Abortion rights could be on the verge of extinction in the United States. Some experts already fear that the very conservative Supreme Court will overturn further liberalizations of the past decades. Like gay marriage or the morning-after pill.
In the United States, a pierced draft judgment by the Supreme Court is causing horror. After that, the right to an abortion is on the brink, which has led to massive protests in the past few days. The final judgment will not be made until June, but it is possible that it could turn out differently than the draft suggests, but unlikely. In the panel of nine women and men, the conservative judges are clearly in the majority.
Abortion opponents on target
It has been 49 years since the landmark Roe vs. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. Since then it has been fought by opponents, now they are close to their goal. And not a few voices already fear that a number of other liberalizations of the past decades will also be reversed. The most prominent is the US President himself: “This is about much more than just abortion.” According to Joe Biden, ultra-conservative supporters of ex-President Donald Trump would soon restrict further rights if they had the majority in favour.
Americans are irreconcilable on many issues, not just abortion. The dispute between right-wing, conservative and left-wing, liberal US citizens, dubbed the “Culture War”, goes far beyond that:
- Rights of sexual minorities: Numerous Republican-governed states have restricted the rights of gays and lesbians in recent years. In Florida, for example, elementary schools are to be banned from addressing sexual orientation and identities. The regulation called “Don’t say gay” law has been in effect for several weeks despite many protests.
- Rights of trans people: Eight states, including Oklahoma, Tennessee and North Dakota, do not allow trans athletes to compete with their “new” gender. Reason: Trans women would have unfair advantages over their opponents who were not born boys. The case of swimmer Lia Thomas, who became the first trans athlete to win a US college title, made headlines recently.
- Racism: For some time now, conservative Americans have been indignant about the so-called “Critical Race Theory” (CRT), originally just a niche discussion in legal circles. In the meantime, it is generally used to explain how racism is anchored in society. In short, it is about the fact that discrimination against African Americans, for example, is laid down in laws and institutions and is therefore “normal”, so to speak. Not only, but above all, conservatives criticize the “CRT” because it distinguishes between “good” and “bad” skin colors. In some states, schools have therefore been banned from teaching “Critical Race Theory”.
- Home marriages: In 2015, the US Supreme Court allowed gays and lesbians to marry. Around two-thirds of all states had previously prohibited this. It is unclear whether the home marriage would withstand further scrutiny by the now very conservative Supreme Court. The draft abortion judgment argues that only what is “deeply rooted in American history” can be constitutionally protected. However, there can be no talk of this in the case of same-sex marriage.
Contraception, mixed marriages: which rights are still tipping over?
The legal school of making decisions as close as possible to the original constitutional text is called originalism. In practice, this should mean that it is not judges but parliaments that decide on laws. Theoretically, the MPs could also overturn other regulations that are now completely commonplace in this way. Such as the right to contraception (ruling 1965), marriage between people of color (ruling 1967), the right to marry while in prison, the right to decide about the upbringing of one’s children, the right not to be subjected to forced sterilization.
Whether it will come to that is still completely unclear, but Texas law professor Elizabeth Sepper already has suspicions: “Contraception, probably starting with the ‘morning after pill’, would be easy prey for the Supreme Court, as would same-sex marriage, since it was only recently recognized by the Supreme Court,” she said.
Sources: DPA, AFP, , , “”, , , “”, Reuters
Source: Stern
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