Independent
The US Supreme Court has struck down the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling, which means millions of women in the US will lose the legal right to abortion.
This means that individual states are now able to ban the procedure, and half of US states are expected to introduce bans or restrictions.
Thirteen US States have already passed “trigger laws” to automatically ban abortions following the ruling.
Research from Planned Parenthood estimates that rights to an abortion will be cut off for approximately 36 million women.
Prior to the ruling, restrictions on abortion had previously been imposed in Texas. As of September 2021, Senate Bill 8 bans abortions in the state after approximately six weeks of pregnancy.
By law, services must ask women why they want an abortion, and two doctors must verify that the requirements of the Abortion Act are met.
Abortion may be permitted on one of four grounds – if there is a risk to the life of the pregnant woman, or if abortion will prevent grave permanent injury to a woman’s physical or mental health.
Abortion can also take place if there is risk to the physical and mental health of the woman or any existing children of her family, or there is a substantial risk that if the child was born, they would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.
The 1967 Act did not extend to Northern Ireland and abortion was not decriminalised in the region until 2019. Despite this, abortion services here are still limited.
In March, British MP Brandon Lewis, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, announced he was setting up a small team of people to work with Northern Ireland’s Department of Health on creating high-quality abortion care. Writing in a ministerial statement, Lewis said it was “unacceptable” that services had not already been established…
