Justices appear poised to overturn most fundamental ruling in US law that enshrined right to abortion nationwide
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Here is an extract from a piece by US columnist Moira Donegan:
In a way, the leaked opinion didn’t tell us anything we did not already know: these are the last days of reproductive freedom in America, and most states will soon ban abortion outright, or restrict it so onerously that it is inaccessible within their borders. But Alito’s draft opinion nevertheless represents about as odiously maximalist an approach as the court could have taken.
The opinion does not just overturn Roe and Casey; it expresses outright contempt for the notion that the constitution protects bodily autonomy for women. It articulates a rigid and unchanging vision of individual rights, one in which only those freedoms with robust historical precedent and explicit enumeration in the text of the constitution will be recognized by the court.
The typical abortion patient is in their 20s, doesn’t have a lot of money and has one or more children.
Structural inequities – including living on low incomes and limited access to health insurance – all contribute to the higher rates of abortions among people of colour.
