After methodical and patient work, the opponents of abortion in the United States were able to reap their greatest victory this summer when the Supreme Court overturned the ruling Roe v Wade. Several American states have now introduced extensive restrictions on the right to abortion, and a third of all American women now no longer have the right to have an abortion where they live.
Swedish Radio’s USA correspondent Cecilia Khavar travels around and meets desperate women who are now forced to travel far to get an abortion. She also talks to the abolitionists, the most extreme opponents of abortion. They are not satisfied with the legislation that now exists and instead want both abortion doctors and women who undergo abortions to be able to be sentenced for murder.
But at the same time that the opponents of abortion feel strengthened by their victories, the opposition to them is also growing. Robin Olin interviewing Carol Downer who was one of the pioneers of the underground abortion networks that existed over 50 years ago. David Rasmusson makes contact with today’s resistance movement which has other conditions. Globalisation, the internet and abortion pills have simplified the resistance.
At the same time as many states in the US have introduced harsh abortion laws, the neighboring country to the south, Mexico, has gone the other way. Abortion is now legal in Mexico and Lotte Collin interviewing Veronica Cruz from the organization Las Libres, which now helps women from the United States to Mexico to have an abortion.
Ahead of the upcoming midterm elections in the United States, abortion has emerged as an important political issue, and many believe it could benefit the Democrats. Leading Republicans are now beginning to distance themselves from the more extreme abortion opponents for fear of losing the election. Cecilia Khavar meets Paul Wagoner member of the Kansas House of Representatives, a longtime abortion opponent who is sponsored by various pro-life groups but now has a harder time answering questions about abortion.
Host: Robin Olin
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Reporters: Cecilia Khavar, Lotten Collin,
Technicians: Maria Bergstrรถm, Emilia Martin, Matilda Eriksson
Producer: David Rasmusson
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Source: ICELAND NEWS