The US Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the right to an abortion in the US has been criticized by Boris Johnson as a “huge step backwards.”
By choosing to reverse the important Roe v. Wade decision, the US Supreme Court has eliminated constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place for almost 50 years.
In about half of the US states, abortion will likely become illegal as a result.
At a news conference in Kigali, Rwanda, the prime minister stated that the decision was a “huge step backwards” and added, “I’ve always believed in a woman’s right to choose.”
Politicians from all political parties in the UK expressed their opposition to the decision, including Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP, who claimed it would strengthen anti-abortion and anti-women movements abroad.
‘Today’s sad Supreme Court judgment is a major blow for women’s rights in the United States of America,’ Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said.
Women’s autonomy over their bodies is a fundamental human right, according to this statement. It will strengthen anti-abortion and anti-women forces abroad, according to Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP.
In opposition to the decision to eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion, more than 100 protesters have assembled in front of the American embassy in London.
One participant showed up dressed as a character from the dystopian novel and television series The Handmaid’s Tale, in which a fundamentalist regime rules society and treats women like property.
It is “absolutely savage,” according to Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, and “heartbreaking news for women everywhere,” according to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Some UK organizations have already criticized the decision, with the country’s top abortion provider, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, stating that it is “appalled.”
It was a “momentous and tragic day for the United States,” according to Wen-Wen Lindroth, chairperson of Democrats Abroad in the UK, the party’s official organization for US residents living abroad.
She said: “I’m around the same age as Roe v. Wade and, you know, I think a lot of women of my generation just took it for granted that the fight for women’s rights, you know, had come a very long way – maybe not all the way – but this was certainly one of the fundamental decisions that, you know, underlies our sense of equality in the US.”
“So having it taken away is really significant, and it will damage women, you know, of older generations, of younger generations obviously. It’s just something that we’re going to need to address politically and find a way to reverse.”
CEO Clare Murphy stated that prohibiting abortion does not eliminate women’s urge to end a pregnancy. It merely makes it more challenging and risky.
We are requesting that the UK government openly denounce this violation of women’s human rights and make it plain on the international stage that restricting women’s access to quick, safe abortion services has no place in any society that claims to be civilized in the twenty-first century.
It would be impermissible for our leaders to stand by and do nothing when women’s rights are reduced. We implore the administration to exercise leadership immediately.
According to the nonprofit Christian Action Research and Education, “the most compassionate cultures esteem and protect” both mothers and infants.
“Limiting access to abortion must be complemented by proper care for women going through crisis pregnancies, and families raising children,” stated CEO Ross Hendry. This is the epitome of the pro-life ethic.
The decision overturns “an unfair regulation,” according to Catherine Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Right To Life UK organization, and marks “the beginning of the legislative battle over abortion, certainly not the end.”
The decision was dubbed “an assault on women’s human rights, their lives, and their families” by Nimco Ali, the Government’s independent adviser on combating violence against women and girls.
The UK government and the other G7 members “cannot remain silent when women’s human rights are violated,” she wrote in a tweet.
Make no mistake, the Women’s Equality Party tweeted. This decision will result in the deaths of thousands of women and the criminalization or forced continuation of unwanted pregnancies of many more.
It is utterly painful, horrible, and barbaric. Support for our female sisters
Outside the US embassy in Vauxhall, south London, on Friday night, the party and the advocacy group Abortion Rights were urging people to join them in their protest of the decision.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, wrote on Twitter that London “stands with the women of America whose most fundamental liberties and rights are threatened by this judgement.” A depressing day for a wonderful nation.
The demonstrators were “full of indignation and anger” over the decision, according to Judith Orr, vice chair of the advocacy group Abortion Rights, which claims to have organized the event. She also warned that the repercussions will be “dire.”
You really can’t overstate the effects it will have on women, she added. “Women will die,” she continued. “African American women, women of color, poor, working class women, are going to suffer from this to the greatest extent.”
We support you, she continued. We are passionate about those women this evening and we will fight until you get your rights.
“I find it difficult to understand why they’re doing this, why they’re pressuring individuals to endanger their lives in order to regulate their own fertility in the twenty-first century. This evening is just awful and appalling.
While waving signs, many of which read “our bodies, our choice,” the throng stood and listened to speakers denounce the US Supreme Court decision.
In Nine Elms, London, outside the US Embassy, 25-year-old Esme Trevelyan addressed the crowd, saying: “Obviously we’re in London, there’s not much we can do but being here outside the American embassy is simply a message of solidarity, I guess, towards American women.”
Because America is the most powerful and one of the richest countries in the world, even though it may not seem to be an issue here, “if it can happen there, it can happen elsewhere,”
According to 20-year-old Freya Shaw, “I think were just here to prove to them that they have a voice, that we have a voice, that we hear them, and that we’re here to help and support them and get their voices heard and amplify it as much as possible because I think that feeling of anger is felt everywhere.”
Jessica Cappi, 25, said: “At 4:15pm today we all got the notification on our phones and thought, ‘this is the end of something.’” She said, “I just feel so outraged for women globally that we might regress.
The US is one of four nations, according to a figure I saw today, that are really regressing on abortion rights. I boarded the train, and now here I am 45 minutes later.
While playing at Glastonbury, Billie Eilish declared that the Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Roe v. Wade, the important 1973 ruling that legalized abortion statewide, was a “very bad day” for women in the US.
She said the song, named “Your Power,” is about the idea of power as she gave an introduction to it.
The song we’re about to perform is, in my opinion, one of our favorites; it’s about the idea of power and how we should constantly keep in mind how not to abuse it.
And for women in the US, today is a really, truly dark day. I’ll simply say that since I can’t stand to think about it right now any longer.