Opinion

Sky Views: Why abortion crackdown could define the next US election

Abortion may become the biggest social issue of the 2020 US election

Tuesday 21 May 2019 06:51, UK

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By Hannah Thomas-Peter, US correspondent

Is abortion going to become the social issue that defines America's elections in 2020?

Suddenly it seems that it might.

In Alabama, abortion has been effectively banned, even in the case of incest or rape.

A doctor who performs an abortion in all but the narrowest circumstances is at risk of being sentenced to more years behind bars than a rapist would get for the original crime.

The crackdown will have the biggest impact on low-income women
Image: The crackdown will have the biggest impact on low-income women

Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas, Utah, Louisiana, Ohio have all recently restricted or are attempting to restrict access to abortion, some going as far as making it illegal at any point past six weeks.

These states can see that with the appointment of conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the balance of the Supreme Court has shifted in their favour and the time to try to overturn the landmark reproductive rights decision Roe v Wade is now.

The thing is, while the political and legislative football gets punted about the field, women will die.

Whatever your views on abortion, there will always be a demand for it. Those who campaign against it won't be able to impact that, despite being entitled to try.

In states where it is already difficult to get abortions, further restricting access simply means desperate women will find another way. In back alley clinics, with unlicensed practitioners, maybe at home, as they did in their hundreds of thousands before Roe v Wade.

The decision in Alabama has been met with outrage and protests
Image: The decision in Alabama has been met with outrage and protests

Women will inflict great harm on themselves, and some of them will die, because they cannot access a service they need. Those profound consequences and the ensuing suffering will be borne disproportionately by low-income women and women of colour.

Can protecting life at conception be worth this, in the case of rape or incest? In Alabama, legislators are saying it is.

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Paste BN editors and correspondents, published every morning.

Previously on Sky Views: Deborah Haynes - Outgunned Iran defiant in face of superior US firepower