When the United States Supreme Court voided the right to an abortion on June 24, 2022, Tarah Demant (Berkeley, California, USA, 43 years old) felt like she was punched in the stomach like she had been choked off her. “When Judge Samuel Alito’s draft opinion, hearing Roe v. Wade (1973) leaked in May, those of us involved in human and reproductive rights, and abortion rights in particular, weren’t surprised because we already knew that moment was coming, but it was a total shock nonetheless.” But when the Supreme Court made the decision in June, “it was like the ground fell out from under us, that we started to have fewer rights than our mothers and even than our grandmothers.” That’s when they realized, Demant laments that “everything that goes forward can also go backwards,” Amnesty International USA’s gender and human rights expert said during a visit to Madrid on Thursday.
Questions. What exactly changed on June 24, 2022?
Answer. That day, six conservative judges ruled that abortion was not protected by the constitution [de Estados Unidos] and restored the power to legislate on the subject to the 50 states. So far there are 13 states that have more or less banned legal and safe abortion. Actually the entire south, from Texas to Florida, including Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. They are thousands of kilometers of prohibition, a space like that between Madrid and Saint Petersburg. So you can’t just go to the next state to have an abortion, because the next state also banned abortion, and the next state also banned abortion.
Q The legal ban on abortion doesn’t prevent its practice, does it?
R Of course not! The effect of the abortion ban is an increase in maternal mortality. And the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the so-called developed world. For two reasons. First, because if women cannot find a safe route to abortion, they will try unsafe routes. Second, because forced pregnancies are caused in a country with little access to medical care. In addition, the ban on abortion increases poverty and worsens education, not only for women but also for children, because women who are able to control their reproductive lives and choose the number of children they want enable their Children a better life and a better life better education.
When Republicans lost control at the state and national levels in the 1970s, they looked for an issue to politicize and settled on abortion.
Q Who will be most affected by abortion rights repeal?
R The rich white people, I’ll tell you no. Lower-class women are hardest hit because many cannot afford medical care—in the United States, an abortion costs between $500 and $1,500, depending on the state and method—or a plane ticket to another state or disability. Also members of racial minorities, migrants and especially undocumented people who find travel terrifying, and indigenous people. And those living in rural areas where there is no access to medical care.
Q There are states that have enacted norms that guarantee voluntary abortion beyond Supreme Court rulings. Which is it?
R More liberal states like California, Colorado, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Vermont… which have tried to pass more protective legislation. But if the federal government passes a law banning or restricting abortion, it will automatically remove all protections.
Politicians and parties cannot decide what human rights are because we were born with them, because they were discussed, agreed and signed back then.
Q How did this point come about?
R Well, there is a certain story. when decided [el fallo de] gnaws [contra Wade] In 1973, almost 50 years ago, abortion was not a particularly politicized issue. Now yes. When Republicans lost control at the state and national levels in the 1970s, they looked for an issue to politicize and settled on abortion. Neither she nor the church had previously positioned themselves on the subject. But they’ve since built a constituency obsessed with banning abortion as their ultimate goal.
Q Are they the majority?
R NO! Not at all! The vast majority of Americans still support access to safe, legal abortion. In fact, 70% of people polled before and after Roe agree people should have access to abortions. So it’s not about public opinion. As I said, it is the politicization of abortion. I respect the opinion of the other 30%, they have every right to it. You have no right to force them on others.
Pro- and anti-abortion protesters in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington on December 1 CHIP SOMODEVILLA (AFP)
Q In addition to gaining power, is it also about controlling the female body?
R Naturally. And to control not only their bodies, but also their possibilities, their lives, their destiny. It’s about forcing people to give birth. It’s scary, really scary. We are in a very dark time and things are likely to get worse before they get better. However, the abortion rights movement is strong and we have the majority on our side. We will keep fighting!
Q How can you actively counteract this reaction of reactionary movements in the face of advances in abortion?
R The first is to understand that the right to abortion is a human right and not a political debate. The second thing is to focus on what women want, trust that they know what’s best for them. Third, bring abortion to the kitchen table, destigmatize it. Fourth, be active and get involved, don’t wait until it’s too late. It took 40 years to get it [el fallo de] Roe, it took 40 years to undo and it might take another 40 years to get it back. You start by politicizing the right to abortion and end up losing it. Our fight is long and we will fight it. What we don’t want is that women from other countries have to fight the same thing.
From the United States to the rest of the world
Q Does all this about the politicization of abortion have anything to do with what is happening in Spain?
R Very much. I saw on the news that the leader of the PP, [Alberto Núñez] Feijóo, has said that voluntary abortion is not a fundamental right, but a right enshrined in law. In other words, it has made abortion a political issue, an opinion, when in reality it is about human rights and health. That’s how it starts… That’s why you have to be very attentive with this kind of speech. Furthermore, politicians and parties cannot decide what human rights are as we were born with them because they were discussed, agreed upon and signed at that time.
70% of people polled before and after Roe agree people should have access to abortions
Q The government of the Junta de Castilla y León, composed of PP and Vox [de derecha y ultraderecha, respectivamente], has recently put the application of anti-abortion measures in the hands of doctors, such as offering women fetal heartbeat listening or 4D ultrasound scans in the first few weeks. What do you think of this decision?
R It’s about trusting women to know what’s best for them, what’s best for their bodies, what’s best for their lives, what’s best for their families. And every obstacle we put in their way is an obstacle to safe medical care. Do you have to keep driving because the public hospital has conscientious objectors? Do you need to see an ultrasound or listen to the heart activity of the fetus? Do you have to undergo forced therapy? What the government is saying is that women don’t know what’s best for them. And this is not a human rights framework and it is not a health care framework. It is an authoritarian and paternalistic framework of state control over women’s bodies. He’s not trying to take care of her, he’s trying to control her. It starts with those little barriers designed to keep women from having an abortion and ends with a total ban on abortion.
It starts with those little barriers designed to keep women from having an abortion and ends with a total ban on abortion.
Q How does the abolition of abortion in the United States affect the rest of the world? Will it reach Europe and Latin America?
R The reality is that as human rights recede in the United States, they recede beyond their own borders. Now we see progress on human rights in the rest of the world, especially on abortion. We see advances in abortion rights around the world, like in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Ireland, Northern Ireland, etc. That means the United States is out of sync. But it’s true that what matters is what the United States does. And if the United States politicizes abortion, governments and authoritarian parties seeking power and control could follow suit and end up controlling the definition of human rights.
Follow PLANETA FUTURO on TwitterFacebook and Instagram and subscribe to our “Newsletter” here.