The US Supreme Court’s decision to reverse abortion rights has been criticized by a conservative Australian politician.
The vote to overturn the famous Roe v. Wade judgment from 1973 signaled the end of the US constitution’s protection of the right to an abortion, leaving it up to individual states to determine whether to outlaw the procedure.
Now, American women who find themselves pregnant unnecessarily have three options: leave the country to obtain an abortion in a state where it is still permitted and legal; purchase abortion pills online; and hope they don’t get caught using them; or undergo very risky illegal abortions.
After the decision was made on Friday, Sussan Ley, the deputy leader of the Australian Liberal Party, declared: “This has been a step backwards for women in the US.”
She told Sky News on Sunday, “I’m extremely uncomfortable by anything that puts a personal and delicate matter that a woman has to deal with in many cases, or a family has to deal with, in the same sentence as criminal.”
Additionally, Ms. Ley agreed with Bill Clinton’s well-known dictum that abortion should be “safe, legal, and infrequent.”
Up to 26 of the 50 states in the union are thought to be “certain or probable” to outlaw the operation. Following the ruling, 13 states automatically outlawed abortion.
Jason Clare, a member of the Australian government, said he understood the rage, frustration, and loss that people are feeling and discussing in the US and other countries.
Thank God, he said, that in Australia, the Labor Party and the Liberal Party do not disagree on the question of abortion.
I’m currently considering the ladies who reside in some of these states who are essentially told today that if you want an abortion, hop on a bus and travel a few hundred miles.
Over the weekend, famous Australians spoke out against the decision, including former Australian of the Year Grace Tame and former Bachelor star Abbie Chatfield.
A bit of democracy died today, according to Ms. Tame, who had only had four periods when she was regularly assaulted by her 58-year-old high school instructor, “sometimes without protection.”
‘Our womanhood is robbed from us before we even have it, for some. And there is no choice there,’ she added.
In a white dress and strappy stilettos, Ms. Chatfield posted a bathroom mirror selfie.
She posted on social media, “This is me the day before I had my abortion, at the earliest stage you can’t truly tell that you’re even pregnant.”
‘Here, I’m six weeks pregnant.
‘I was 23, and had a decent job, but I did not want a child, and that was reason enough. It wasn’t an easy decision but it was the right decision.’
Ms Chatfield said she cried herself to sleep following the ruling, describing removing access to ‘necessary healthcare’ as ‘barbaric and terrifying’.
‘Overnight, abortion rights have been stripped in 12 states. As someone who has had an abortion, it made me sick,’ she wrote.
Incoming Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said ensuring equal access to health services, including for reproductive purposes, in regional areas was a priority in her new role and echoed the words of Ms Ley.
‘The US has taken a great, big step backwards in terms of the rights of women over their own bodies and their own destiny,’ she told reporters in Frankston.
President Joe Biden described it as “a sad day for the court and the country” in a speech at the White House.
The Supreme Court’s ruling, in his words, was “wrong, excessive, and out of touch.”
Biden declared that the fight for abortion rights “is not over,” accusing the court of “expressly taking away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans.”
He declared that his government will use all of its resources to fight any attempts to prevent women from traveling to other states for abortions.