The majority opinion, obtained by Politico, has been described as a “full-throated, unflinching repudiation” of the landmark decision. 

If the Court eventually votes to strike down Roe v. Wade, several states will impose near-total bans on abortion, making the procedure inaccessible for millions of women.

The news sent shockwaves across the United States… and Europe. But how do the two compare when it comes to abortion access?

While the US has for decades relied on a legal precedent without codifying it under federal law, European countries have passed legislation that enshrines abortion in law and sets out the criteria at a national level. This lack of codification, critics say, deprived the American framework of a democratic basis.

But that’s not the only difference. 

Watch the video above to learn more about how Europe and the US compare.

The post Abortion access: How do the US and Europe compare? first appeared on Magazin Haber Ajansı.

Campaigners have been shocked by the leaked opinion, which suggests it is considering overruling the landmark Roe v Wade case which legalised abortion nationwide in 1973.

US president Joe Biden called it “really quite a radical decision” that reflects a “fundamental shift in American jurisprudence”.

US vice-president Kamala Harris told a conference on Tuesday: “Women’s rights in America are under attack. Today, we know our purpose. We also know what we are up against. Let us fight with everything we’ve got”.

Some campaigners for women’s rights feel what is happening in the US is being reflected in some parts of Europe.

“We do need to be aware of the forces in the world that are trying to roll back progress. This attack on women’s bodies is intimately interconnected with the attack on the rule of law, democracy, and freedom,” said Caroline Hickson, European Network Regional Director at International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

She told Euronews Next the tactics being used by those who want to roll back human rights in the US are being used in Europe too.

Europe: A bastion of freedom to choose?

There has been a major pushback against women’s rights in one European country in recent years, with Poland enforcing a near-total ban on abortions in January 2021.

The country’s constitutional court ruled that abortion on grounds of “severe and irreversible fetal defect or incurable illness that threatens the fetus’ life” was unconstitutional.

This was the basis for more than 90 percent of the approximately 1,000 legal abortions performed in the country each year, according to Human Rights Watch.

The ruling has been widely condemned as an attack on fundamental rights, with both the European Court of Human Rights and the European Commission stating it did not meet fair trial requirements due to a lack of independence from the government.

That ruling came as the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions made travel for abortions – which is what many women still have to do in certain parts of Europe – almost impossible.

The ruling led to mass protests, which Hickson says shows a similarity with what is happening now in the US.

“In common with the US, the vast majority of populations do not support banning abortion. What seems to be clear is the forces pushing against gender equality and women’s rights and rule of law are not in tune with the people of those countries,” she said.

She also cited how the right-wing government in Hungary has attempted to make legal abortions harder to obtain, amid what the EU has described as an ongoing assault on the rule of law and human rights in the country.

“Something similar is going on with reproductive rights being used as a wedge issue in countries that are pushing towards autocracy. Women’s rights are often the first point of entry to roll back the rule of law, and democracy,” she said.

Another country also stands out in stark contrast to the vast majority within Europe. Abortion is still illegal in all circumstances in Malta. But Hickson says there are positive signs of coming change there, as well as progress across the continent.

A woman from the”Yes” campaign reacts after the final result was announced after the Irish referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution in 2018.Peter Morrison/Associated Press

Signs of continued progress

The 2018 referendum in Ireland that led to the legalisation of abortion was hailed as a historic moment, showing rapid progress in a country that traditionally has a strong Catholic identity.

Hickson argues that what happened in Ireland is giving hope to activists in other countries, like Malta, where she says there is now a concerted effort to change the law.

“For a long time it wasn’t even something that could be discussed, but what happened in Ireland has galvanised people to realise you can act,” she said.

San Marino voted to legalise abortion last year in a referendum.

In February this year, France extended the deadline for abortions from 12 to 14 weeks, giving people more time to voluntarily terminate their pregnancy amid a shortage of doctors and the steady closure of recognised abortion centres.

Some 3,000 French women are forced to go abroad each year to have an abortion because they have exceeded the legal time limit, according to campaigners.

And while the Polish government was making things as hard as possible for women who needed an abortion during the pandemic, the UK and Ireland approved telemedicine for early medical abortion, ensuring that women and girls had the option to take an abortion pill at home, without visiting a clinic.

For Hickson, the Roe v Wade debate in the US is a wake-up call for campaigners everywhere.

“The more pushback there is, the more realisation there is as to the fragility of the progress we’ve achieved, and the need to protect it and the need to advance it,” she said.

The post With the US on the brink, where is Europe headed on abortion rights? first appeared on Magazin Haber Ajansı.

Audrey Diwan’s ‘L’événement’ (‘Happening’), which won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival last year, makes its US debut at a time when the country is in tumult over news the Supreme Court may be poised to overturn a landmark ruling, in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, that legalised abortion across the 50 states.

A leaked draft opinion, which the Supreme Court confirmed was genuine on Thursday, would allow individual states to heavily regulate or even outright ban the procedure, to the horror of many women in the US.

Diwan’s film is set in 1963, 12 years before abortion was legalised in France. Based on a 2000 book of the same title by Annie Ernaux, it charts the plight of student Anne Duchesne as she struggles to deal with an unwanted pregnancy.

Diwan discovered the book, one of Ernaux’s less popular works, after having had a termination herself. “I read it because I’d had an abortion and I needed a book, and I even said if I don’t find it, I’m going to write it myself.

“It was very hard for Annie Ernaux to write about that moment of her life. And the fact that there was silence afterward was difficult for her too; nobody wants to hear about that journey.”

Protests outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday after the draft opinion was leakedJose Luis Magana/AP

The film, which was also nominated for a European Film Award in 2021 and a Bafta in the Best Director category this year, is described by its creator as an “intimate thriller”. 

With the clock ticking, Anne seeks out and undergoes two illegal backstreet abortions, risking her life and possible imprisonment. It culminates in her holding back screams of pain because the walls are too thin.

Anamaria Vortolomei, 23, who plays Anne, also read Ernaux’s book in preparation for shooting. “I discovered my ignorance towards a subject that is still taboo and shrouded in silence,” she told AP. “And I was very angry.

“Angry against me, against the lack of knowledge I had on this topic. And also against the injustice that many women nowadays have to face in countries that don’t allow them to abort legally. That anger helped me to portray my character with determination and ambition.”

‘Happening’ opened in cinemas in in the UK in April, around the same time as the US state of Kentucky became the first to effectively block access to abortions by banning all terminations after 15 weeks.

Of the timeliness of its limited release in the US, Diwan said: “I think the magic of cinema is not artistic gesture. The audience comes with political questions.

“I really, really never wanted to be shocking or provocative. I think this reality is quite shocking, but the movie is not trying to be.

“The only thing that matters now, when we see the laws going back and forth, is to be able to have discussion. So yes, here it is more important than lots of other countries.”

The post Hard-hitting French abortion film has US debut amid Roe v Wade uproar first appeared on Magazin Haber Ajansı.

In an internal email seen by Reuters, the e-commerce giant said it would reimburse up to $4,000 (€3,700) a year in cases where workers could not access non-emergency healthcare near their homes.

The announcement came hours before Politico reported a leaked draft opinion by the US Supreme Court which suggested that it could seek to overturn the 1973 Roe v Wade decision that legalised abortion across the United States.

Amazon’s announcement will cover both warehouse and corporate office employees who are enrolled in one of two available health insurance plans, Reuters reported.

The benefit is not specific to abortion; the company said it would also pay travel costs arising from other non-life threatening treatments including cellular gene therapies and treatment for addiction.

Companies support abortions for staff

Amazon joins a list of US firms that have announced plans to help their employees access reproductive healthcare as many Republican-led states move to limit the availability of abortions.

Earlier this month, San Francisco-based reviews platform Yelp said it would cover the travel costs for US-based employees and their partners forced to travel out of their home state for abortions.

Yelp has around 200 workers in Texas, which introduced a strict law – known as Senate Bill 8 or “SB8” – effectively banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy in May last year.

If the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v Wade, performing an abortion in Texas would become illegal, with the only exceptions being cases where the pregnant patient’s life or “major bodily function” were at risk.

The company policy covers all Yelp staff who could be affected by “current or future action that restricts access to covered reproductive health care,” a company representative told the New York Times.

Texas governor Greg Abbott signed the state’s restrictive abortion legislation into law last yearEric Gay / AP Photo

Other companies pledging to support access to reproductive healthcare include rideshare services Uber and Lyft, which last week announced they would cover any legal fees of drivers accused of “aiding or abetting” an abortion by transporting passengers to clinics in Oklahoma.

Last year, dating conglomerate Match.com said it would set up a fund to pay for Texan workers to access abortions outside the state, while cloud software giant Salesforce went a step further, offering to help relocate employees and their families out of the southern state altogether.

Fundraising tells a different story

But while American companies are promising to help their staff access reproductive healthcare, political donation records gathered by campaign funding watchdog Open Secrets showed that many had previously donated to members of the conservative Republican party who oppose access to abortion.

In Amazon’s case, over 72 per cent of its donations to candidates for the US Senate during the 2020 election went to Republicans.

These included $10,000 (€9,488) to Cory Gardner, a former senator from Colorado who voted to defund US abortion provider Planned Parenthood at least ten times during his time as an elected representative.

Yelp and Match Group, meanwhile, have donated $5,000 (€4,744) each to Louisiana attorney general Jeff Landry.

In August last year, Landry said the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v Wade and allow states to implement harsh restrictions on abortion.

“I will never waver in my defence of the unborn,” Republican Landry said in a press release announcing his support for a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks, “and I will always support a state’s right to protect the unborn and their mothers”.

The post Amazon will pay US workers’ travel costs for abortions first appeared on Magazin Haber Ajansı.