The United States Supreme Court is poised to rescind its abortion law; a 1973 decision that legalises in the country.
According to a document obtained by Politico, 36 million American women will lose their legal right to access safe abortions within the country if the law goes through.
The supreme court is reviewing the law -based off a statute Roe Vs Casey- because the state of Mississippi asked for it to be overturned. It is set to pass a new decision by late June.
If the law is passed, it will become illegal for women abortions in over 25 states of the US.
“If the court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose,” President Joe Biden said in a statement on Tuesday, May 3.
“We will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law,” he said.
According the World Health Organization (WHO), unsafe abortions take the lives of more than 47,000 women every year, while five are million hospitalised for complications ranging from bleeding and infection.
The new abortion law discourse has since sparked off a heated debate on social media across the globe with several women insisting such laws deny women the right to autonomy of their lives and bodies.
Nigerian women have not been left out of the conversation as they have protested online against the harsh abortion in the country which states that any doctor providing a miscarriage (abortion) to a woman is guilty of a felony and up to 14 years of imprisonment.
Nigerian women we need to get more aggressive about abortion laws. We live in a society where men often evade pregnancy responsibilities & leave young girls & women who can’t afford to take care of children by themselves & vulnerable. A society where rape is the order of the day
— Ebele (@ebelee_) May 4, 2022
All these stories of people almost dying and abortion saving their lives are very touching. However, please remember, no one needs to be at death’s door or a rape/incest survivor to “deserve” abortion care. Not wanting to be pregnant is reason enough to end pregnancy.
— Uju Anya (@UjuAnya) May 5, 2022
No rape victim—minor or adult—or any woman for that matter should be forced to keep a pregnancy that they do not want to keep. No woman with an ectopic pregnancy or any other life threatening antenatal condition should be forced to keep a pregnancy against their will. Period.
— ULOMA (@ulxma) May 3, 2022