Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 13 July 2018
States brace for abortion fights after Kavanaugh nomination

By DAVID A. LIEB and STEVE according to the National
LeBLANC Right to Life Committee.
Associated Press Most states had strict bans.
BOSTON (AP) — Anticipat- David O'Steen, executive
ing renewed fights over director of the National
abortion, some governors Right to Life Committee,
and state lawmakers al- said the high court's 1973
ready are looking for ways ruling "bottled up the dis-
to enhance or dismantle cussion" and imposed a
the right in their own consti- nationwide policy at a time
tutions and laws. when there was no public
President Donald Trump's consensus in favor of abor-
nomination of Judge Brett tion rights.
Kavanaugh to the U.S. Su- "We've had the subsequent
preme Court has raised 45 years where (the) pro-
both fears and hopes that life movement has been
a conservative court major- seeking one way or the
ity could weaken or over- other to bring this back to
turn the 1973 Roe v. Wade the domain of elected rep-
ruling that created a na- resentatives, rather than
tionwide right to abortion. the courts," he said.
That could fan an already If Roe is overturned,
raging battle in states over O'Steen anticipates that
what should and should not In this Feb. 11, 2017, file photo, a Planned Parenthood supporter and opponent try to block each some states would swiftly
be legal. other's signs during a protest and counter-protest of abortion in St. Louis. implement sweeping bans
Although a complete re- Associated Press on abortion, some would
versal of Roe remains a unanimously in January. tections Roe v. Wade of- surge in such measures. maintain broad access to
longshot, some Democrat- The House speaker, also a fered," Heastie said. "But "The time is right. We need the procedure and oth-
ic elected officials want to Democrat, said that cham- that time has passed, and to act on it," said Mis- ers would plunge into leg-
enact new abortion pro- ber will take it up before now these fundamental souri Rep. Mike Moon, islative debate over what
tections and repeal dor- the end of the formal legis- rights are threatened like who is hoping Trump's Su- types of abortion laws they
mant laws that criminalize lative session July 31. never before. We cannot preme Court appointment should have.
abortion. While those laws In New York, Democratic afford to take this right for breathes new life into an "The idea that a reversal of
have been ignored for Gov. Andrew Cuomo has granted." anti-abortion state consti- Roe would end abortion —
decades, some stretching been holding rallies after Seventeen states already tutional amendment that that's simply not correct,"
back to the 19th century, Kavanaugh's nomination have laws that could be stalled earlier this year. he said.
Democrats want to erase this week urging the state used to restrict the legal The Missouri proposal states Assertions that Kavanaugh
them so they cannot be re- Senate to reconvene. status of abortions if Roe is that "nothing in this consti- could sway Supreme Court
vived in the future. He wants it to strengthen overturned or severely lim- tution secures or protects a opinion to allow states to
"As long as they are en- the right to an abortion, a ited. Of those, Massachu- right to abortion or requires ban abortion are "a lot of
shrined in statute, they can seemingly unlikely event in setts is one of 10 states that the funding of an abortion." hyperbole coming out of
be picked up and used by the Republican-led cham- still have pre-Roe abortion It mirrors one first adopted the left," Florida Republican
people who do not feel ber. bans on the books, accord- by Tennessee voters in 2014 Party Chairman Blaise In-
the same way about wom- Democratic Assembly ing to the Guttmacher Insti- and placed on this Novem- goglia said Wednesday in
en and their bodies that I Speaker Carl Heastie said tute, a national research ber's ballot by Republican- a media conference call
would say most people in the state law legalizing group that supports abor- led legislatures in Alabama with Republican U.S. Rep.
this state feel," said Massa- abortion, passed three tion rights. and West Virginia. Matt Gaetz.
chusetts state Senate Presi- years before the Roe ruling, The institute says nine other The Tennessee measure Gaetz said some abortion
dent Harriette Chandler, a includes a ban on third- states have laws specifi- was intended to overturn limitations "could receive
Democrat. trimester abortions and of- cally protecting abortion a state Supreme Court de- more favorable treatment,
Chandler is pushing to fers very limited exceptions. rights. termination that the state bringing our country a
repeal an abortion ban The Assembly has passed Lawmakers in some Repub- constitution provided an more pro-life position, but
from the 1800s that has legislation codifying Roe lican-led states have been even greater protection for it wouldn't necessarily have
remained unenforced, in six consecutive times, but attempting for decades to abortion than the federal to fundamentally alter the
part because of a 1981 the Senate has repeatedly chip away at the Roe ruling one. If the Roe precedent is holding in Roe."
state court ruling protect- blocked it. by restricting when, where reversed or weakened, sim- Florida politics are domi-
ing access to abortion. "There may have once and how abortions can be ilar constitutional amend- nated by Republicans, yet
The Massachusetts Sen- been a time when we felt provided. Kavanaugh's ap- ments in other states could the state also has dozens
ate approved the bill of clinics that provide abor-
comfortable with the pro- pointment could lead to a erect a shield against law-
suits asserting state-based tions.
abortion rights. Earlier this year, before An-
At the time of the Roe v. thony Kennedy announced
Wade decision, just four he was retiring from the
states — Alaska, Hawaii, court, Rhode Island Dem-
New York and Washington ocratic House Speaker
— allowed abortion on de- Nicholas Mattiello called
mand prior to fetal viabil- concerns about Roe being
ity. California also broadly overturned "irrelevant" and
interpreted a woman's "not founded in reality." But
"mental health" exception now, Rhode Island Demo-
to allow many abortions, cratic Rep. Edie she said.q