire”.
“It was an amazing series of events,” he said.
Elizabeth Warren: Supreme Court ‘burned whatever legitimacy they may still have had’ with Roe ruling
Senator Elizabeth Warren told ABC’s This Week that she is “deeply concerned” about the Supreme Court’s possible evaluation of critical civil rights decisions that protect marriage equality, contraception and LGBT+ rights, among others.
She said Republicans have been “very overt about trying to get people through the court who didn’t have a published record on Roe but who they knew – wink wink, nod nod – were going to be extremist on the issue.”
“This court has lost legitimacy. They have burned whatever legitimacy they may still have had,” she said. “They just took the last of it and set a torch to it with the Roe v Wade opinion.”
She supports expanding the nine-member court to adjust the imbalance of conservative justices who now make up a majority.
Elizabeth Warren condemns GOP argument to involve government in abortion care
Democratic US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, respondind to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s defense of her state’s “trigger” law that makes abortion care illegal, told ABC’s This Week that “what she’s really saying is when this decision is made, it should be made by the government ... that the government should determine whether a pregnancy is forced to continue or whether or not a pregnancy can be terminated.”
Women have relied on Roe v Wade protections for half a century, she said, and to make that decision “with her doctor, with her religious adviser, with her family – not something the government should be in the middle of.”
The senator has called on the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency to protect abortion rights, and demanded that the president bolster federal protections against state-level efforts to criminalise care.
She also has filed legislation to block tech companies from collecting and storing user data that could be exploited by right-wing anti-abortion activists and law enforcement to prosecute abortion providers or people seeking an abortion.
AOC: Congress should consider impeaching Supreme Court justices
US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told NBC’s Meet the Press that “there must be consequences for such a deeply destabilizing action and hostile takeover of our Democratic institutions.”
“It sends a blaring signal to all future nominees that they can now lie to duly elected members of the United States Senate in order to secure Supreme Court nominations and seats on the Supreme Court,” she said.
She said lying under oath during those hearings is an impeachable offense.
Arkansas governor defends abortion ban that makes no exception for rape and incest
On NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning, Asa Hutchinson – the governor of Arkansas, which enacted a “trigger” law that makes abortion care illegal without Roe – defended the law, which makes no exception for rape or incest.
Asked by host Chuck Todd whether he is comfortable if a “13 year old in Arkansas is raped by a relative, that 13 year old cannot get an abortion,” the governor said he would “prefer a different outcome than that.”
“That’s not the debate today in Arkansas. It might be in the future,” he said, adding that the law currently bans abortions with only one exception – to save the life of the patient.
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