(Washington) Two years after the Supreme Court's landmark ruling, abortion has established itself as a key topic in the electoral contest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, with crimson red lights for the Republican camp.
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court, deeply reformed by the former president, overturned the landmark Roe v. jurisprudence case. Wade, who guaranteed the federal right of American women to have an abortion, giving each state the freedom to legislate.
The country is now divided between the 20 or so states that have issued bans or strong restrictions, mainly in the south and center, and states on the coasts, which have adopted new protections.
The Supreme Court's decision has thrown the US into deep legal uncertainty, opening up further questions about in vitro fertilization, for example.
The American Law Temple should also soon issue another highly anticipated decision.
The Supreme Court must decide whether Idaho hospitals must follow federal guidelines and perform abortions in certain situations that put a woman's health at risk, or whether they are subject to the conservative state's de facto ban.
“Health crisis”
“This is a health crisis, and we know who is responsible: Donald Trump” attacks Vice President Kamala Harris, on the front line of the issue, according to excerpts of a speech she is scheduled to deliver Monday in Maryland (east) before heading home to make the same arguments later. In the state of Arizona (southwest), a state that is likely to be decisive in the November elections.
Democrats believe that by defending the right to abortion, they have a strong case for taking away precious votes from women and young people.
Since the court's ruling, conservatives have lost nearly every referendum or vote that raised the issue of abortion, even in states that would normally be largely theirs, such as Ohio, Alabama and Kansas.
Over the past two years, “the pro-abortion movement has discovered that Americans care about this right much more than they expected,” says Professor Mary Ziegler of the University of California, Davis. “So they are trying to take advantage of this situation through electoral initiatives,” she explains.
President Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic who has long been cautious on the issue, has himself become a champion of the right to abortion, and he won't hesitate to point that out Thursday during the first debate with his rival.
“Donald Trump is solely responsible” for the “nightmare” caused by the Supreme Court’s decision, the Democrat blasted in a press release Monday morning.
miscarriage
Her campaign team unveiled an ad clip in which a woman says she suffered denial of care in Louisiana because of her miscarriage in the 11th week of pregnancy, a “direct result” of the former president’s decisions, she said.
Democrats encouraged mini-referendums on abortion in several swing states on the same day as the presidential election.
Their logic is simple: Pro-choice votes could greatly benefit Joe Biden and mobilize voters who might otherwise have been tempted to refuse to vote.
According to a poll conducted by Fox News and published on Wednesday, 47% of voters consider the abortion issue “very important” in choosing between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Trump is mysterious
On abortion, the billionaire Republican, who never misses an opportunity to point out that the Supreme Court has achieved its historic transformation through his judicial appointments, is now deliberately vague.
“You have to follow your soul and your conscience on this issue, but don't forget that you also have to win the election,” he said in a video in early April.
For example, the Republican candidate is not campaigning on the basis of a deeply unpopular promise to ban abortion nationwide through federal law, as the religious right would like.
“The best thing you can do if your position is unpopular…is not to make it clear,” says Professor Mary Ziegler.
