On Roe anniversary, US VP says no freedom without abortion rights
Vice President Kamala Harris has warned that abortion rights are under attack across the United States in a speech to mark the 50th anniversary of the Roe v Wade ruling.
Harris said the now-defunct Supreme Court ruling, which codified federal abortion protections but was struck down by conservative justices last year, had enshrined the “fundamental constitutional right of a woman to make decisions of her own body, not the government”.
“America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. But let us ask: Can we truly be free if a woman cannot make decisions about her own body?” the vice president said on Sunday from Tallahassee, Florida.
“Can we truly be free if a doctor cannot care for her patients? Can we truly be free if families cannot make intimate decisions about the course of their own lives?”
Prior to the speech, the White House announced its latest efforts to shore up support for abortion rights, saying it was “in consultation” with the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Homeland Security “to consider new guidance to support patients, providers, and pharmacies who wish to legally access, prescribe, or provide” abortion medication and to consider new ways to “ensure that patients can access legal reproductive care”.
The Food and Drug Administration also announced this month that so-called abortion pills would become more widely available at pharmacies and through the mail.
Still, the administration of US President Joe Biden has been relatively limited in its ability to respond to the overturning of Roe v Wade without the passage of federal legislation. Such an effort is all but sure to fail amid opposition from Republicans, who control the House of Representatives and who last year introduced a bill that bans abortions nationwide at 15 weeks from conception, with few exceptions.
“Since the Supreme Court’s decision, Americans, time and time again, have made their voices heard: Women should be able to make these deeply personal decisions free from political interference,” Biden said in a statement on Sunday.
“Yet, Republicans in Congress and across the country continue to push for a national abortion ban, to criminalise doctors and nurses, and to make contraception harder to access. It’s dangerous, extreme, and out of touch.”
New face of abortion rights
The repeal of Roe v Wade has brought the fight over abortion access to state legislatures and courts.
Some states have moved to shore up protections through new laws or ballot measures, with voters in California, Michigan, and Vermont moving to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions during the 2022 midterm elections.
