US abortion debate will grow before 2020
A state-level push aims to overturn the 1973 Supreme Court decision that enabled abortions
Alabama's Senate yesterday passed a law that would dramatically limit residents' access to abortion in the state. Governor Kay Ivey will now decide whether to sign the law. The bill joins others restricting abortion passed in other states, including Georgia recently, depending on when a foetal heartbeat is detected. The bills will be challenged by pro-abortion campaigners in court, but supporters of the bills have argued this is the point: the bills will then be considered before an increasingly conservative federal judiciary right up to the US Supreme Court, which anti-abortion advocates hope will see the judiciary overturn the pro-abortion 1973 Roe versus Wade ruling.
Our judgement
There are various abortion-related cases that are not far from reaching Supreme Court level, should the Court decide to take them up. While the court has two new justices appointed by the Trump administration, it is not guaranteed that it would strike down Roe versus Wade. Even if it did (posing illegal abortion risks), the issue generates enough political traction to ensure the debate continues: pro-abortion legislation could follow later, though that too would be divisive.
See UNITED STATES: Justice confirmation brings new risks - October 8, 2018