The state of Arizona passed legislation severely restricting access to abortion. It comes into effect this Saturday. Washington denounced this decision in a press release.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre on Saturday condemned “the potentially catastrophic, dangerous and unacceptable consequences” of a Friday decision by an Arizona court that American media said reinstated a 19th-century law that almost outlawed abortion .
“If this decision is upheld, healthcare workers could face up to five years in prison if they fail to fulfill their duty of care; Survivors of rape and incest would be forced to give birth to their attackers’ children; and (pregnant) women with health problems would face terrible risks,” Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The law brought back more than a century
Arizona Pima County Judge Kellie Johnson made a decision on Friday that caused a stir in the United States, where access to voluntary abortion, always a politically hot topic, is at the heart of the campaign for the November legislation Choose.
The judge bases her verdict on a recent decision by the very conservative American Supreme Court, which at the end of June blew up the right to abortion, which its jurisdiction has guaranteed throughout American territory since 1973.
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has indicated that he believes this reversal of jurisprudence is legislation passed to ban abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, which would pre-empt previous texts, but this interpretation finds no consensus. The judge found the Supreme Court’s decision to be fair and restored the law on the matter to its pre-1973 status.
As a result, according to several American media outlets, extremely restrictive texts from 1864 and 1901 were reinstated before American women had the right to vote and even before that western state officially joined the United States in 1912.
Several conservative US states have enacted full or partial abortion bans following the Supreme Court ruling.
The Democratic Party, led by President Joe Biden, is hoping to mobilize voters to defend access to abortion in polls during November’s midterm elections, which will partially overhaul the Senate and fully overhaul the House of Representatives.