This Sunday marked the 100th day of the Supreme Court ruling that repealed the federal protection of abortion and left the States the power to legislate on the subject.
The Guttmacher Institute, a reference in the United States in the field of reproductive health, has taken stock of the consequences of this restriction of the right to decide of women that brought the decision of the high court and calculates, in a report published this Thursday, that at At least 66 clinics in 15 states, which had 79 centers in total, have stopped offering abortion services at this time.
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The Supreme Court strikes down the right to abortion in the United States
These territories are those that have a total prohibition of interventions (13 of the 15) or from the first six weeks after conception, a term that in practice is equivalent to the veto;
Few women are aware of their status at this point in their pregnancy.
Of the 79 clinics, 26 have closed their doors completely, while 40 remain open and dedicated to providing reproductive health services, such as the provision of birth control pills or screening for early detection of breast cancer.
They also provide assistance to travel to other states, where a constitutional right that guaranteed until June 24 a precedent of more than half a century established in 1973 by the
Roe v. Wade ruling is protected.
The 13 centers that continue to terminate pregnancies under the new six-week restrictions are all in Georgia.
"In total, these 15 states are home to almost 22 million women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years old)," details the Guttmacher Institute report.
"That means nearly a third (29%) of the total population of women of reproductive age in the United States lives in places where abortion is either unavailable or severely restricted."
Louisiana and Mississippi no longer have any reproductive health clinics, whether they practice abortions or not, although Texas has seen the most drastic change: there were 23 centers, of which 12 have closed their doors and 11 offer other services, but none perform abortions.
The state in the southwest of the country, the largest in the union, with a size similar to France, has championed this new regressive wave.
In September of last year, its governor, Republican Gregg Abbott, signed a rule that became known as "the law of the heartbeat", because it prohibits abortion from the moment the heartbeat is detected in the fetus, around six gestation weeks.
After the Supreme Court ruling, a pre-approved rule was activated and was waiting for that moment to come into force and totally ban abortion in the territory.
This new regime, which in some States incorporates penalties for those who help women who abort and encourages denunciation, has left doctors in a legal limbo, in which they are forced to choose between the Hippocratic Oath and the criminal code .
Abortion is called to be one of the key issues in the campaign for the legislative elections (although not as much as high inflation or the poor performance of the economy).
They are held on November 8 to renew all the seats in Congress and a third of those in the Senate.
The Supreme Court's decision is expected to mobilize the female vote.
In some states, such as Michigan or Kentucky, that day is also voted on whether to ban abortion or not.
In early August, the citizens of Kansas, the first to vote in a referendum on the issue, decided with a 60% majority in favor of women's freedom to choose.