Last Updated on 05/08/2024 by Arun jain
Two years ago, the US Supreme Court banned abortion and allowed states to make changes to the law on their own. After this, a big change has come about there. Abortions are still happening, but through home methods. Sometimes the cases get so bad that the woman has to go to the hospital.
This fact came to light in a recent survey. According to this, the number of women undergoing self-abortion increased rapidly.
what does the survey say
The American Medical Association’s journal JAMA Network Open Journal published the results of a survey last Tuesday. Researchers spoke to groups of 7,000 women in the first six months of the survey, and a little more than 7,000 women a year later. In this, they admitted that after the Supreme Court’s decision, they are forced to abort at home on their own. The research was done on a small group, but the researchers believed that the number of such women could be in millions.
what happened two years ago
In June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned a nearly five-decade-old decision allowing abortion. Even before this, 13 states had enacted anti-abortion laws, but not so strictly. Even if there was difficulty, women would go to hospitals in other states. But the decision taken two years ago changed everything. Declaring abortion morally and religiously wrong, the court gave the states the power to make anti-abortion laws more stringent according to their own.
As soon as the court’s decision became public, abortion clinics started getting closed. Even planned abortions were cancelled. After this, the situation kept getting worse. Now the situation is such that if an unwanted pregnancy occurs, women are forced to abort it at home.
A large population considers abortion to be justified in ‘special circumstances’
There has been a long debate on abortion in the USA, which is considered very modern. Most adults believe that it is a woman’s right and the court should not interfere in it, while 40 percent people consider anti-abortion to be right. According to a report by the Guardian, about 85 percent people considered abortion to be completely right in certain circumstances.
Now this is also a big issue in the elections. Donald Trump has been advocating anti-abortion, while Kamala Harris and her party want to remove this law. It is believed that the victory or defeat in November will also be decided by this.
Abortion after pregnancy movement was forbidden
In the 19th century, abortion was allowed under the common law in America. It was banned only when movement was seen in the woman’s womb, that is, when the pregnancy reached an advanced stage. The Catholic Church also believed that before this there is no life in the fetus. Let us tell you that the Church played a big role in bringing the law against abortion.
Later, the Church became the face of anti-abortion. But even then, abortion was allowed, especially if the pregnancy posed a risk to the woman. After the Church, a large number of male doctors also joined in. Oxford-educated Dr. Horatio Storer became the leader of this campaign.
The doctors had a different argument
Then refugees started coming to America. Anti-abortion advocates said that American women should fill the country with their children so that there is no space left for intruders. Despite these arguments, abortion clinics continued to operate. From 1950 onwards, this number kept increasing every year in the next 10 years and starting from 2 lakh, the figure reached 12 lakh.
The biggest decisions from 1970 to 2022
Talking about the biggest decisions on abortion, they came only twice. In the year 1973, the Supreme Court said that abortion can be done in the first three months. Meanwhile, many states started implementing it more strictly, but the court kept intervening every time and giving exemption for abortion. But in the year 2022, the court itself gave a decision against it, as well as gave the states the right to impose more or less restrictions in it.
Immediately after the court’s order, most states completely banned abortion. However, Alaska, California, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Vermont have some exemptions. In some places, this exemption is for 6 weeks, when pregnancy is often not even detected. At the same time, many states allow up to three months.
Why was the anti-abortion law introduced?
There were religious, political and social reasons behind this. Catholics consider it wrong as per their religious beliefs. On the other hand, many anti-abortion activists see it as a right to life and call it a conspiracy against the unborn child. Leaders of conservative parties in America were also involved in this.
Only three countries in Europe have anti-abortion laws
European countries, which consider America as their leader, are different from it in this matter. Abortion is legal in most European countries. But there are some countries where it is banned, or there are very strict restrictions. Malta, Poland and Andorra are those countries. In Poland and Andorra, abortion is legal if the mother’s life is in danger, but in Malta it is not allowed at all.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)