The overturning of Roe V Wade by the US Supreme Court is a sad day for all women and pregnant people across the United States.It will lead to a total ban on all abortions in about half of the US states (often without exception for rape, women’s health and risk to life)It also clashes with the views of the majority in American where a recent poll showed a 62.3% support for the Right to Choose.
Around the world, many governments have been moving toward easier access to abortion, with more than 50 countries (including Ireland) liberalizing their laws in the past three decades. Today’s move by SCOTUS puts the US in the company of countries like Poland and Nicaragua moving towards greater restrictions on legal access to abortion.
Banning abortions will not stop abortions but will make life harder and more dangerous for poor and migrant women who do not have the means to travel to access abortion.It will also hurt, disable and endanger many people who want to carry pregnancies to full term but who encounter medical difficulties.
The REPEAL campaign in Ireland shows that we can win the Right to Choose and now is not the time for the movement in the US to mourn, but to organise a fightback against this backlash on women’s right to full reproductive care.
Ireland will show solidarity with the abortion rights movement in the US and protests will be organised over the coming days.