Joe Biden's government filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against an Idaho state law that bans virtually all abortions.
The Democratic president had denounced the judgment of the High Court of June 24, which buried the constitutional right of American women to obtain an abortion, by returning to the Row V. Wade amendment.
He had also promised to do everything possible to defend access to abortions.
Idaho, a rural and conservative state in the American West, was among the first to adopt a new law, supposed to take effect on August 25, which authorizes abortions only to save a woman's life. pregnant.
Although his room for maneuver is limited, his Minister of Justice Merrick Garland had set up a unit responsible for evaluating the laws adopted in the wake of this decision by the States opposed to abortion.
A “serious danger to the health” of pregnant women
Merrick Garland has asked the court to block the law put in place in Idaho, arguing that it violates a federal law on medical emergencies since it does not provide for an exception in the event of “serious danger to health” of the pregnant woman and authorizes lawsuits against doctors.
According to him, federal law considers that performing an abortion may be “the treatment necessary to stabilize a patient in the event of a medical emergency”.
However, since the judgment of the Supreme Court, "there has been a lot of information on postponements, delays, even refusals to treat pregnant women in a medical emergency", he noted.
The American media gave the example of a woman whose waters broke in early pregnancy but who had to continue carrying the non-viable embryo until the onset of sepsis, or other who had not received medical assistance during a miscarriage.
On June 24, “we pledged to work tirelessly to protect and promote reproductive freedoms, which is what we are doing today and will continue to do,” Merrick Garland said.
A dozen states have already banned abortions on their soil and, eventually, half of the 50 states should do so.
A referendum on the subject, Tuesday in Kansas, will take the pulse of public opinion.
Read alsoUnited States: Kansas launches a test poll on abortion