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The dispute over possible abortion laws has escalated again in the USA.
The background: On Monday evening, the newspaper "Politico" published a leaked draft judgment of the Supreme Court.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court wants to overturn a landmark ruling from 1973, according to which abortions are allowed at least until the fetus is viable – around 24 weeks.
The report triggered massive protests - and is a shock to many.
Anja Aniere, demonstrator:
»It makes me sick.
The idea that our rights as women, as owners of a uterus, can be taken away, that they can deny us the right over our bodies — it shakes me to the core.”
Chelsea White, protester:
'There will be another war for women's rights, something our mothers and grandmothers fought for.
And I can't believe that they have to go through this again and that there could be abortions in back alleys again.
Because abortion will never be banned, it will never stop.
All they do is sacrifice women's health.«
Opponents of abortion also formed before the Supreme Court and opposed the large protest.
The leaked draft verdict dates back to February and is expected to be announced in June.
If the decision to overturn the abortion law, which has been in place for around 50 years, abortions will not be illegal per se.
But each state should then decide for itself.
Activist groups then expect complete abortion bans in about half of all states, especially in the South and Midwest.
The demonstrations were therefore not limited to the capital for a long time.
People also took to the streets in Los Angeles, in Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix, Austin.
The protest in New York was particularly large.
Scene:
»We will not go backwards, we will not go back to the time when we used hangers.
Not now.
Never."
Donald Trump is also responsible for the fact that abortion rights can be overturned at all.
As US President, with the help of the Republican majority in the Senate, he also ensured a conservative majority in the Supreme Court – by installing appropriate judges.
An activist addressed the judges at the protest in New York directly.
Scene:
»You are only nine.
You are not the millions, you are not the majority in this country who have a right to freedom.
A right to reproductive freedom of their own bodies.
And you won't take that away again."
Emotional reactions also followed at the political level
Elizabeth Warren:
"I'm angry because an extremist Supreme Court thinks they can force their extremist views on all women in this country - and they're wrong"
Kamala Harris, US Vice President:
“These Republican leaders who are trying to use the law as a weapon against women – how dare they?
How dare you tell a woman what she can and can't do with her body?
How dare they?
How dare they stop her from being in charge of her own future?
How dare they deny women their rights and freedoms?”
The fact that the draft judgment was made public in advance is probably unprecedented in the long history of the Supreme Court.
It is not known who leaked the information.
The Republicans are now trying to focus on the leak.
Mitch McConnell, Republican Senate Opposition Leader:
"The integrity and independence of the Supreme Court is once again under attack.
And I hope that the whistleblower, who will most likely be found because so few people had access to the draft judgment, will be dealt with as harshly as the law allows.”
From the Democrats' point of view, all of this is just an attempt not to have to talk about the actual contents of the decision.
Chuck Schumer: Senate Majority Leader:
"No matter how hard they try, they can't deflect from the truth.
Responsibility for that decision rests with Senate Republicans, who for years have pushed extremist judges forward while claiming that day would never come.
But now he has come.”
As heated as the abortion debate alone is, it could just be the beginning.
Experts are now concerned with the question of which other fundamental decisions and laws will become vulnerable if the Supreme Court dares to tackle abortion rights.
Eric Segall, law professor at Georgia State University College of Law:
"If they're willing to do that, in that tone, in that way -- then I think they'll want to overturn Obergefell, too, and that states will want to end same-sex marriage." probably ban again.«
This concern also drives the US President.
Joe Biden, US President:
»And the idea we're letting the states make those decisions, localities make those decisions, would be a fundamental shift in what we've done.
So it goes far beyond, in my view, «
“The idea that we let states make decisions like that, that we let localities make decisions like that, would be a fundamental change in the way we do things. That's why I think it goes much further than that. When the law becomes law and what is written stands, it goes much further than the question of deciding about one's own pregnancy. It affects other fundamental rights, the right to marry and a whole variety of things.
And: This year the midterm elections will take place in the USA.
A very big topic should already be set.
If the Supreme Court were to overturn the fundamental decision and if the Republicans were to win back the Senate in the fall, then a nationwide ban on abortion would suddenly be possible again.