Category Archives: Roe v Wade

US Soccer condemns supreme court abortion ruling as UWSNT beat Colombia

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  • US win 3-0 in Utah despite missing two penalties
  • Megan Rapinoe had spoken out against Roe v Wade decision
  • USWNT’s home unbeaten streak stretches to 68 games

Sophia Smith scored twice in the second half and the US women’s national team beat Colombia 3-0 on Saturday night to extend their home unbeaten streak to 68 games, but many of the players had a seismic legal ruling on their minds.

Smith scored her first in the 54th minute off a pass from Rose Lavelle when Colombian goalkeeper Catalina Perez came out of her goal. She added her second in the 60th minute. Smith, who plays for the Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Soccer League, has six international goals.

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Roe v Wade: legal experts see limited opportunities to challenge court ruling

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Legal scholar Lawrence Tribe: ‘We’re in for a long, tangled, chaotic and, in terms of human suffering, horribly costly struggle’

Joe Biden on Saturday renewed his criticism of the supreme court, a day after justices handed down a historic ruling that overturned a ruling that had guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion for almost half a century.

“The supreme court has made some terrible decisions,” Biden said at an event where he signed last week’s bipartisan gun control bill into law. The president said he and the first lady, Jill Biden, knew “how painful and devastating the decision is for so many Americans” and vowed that his administration would focus on how states implement the decision.

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BBC’s Amol Rajan criticised for using phrase ‘pro-life’ in Roe v Wade interview

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Pro-choice campaigners say hearing the term, seen as partisan, on Today programme was ‘disappointing’

One of the BBC’s most high-profile presenters has been criticised for using the term “pro-life” to describe anti-abortion campaigners in a discussion about the US supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.

The term, which is considered partisan, was used twice by Amol Rajan during Saturday morning’s Today programme on Radio 4, in segments about the landmark ruling ending Americans’ constitutional right to abortion.

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Roe v Wade: senators say Trump supreme court nominees misled them

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Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh said they would not overturn landmark abortion ruling, Susan Collins and Joe Manchin say

When the supreme court decided on Friday to overturn Roe v Wade, several senators who recently approved justices responsible for this decision said they felt deceived. These politicians pointed to prior statements from Trump appointees Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch; both male judges had claimed they would not overturn Roe.

“I feel misled,” the Maine senator Susan Collins told the New York Times. In a lengthy meeting on 21 August 2018, the Republican reportedly grilled Kavanaugh to explain why he could be trusted not to overturn Roe.

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French lawmakers propose bill to inscribe abortion rights in constitution

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Constitutional law would cement abortion rights for future generations, says member of parliament

A group of lawmakers from the French president’s party will propose a bill to inscribe abortion rights into the country’s constitution, according to a statement by two members of parliament on Saturday.

The move comes after the US supreme court overturned a 50-year-old ruling and stripped women’s constitutional protections for abortion.

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Abortion banned in multiple US states just hours after Roe v Wade overturned

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Utah among first states to outlaw almost all abortions, while mayor of Washington DC declares it ‘pro-choice city’

Abortion was already illegal in multiple US states on Saturday, with bans introduced within hours of Roe v Wade being overturned, as cities erupted in protest at the landmark ruling.

It came after the US supreme court on Friday abolished the constitutional right to abortion, more than 50 years after it was established, leaving individual states to decide. It is ultimately expected to lead to abortion bans in about half of the states.

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Biden administration signals fight to stop states banning abortion pill

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With Roe v Wade overturned, government could go to court over how mifepristone is approved for use

Joe Biden’s administration has indicated it will seek to prevent states from banning a pill used for medical abortion in light of the supreme court ruling overturning Roe v Wade, signalling a major new legal fight.

The administration could argue in court that the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, one of the pills used for medical abortions, preempts state restrictions, meaning federal authority outweighs any state action.

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Tech firms under pressure to safeguard user data as abortion prosecutions loom

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Private information collected and retained by companies could be weaponized to prosecute abortion seekers and providers

After the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade on Friday, calls increased for tech companies to take a stand about the use of online data to incriminate individuals seeking or providing abortion services.

Abortion and civil rights advocates have warned that there are few federal regulations on what information is collected and retained by tech firms, making it easy for law enforcement officials to access incriminating data on location, internet searches and communication history.

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Protests sweep across nation as supreme court overturns Roe v Wade – follow live

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Former president Barack Obama has condemned the supreme court’s ruling overturning Roe v Wade, calling it an attack on “the essential freedoms of millions of Americans”:

President Joe Biden is expected to address the nation:

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‘Abortion returns to the states’: US attorneys general react to Roe v Wade ruling

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Those in more progressive states assured people that abortion is still legal while Republicans framed it as a celebratory occasion

The US supreme court has ruled that the constitution does not protect the right to an abortion, opening the door for states to ban or severely restrict abortion access. In several states, abortion becomes immediately illegal, while other states have already taken steps to ban abortion.

The people who will enforce these anti-abortion laws are attorneys general, the top legal authority for each state. Within hours of the supreme court overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision, nearly every state’s attorney general released a statement.

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‘Outrage and action’: protesters young and old gather outside supreme court

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Pro-choice activists and lawmakers express their dismay over the court ruling and vow to keep fighting for women’s rights

The crowds gathered outside the US supreme court building in expectation of today’s decision – which resulted in a stunning reversal of federal law, the overturning of Roe v Wade and the end constitutional right to an abortion – turned quickly to anger, protest and in some cases to celebration.

Dominated with the voices of anger and dissent, young people and older ones joined together with handmade signs and chanting slogans of protest and defiance.

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Contraception, gay marriage: Clarence Thomas signals new targets for supreme court

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Rightwing justice appears to offer preview of the court’s potential future rulings after decision to remove US abortion rights

Many Americans reacted to the supreme court’s decision to reverse Roe v Wade and remove federal abortion rights in the US with shock, but many also asked a terrified question: what might be next?

The conservative justice Clarence Thomas appeared to offer a preview of the court’s potential future rulings, suggesting the rightwing-controlled court may return to the issues of contraception access and marriage equality, threatening LGBTQ rights.

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Workers at US abortion rights groups seek unions to prepare for post-Roe care

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Clinic employees say more staffing and resources will be needed to manage an expected influx of out-of-state patients

As reproductive rights groups brace for an anticipated US supreme court decision to overturn Roe v Wade and strike down federal abortion rights in America, workers at these groups are organizing to unionize ahead of the expected legal changes.

About 400 workers at 28 clinics in five states in the midwest – Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, announced in late May 2022 their intent to unionize with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa. They have filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board after a majority of workers signed authorization cards and their request for voluntary recognition was turned down by management.

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US supreme court clerks may be required to hand over phone records – report

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Some clerks reportedly considering retaining legal counsel as investigation into Roe v Wade opinion draft widens

In an unprecedented move, US supreme court clerks may be required to release their phone records as the investigation into who leaked the Roe v Wade opinion draft widens.

The possible mandated release of private cell records and signed affidavits, reported by CNN, is reportedly causing some clerks to consider retaining legal counsel.

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The network of organisations seeking to influence abortion policy across Europe

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The ultra-Christian, anti-abortion and far-right network is allegedly seeking to replicate anti-choice efforts in the US

A network of ultra-Christian, anti-abortion and far-right organisations is building momentum in its quest to influence abortion policy in Europe as the US supreme court considers striking down Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalised the procedure in America.

Elements of the network originally came together under the name Agenda Europe, holding yearly summits across the continent between 2013 until at least 2018, by which time it had grown to comprise 300 participants, including politicians and Vatican diplomats.

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Arkansas Republican admits abortion trigger law would cause ‘heartbreak’ if Roe is reversed

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Governor Asa Hutchinson signed near-total abortion ban bill, even though he disagreed with the lack of exceptions for incest and rape

The Republican governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, has admitted that an anti-abortion trigger law that he signed on to the books would lead to “heartbreaking circumstances” if Roe v Wade is overturned, in which girls as young as 11 who became pregnant through rape or incest would be forced to give birth.

Hutchinson’s remarks give a revealing insight into the twisted human and political quandaries that are certain to arise should the US supreme court, as expected, destroy the constitutional right to an abortion enshrined in Roe v Wade when it issues its ruling next month. The governor told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that in 2019 he had signed the Arkansas trigger law, Senate Bill 6, which would ban almost all abortions the instant Roe were reversed, even though he disagreed with its lack of exceptions for incest and rape.

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‘Any number of rights could be next’ if Roe v Wade goes, says Buttigieg

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US transportation secretary says supreme court’s ruling could determine future generations’ freedoms

Pete Buttigieg, the US transportation secretary and the first openly gay member of a US administration, has expressed his worry that the expected overturning by the supreme court of the 1973 landmark decision which made abortion legal, may be the start of a series of eliminations of other groundbreaking rights and protections.

Earlier this month a leaked document showed that five conservatives on the nine-justice supreme court had voted to reverse their predecessors’ ruling in Roe v Wade nearly 50 years ago. The provisional ruling could lead to abortion being outlawed in more than half of US states unless it is changed substantially before becoming final.

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Indigenous and Alaska Native women could face escalated violence if Roe is repealed

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They are also two to three times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than white women, according to the CDC

The repeal of federally protected abortion rights would result in an increase in violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls and all those who birth, predicted the director of one of the leading research institutes on Indigenous and Alaska Native people across the US.

“The only option we have right now if this was to be overturned, is to provide the limited resources and support, but it will be limited, especially initially. As a direct result our people are going to suffer,” Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, told the Guardian.

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US supreme court abortion reversal would be global ‘catastrophe’ for women

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If Roe v Wade is overturned, it will encourage anti-choice groups – particularly in the developing world, activists warn

The probable demise of abortion as a federal right in the US will be a “catastrophe” for women in low and middle-income countries, with an emboldened anti-choice movement likely to raise renewed pressure on hard-won gains, doctors and activists have warned.

The leak this month of the US supreme court’s draft majority opinion, which argued that the 1973 ruling effectively legalising abortion had been “egregiously wrong from the start”, stunned and enraged many in America.

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‘We will not go back’: Thousands rally for abortion rights across the US

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More than 300 pro-choice protests organized around US against expected reversal of 1973 landmark law that made abortion illegal

• Nationwide abortion rights protest – follow live

Thousands of people were taking part in protests across the US on Saturday to decry the supreme court’s expected reversal of the landmark 1973 law that made abortion legal in America.

Demonstrators were gathering at more than 380 protest events being held from Maine to Hawaii, in cities including Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, to demand that the right to an abortion is not stripped away by the court, which is dominated by rightwing justices.

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