Abortion in the United States: What is the purpose of the Supreme Court ruling and what can happen?

The sentence of the Supreme Court of Justice, which repealed the constitutional right to abortion, do not consider illegal termination of pregnancy. But it removes the umbrella of constitutional protection from that right enshrined in the United States for nearly half a century and gives states the freedom to dictate the policy they want on the matter.

In practice, the decision of the Court this Friday it will spread across the country almost immediately because about half of all states are ready for prohibit or restrict abortion drastically.

Thirteen states, most of them in the country’s more conservative center and south, will ban abortion within 30 days with activation clauses designed so that the law came into effect when the Roe v. Wade had been overturned.

Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming they will move immediately limit abortion as much as possible.

What about cases of rape or incest

These laws do an exception for cases where the mother’s life is in danger, but most do not include exceptions for rape or incest.

The practical consequences can already be seen. At the time of the court ruling this Friday, many of the clinics in those states they were full of patients with scheduled appointments for an abortion.

The managers had to do the math crowded waiting rooms and informing patients that they could no longer legally perform the procedure, distributing lists of out-of-state clinics hundreds of miles away, knowing that many of their patients will not be able to travel that far.

Once all activation laws go into effect, patients in Texas they will have to travel 870 kilometers on average to get to the nearest abortion clinic in another state with more lenient legislation, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research organization.

For patients in Louisiana, the journey will be 1,000 kilometers. In Mississippi, 727 km.

While states don’t specifically ban abortion, it can limit it to the point where it is practically impossibleas Texas did, for example, a year ago.

in that state now it can only be stopped before the fetal heartbeat is heardwhich in some cases is at the 6th week of gestation, when many times not even the mother knows she is pregnant.

Even in that state those who help women are penalized abortion, from doctors to taxi drivers who take them to the clinic, and also encourages every citizen to report the termination of pregnancy, with rewards of up to $ 10,000 if he wins the case.

The risks: clandestine practices

With Roe v. Wade in effect, hundreds of thousands of women safely aborted each year. Now many believe that the clandestine practices with greater risks.

More states are expected to ban or restrict abortion in the coming weeks and months, particularly those governed by Republicans. There are five that have already tried laws that would ban most abortions and have been blocked by the courts, so it is estimated that lawmakers will likely move to activate them as soon as possible.

In much of the country, the future of access to abortion is uncertain. The November midterm election results could affect the legality of abortion in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, states with Republican-led legislatures and Democratic governors who support abortion rights. It will be a key theme of the campaigns.

The court ruling it was a bomb and the expansive wave has just begun.

Washington, correspondent

ap