History – Abortion in the US, a right won in 1973 that is now in danger

First modification: 05/10/2022 – 23:32

A right that seems to be more in danger than ever. On May 3, the web portal ‘Politico’ published a draft by Supreme Court Judge Samuel Alito in which he intends to overturn the ruling in the case ‘Roe vs. Wade’ in 1973 that made abortion legal in the United States.

A piece of news that has raised a political and social earthquake in this North American nation in the face of what could be the support of the judicial body for a theoretical illegalization of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy. In this week’s history chronicle, we review how abortion was legalized in the United States and the constant struggles that anti-abortion groups have maintained to make it illegal again.

As in most of the planet, abortion was prohibited in the United States for decades for religious and moral reasons, although it was practiced clandestinely under terrible conditions. However, it is not possible to speak of the struggle for free abortion until the arrival of the 20th century and, specifically, the 50s and 60s of that century. At that time, numerous feminist groups and human rights defenders began to organize so that abortion began to be free to guarantee the safety and health of women.

These movements always encountered strong opposition from the Catholic and Protestant Churches and from the most conservative institutions. But in the 1960s, cases like Sherri Finkbine, a woman who was forced to travel to Sweden to have an abortion because the fetus was malformed, or Gerri Santoro, who died after having an illegal abortion in poor conditions, raised awareness. in a part of society, which began to mobilize in favor of this right.

The landmark case of ‘Roe vs. Wade’

some states they began to partially lift restrictions on abortion, and only a few completely. Until in 1971 came the case of ‘Roe v. Wade’. In it, Norma McCorvey, a young Texas mother who was prevented from aborting her third pregnancy by strict laws in her state, filed a lawsuit against local district attorney Henry Wade.

McCorvey appeared in court for the Northern District of Texas under the pseudonym “Jane Roe” and the ruling proved her right. After that, the state of Texas appealed to the Supreme Court, which returned to resolve the controversy in favor of McCorvey in 1973 with 7 votes in favor and 2 against.

The sentence was historic because it legislated that abortion could not be prohibited during the first trimester of pregnancy, since that violated the woman’s right to privacy, something that allowed abortion in that space without the states intervening. The High Court classified the right to voluntary interruption of pregnancy as “fundamental” and this caused the laws at the federal level to change.

Before Roe v. Wade, abortion was completely illegal in 30 of the 50 states that make up the United States. In another 16, it was conditioned to certain cases such as rape or danger of death to the mother or fetus. And only in 4, it could be exercised freely. The ruling completely reversed this situation.

Anti-abortion groups reacted

But this did not mean the end of the controversy. Anti-abortion groups continued to demonstrate against this right and to fight to make it illegal again. Controversies continued in cases such as ‘Planned Parenthood v. Casey’ in 1992, which upheld the right to an abortion but eliminated the first-trimester window for abortion, replacing it with a feasibility study. Sectors of the Republican Party and ultra-religious were the ones that fought the most to overthrow this right.

In fact, in 1996 and 1997 the Congress, with a Republican majority at the time, tried to ban abortions with intact extraction of the fetus and although former President Bill Clinton vetoed this movement, in 2003, under the presidency of George W. Bush, it was achieved. approve and ratify a law that restricted this type of abortion as long as the heartbeat of the fetus is heard, since the most conservative sectors consider it a partial birth.

During the following years the most conservative states applied successive restrictions to abortion, although without making it illegal.

The most significant case is that of Texas, which reduced the time a woman has to have an abortion to less than six weeks in 2021, something that makes it extremely difficult to interrupt a pregnancy, since detecting it before that time is not so obvious. If the repeal of Roe v. Wade is fulfilled, it is estimated that some 26 states in this nation have a high probability of making abortion illegal, a situation that would affect tens of thousands of women and that would be a reversal of rights practically without precedent in this nation.