WHAT IS ROE V. WADE?
The Roe v. Wade decision nearly 50 years ago recognised that the right to personal privacy under the US Constitution protects a woman's ability to terminate her pregnancy.
Roe was 'Jane Roe,' a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey, a single mother pregnant for the third time, who wanted an abortion. She sued the Dallas attorney general Henry Wade over a Texas law that made it a crime to terminate a pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest, or when the mother's life was in danger. Roe's lawyers argued that the law was too vague and infringed on her constitutional rights.
Filing a complaint alongside her was Texas doctor James Hallford, who argued the law's medical provision was vague, and that he was unable to reliably determine which of his patients fell into the allowed category.
The 'Does', another couple who were childless, also filed a companion complaint, saying that medical risks made it unsafe but not life-threatening for the wife to carry a pregnancy to term, and arguing they should be able to obtain a safe, legal abortion should she become pregnant.
The trio of complaints - from a woman who wanted an abortion, a doctor who wanted to perform them and a non-pregnant woman who wanted the right if the need arose - ultimately reached the nation's top court.
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court decided that the constitutional right to privacy applied to abortion, overturning the Texas laws and setting a legal precedent that has had ramifications in all 50 states
WHAT HAS THE SUPREME COURT DECIDED NOW?
The US Supreme Court has not decided anything yet, but a draft opinion reportedly circulated among court justices suggests that it may be poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. A document labelled 'Opinion of the Court' shows a majority of the court's justices earlier this year threw support behind overturning the 1973 case that legalised abortion across the country.
The document states that there is no constitutional right to abortion services and would allow individual states to more heavily regulate or outright ban the procedure.
WHAT WOULD ROE V. WADE BEING OVERTURNED MEAN FOR WOMEN?
Abortion would not become illegal everywhere in the US if Roe v. Wade is overturned, with individual states still able to choose whether and when they would be permitted. As it stands, abortion is legal in every state - but with varying restrictions.
Abortion would likely become illegal in about half of the states in the US if the ruling is overturned - with 24 states expected to ban abortion if they are able to do so.
WHO IS MOST LIKELY TOBE AFFECTED BY AN ABORTION BAN?
Younger women, poorer women and Africa-American women would likely be most disproportionately affected by an abortion ban in the US. Most women who have abortions in America are aged between 20 and 29, with 57 per cent of reported terminations in 2019 performed on people within this age group.
Some 75 per cent of women in the US having an abortion are deemed low income or poor, based on the country's official poverty definitions. And while black people make up only 12 per cent of the US population, black women undergo more than a third of the country's reported abortions.
In 2019, there were 630,000 abortions reported in the US, which was significantly down from 765,000 in 2010. The suggested reasons for the drop in numbers are more access to contraceptives and lower sexual activity.
WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD?
Approximately 73 million abortions occur worldwide annually, with 61 per cent of all unintended pregnancies and 29 per cent of all pregnancies ending in abortion, according to the World Health Organization.
It said about 45 per cent of all abortions are unsafe, of which 97 per cent occur in developing countries. A WHO fact sheet said 'Unsafe abortion is a leading - but preventable - cause of maternal deaths and morbidities.'
There are 16 countries where abortion is prohibited altogether, a list that includes Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines, Laos, Senegal, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
About three dozen other countries allow it only to save the life of the mother, a list that includes Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan and Myanmar. Around 40 per cent of women of reproductive age live in places where abortion access is illegal or limited.
In England, Scotland and Wales, anyone can legally have an abortion at up to 23 weeks and six days of pregnancy, which is in line with the Abortion Act of 1967.
Here is the situation in a number of countries:
- Poland in January 2021 put into effect a constitutional court decision prohibiting abortions performed due to fetal defects, banning the most common of the few legal grounds for terminating a pregnancy in the largely Catholic country.
- El Salvador has some of the world's strictest abortion laws, with the procedure banned without exception since 1998. More than 180 women who experienced obstetric emergencies were prosecuted for abortion or aggravated homicide in the past 20 years.
- Women in Malta are denied access to abortion, even if their lives are at risk. It is the only EU member state that completely prohibits the procedure. Women face up to three years in jail.
- Senegal prohibits abortion but its code of medical ethics allows it if three doctors agree it is needed to save a woman's life. A 2014 study showed the rules force women to seek clandestine abortions and, as a last resort, kill their own infants.
- In the United Arab Emirates, abortion is illegal except if the pregnancy endangers the woman's life or there is evidence the baby will not survive. Women could face up to one year in prison and a hefty fine. Women who seek hospital treatment for a miscarriage may be accused of attempted abortion.
- Anti-abortion laws in the Philippines derive from its time as a colony of Spain. Abortion has been prohibited for more than a century. About 1,000 Filipino women die each year from complications. Spain is among more than 50 countries that have liberalized abortion laws over the past quarter century.
Source: The information was gathered from an article posted By Mark Duell on https://www.dailymail.co.uk
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10777571/Which-states-make-abortion-illegal-Roe-vs-Wade-overturned.html Published: 08:44, 3 May 2022 | Updated: 13:32, 3 May 2022