Follow our live updates on news about the abortion and the Supreme Court decision to quash Roe v. Wade.
The growing battle for abortion initiated by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is moving to state courts and legislatures, with a Florida judge scheduled for Monday to hear a challenge under state law to a ban that will go into effect this week and California lawmakers preparing to introduce a constitutional amendment to the law. voting to protect reproductive rights.
In Florida, health care providers have asked a judge to temporarily block the state’s new abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a law signed this spring by Gov. Ron DeSantis that will go into effect Friday. Plaintiffs argue that the law violates the protection of individual privacy rights of the state constitution which, in previous rulings of the state Supreme Court, has been interpreted to include the right to abortion.
To date, Florida law has included fewer restrictions on abortion than other southern states, making it a haven for women across the region. The new law is similar to the Mississippi statute at the heart of the Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade last week; it does not include exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
In California, lawmakers are expected to introduce a state constitutional amendment to the vote as soon as Monday that explicitly protects reproductive rights. If approved, it would go to state voters in November for approval.
The efforts of both states come when the Supreme Court has unleashed a frenzy of activity on both sides of the fight against abortion, with anti-abortion forces promising to push for almost total bans on all states in the nation and anti-abortion groups. Abortion rights insist he would take advantage of the rage over the decision to take to the streets, fight the courts and push the Biden administration to do more to protect abortion rights.
The court said Friday’s decision was necessary because of what he called half a century of bitter national controversy sparked by Roe, but his decision sparked more immediate and widespread resentment and mobilization than the original ruling, and guaranteed pitched battles and an extraordinary division. come in.
The National Committee on the Right to Life is pushing out model legislation for state bans and has renewed its push for a constitutional amendment banning abortion nationwide. He and other anti-abortion groups have also pledged to punish prosecutors who have said they will not enforce abortion bans and to seek legislation that prohibits people from crossing state borders to abort or obtain abortion pills.
Abortion rights groups have promised court fights over so-called trigger bans that went into effect Friday after the Supreme Court ruling.
In Ohio, Freda J. Levenson, legal director of the Ohio American Civil Liberties Union, said Sunday that her organization and Planned Parenthood of Ohio will file a lawsuit earlier this week to block the implementation of abortion bans to the state, arguing that abortion is a right protected by the Ohio constitution.
De Opinion: The End of Roe v. Wade
Commentary by Times Opinion writers and columnists on the Supreme Court’s decision to end the constitutional right to abortion.
The Women’s March, which drew hundreds of thousands of people to the rallies after Donald J. Trump became president in 2017, promised street protests in a “summer of rage” and said it would support the challenges Democrats he considered complicit in the appointment of the Conservative Supreme Court. Judicial majority.
In Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has filed a lawsuit to prevent an abortion ban from taking effect a century ago, activists were collecting signatures for an election initiative that would enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution.
“Let’s do it, we’re doing everything we can,” Ms. Whitmer, a Democrat, told “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “This is a hell of a fight moment.”
Proponents of abortion rights could have a heart for what appeared to be widespread public disapproval of Friday’s ruling. A CBS News / YouGov poll conducted immediately after the court handed down its decision shows that Americans considered it a “step backwards” for the nation by more than a 20 percentage point margin.
Nearly 60 percent of Americans and two-thirds of women disapproved of the sentence, according to the survey. Fifty-eight percent said they would pass a federal law that would legalize abortion.
And 56 percent of women said the sentence would make women’s lives worse, according to the survey, far more than the 16 percent who said it would improve women’s lives.
But opponents of abortion, who were celebrating their biggest victory in nearly 50 years since Roe, felt like they had the wind in their backs.
Kristan Hawkins, president of the anti-abortion group Students for Life of America, said her main goal now would be to prevent pregnant women from taking abortion pills as a solution to the bans. He had also discussed a piece of legislation, modeled in line with a Texas law banning abortion after six weeks since September, that would allow ordinary citizens to sue anyone who provided abortion services through the lines. state.
“Ultimately, our mission in the pro-life movement is to make the act of abortion unthinkable and unavailable in our nation,” Ms. Hawkins said.
Waves of joy and rage erupted immediately after Friday’s decision continued throughout the weekend, in the waves and pulpits and in protests with the sweltering heat of summer.
Updated
June 27, 2022 at 11:33 ET
A thousand protesters waving and chanting opposed the court’s decision in front of the State Capitol in Oklahoma City, where Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt last month signed one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans , in anticipation of the court annulling Roe. .
Hundreds showed up to support abortion rights in protests in Birmingham, Huntsville and Montgomery, in deeply conservative Alabama. Leaders of the demonstration in front of the Madison County Courthouse in Huntsville urged the crowd not to pay attention or interact with a group of anti-abortion protesters who tried to interrupt the meeting.
Complaints of the court ruling arose in the events that ended the month of Gay Pride across the country. A contingent of Planned Parenthood supporters led the boisterous pride parade in midtown Manhattan, chanting, “Get up for abortion rights!” At the Pride event in San Francisco, a city supervisor, Rafael Mandelman, told the crowd that while they could party during the day, “tomorrow we have work to do!” Even those in California, he said, could campaign for congressional candidates in other states.
“If we’re going to change what happened on Friday, we all have to work,” he said. “We can knock on doors and we can choose Democrats and we can protect Democrats.”
For many conservatives, Sunday was a holiday
At Austin Baptist Church in Texas, the Rev. Jonathan Spencer dedicated his two morning sermons to celebrating the court’s decision.
“I rejoice with the Lord in His mercy and grace in helping to eliminate what I believe is one of the greatest tragedies of our generation,” he told his congregants, claiming that more than 63 million children have been murdered due to abortion from Roe.
“That doesn’t end the battle,” he said. “Abortion is still going on and people will still undergo these procedures.”
His message was well received among the congregation. “I thought I was perfectly ready,” Dawn Church, 49, said. On the court decision, he said, “I’m ecstatic.”
But in other congregations there were other messages.
At Mount Zion Baptist Church in Nashville, Bishop Joseph Walker III blessed several babies at a baby dedication ceremony, before asking the women of the large congregation, mostly black, to stand up and be applauded.
He acknowledged women for the role they have played for so long “at the forefront of so many battles and struggles” nationally and globally and pledged to pray more for them.
“Look at these beautiful babies, life is a blessing,” she said. “At the end of the day, no one has the right to tell you what to do with yourself. That’s between you and God.”
Tameka Gibson, 45, thanked her for her support. “I believe in pro-election,” he said. “I think it’s a decision between people and God.” He disagreed with the direction Tennessee was taking; its active ban on abortion went into effect on Friday.
“Everything goes backwards,” he said.
The protests were mostly peaceful, although some sporadic violence was reported. A worker at a grocery store on Staten Island was arrested Sunday after hitting Rudolph W. Giuliani on the back while the former mayor campaigned on behalf of his son, a Republican candidate for governor. Mr. Giuliani said he was walking through a ShopRite grocery store when the employee slapped him on the back and said, “You’re going to kill women.”
But as the nation absorbed the gravity of the moment, the rare occasion on which the court has withdrawn a constitutional right, there were scenes of doubt, nuance, and sometimes the desire to find a middle ground, or at least d ‘understand those with different and deeply linked. views.
During the service at Nashville Cathedral of the Incarnation Sunday morning with her husband and 5-month-old daughter, Katie Fullan said she supported the court’s decision. “But I also had conflicting feelings,” he said. “I have a lot of friends, co-workers, neighbors who are very anxious about it, and I feel like I sympathize with them a lot and I understand where they come from.”
And while he supported the state’s decision to ban abortion, he thought it was also necessary to pass paid maternity leave laws, subsidized child care and financial support for food and housing for those who do so. they need.
“Many of the reasons women feel they need an abortion is because of the lack of support for raising children,” Ms. Fullan. “The …