Good morning. It took almost half a century to overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right. But in the three days since the court’s new ruling was issued, an agreement that Americans assumed was permanent has been broken immediately.
The Conservative majority court decision allows individual states to ban abortion for the first time since 1973. (For a summary of what it means, see this Jessica Glenza accountant.) Like any Supreme Court decision, the document released Friday it was long and complicated, but the consequences that flow from it are compelling and have advanced at a rate that belies the solemnity demanded by the court.
Today’s newsletter shows you how it has already changed in this sudden new American era. First of all, here are the headlines.
Five great stories
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Ukraine | Boris Johnson urged world leaders at the G7 summit to stand firm in their support for Ukraine, following reports that some countries could be persuaded by calls on Ukraine to relinquish control of some territories for peace .
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Monarchy | Prince Charles faced a new controversy on Sunday over the funding of his charities, with a call to the government and the Charity Commission to investigate claims he accepted 3 million euros in cash from a multimillion-dollar sheikh. Qatar.
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Labor | Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said the Labor Party should refuse to support airline workers demanding a 10% pay rise. Unite, the Labor union’s main donor, accused Lammy and Labor of launching a “direct attack” on workers.
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Conservatives Boris Johnson said Sunday that his government’s record was “remarkable” as it continued to rule out internal criticism. But he tried to turn off a dispute sparked by his statement that he intended to remain in office until the 2030s saying he simply meant he was focused on his reform agenda.
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Brazil | British journalist Dom Phillips has been buried in Brazil, exactly three weeks after being shot dead by indigenous expert Bruno Pereira while traveling together on the Amazon.
In depth: What has happened since Roe was shot down?
Protesters gather after the Supreme Court decision to revoke Roe v Wade on Friday. Photography: Gemunu Amarasinghe / AP
In some states, abortion was banned at the time the court ruled
The image immediately after the court decision was chaotic. But according to the pro-abortion research group the Guttmacher Institute, 26 states were safe or likely to ban abortion as soon as possible after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In 10 of those states, “activating laws” have already been enforced to ban abortion automatically or through rapid certification by officials, with three more planned in 30 days. Eight of those 13 only rule out cases where the mother’s life is in danger, with no exception of rape or incest.
Wisconsin and Michigan, two states with Democratic governors and public majorities in favor of access to abortion, have outdated books laws that could now go back into effect, and Republican legislatures don’t want to repeal them. The laws, instituted in 1931 in Michigan and 1859 in Wisconsin, are no exception again for rape or incest.
Some states have pledged to protect the right to abortion. California lawmakers are expected to enact a new constitutional amendment today that protects reproductive rights. But anti-abortion activists are already moving toward a bigger goal: a national constitutional amendment that completely bans abortion.
Abortion providers in many states have suspended services or shut down completely
New Yorker Stephania Taladrid was in an abortion clinic in Houston, Texas, at the time the Supreme Court ruling was issued. The staff cried, hugged and gave the news to the patients in the waiting room. “My love, the Supreme Court has just ruled that abortion is banned in Texas,” Ivy, a supervisor, told a woman. “We can’t help you.” By the end of the day, the clinic had closed.
Chabeli Carrazana reported on the 19th and the Guardian at another clinic in Fort Worth, Texas, where people cried, shouted and called for help when they heard the news. In Arizona, where there is confusion about the 1901 ban, Planned Parenthood stopped proceedings at seven of its clinics. Clinics also closed in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin. (This piece outlines some ways to support access to abortion in the new climate, including donation to help keep these clinics open).
A study conducted before the decision estimated that at least 100,000 women would not be able to get an abortion during the first year of a ban, and as a result, 75,000 would give birth. The nearest abortion provider in New Orleans is now in Illinois, more than 800 miles away.
Providers are trying to minimize this gap by bringing abortion as close as possible to abortion prohibition states. Planned Parenthood is renting office space in an Oregon city on the Idaho border. Another organization, Just The Pill, is organizing mobile clinics to reach state borders.
Demand for abortion pills has increased
A significant change in half a century since Roe v Wade is the rise of “drug abortion” through pills. They accounted for more than 50 percent of abortions in the United States in 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute. President Joe Biden said he would protect access to these drugs after Friday’s sentencing.
Just The Pill said orders quadrupled just Friday, the New York Times reported. Meanwhile, abortion rights advocacy group Plan C told the Daily Beast it had received 100 inquiries from doctors interested in prescribing abortion pills.
Delivery of medications by mail is likely to be difficult for anti-abortion states to stop completely, but legitimate providers will be subject to strict regulation and their use will be limited by fear of the ramifications of a hospital visit. for those who use them illegally. .
The blurring of the legal image about abortion pills is likely to create one of the major flash points of the post-Roe era. “We haven’t been in a situation where the FDA has approved a drug as safe and effective and you can legally use it in one state without any problems and then in another state it is banned,” said Alina Salganicoff of the Kaiser Family Foundation. he told NBC.
The legitimacy of the supreme court is more threatened than ever
One thing was to hear progressives argue, as did senator and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, that the Supreme Court has “burned any legitimacy they still had,” or, as Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, that the court now ” “has a crisis of legitimacy” with “7 of the 9 magistrates appointed by a party that has not won a popular vote more than once in 30 years.”
More alarming to court advocates were the interventions of Republican pro-election Susan Collins and Conservative Democratic pro-election Joe Manchin, who said they were deceived by Trump nominees Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Kavanaugh and Gorsuch stated that they would not annul Roe in public statements and (according to notes produced by Collins) before the Senate vote on his appointment to court.
Meanwhile, a quick poll by CBS found that Americans disapproved of the decision by a margin of about 20 points. And as David Smith points out in this piece, those who say they have faith in the court have fallen to an all-time low of 25%.
Whatever the status of the court, however, many progressives said they saw its future as, for the time being, a secondary concern. “There’s nothing sacrosanct about nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court, but that’s a long-term question,” Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams told CNN yesterday. “What we need to focus on right now is the danger this decision poses to women … across the country.”
What else have we been reading
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Tabitha Lasley’s memoirs about cocaine use in the chicken coop where she worked are a corrective to the idea that the drug is an exclusively middle-class indulgence. “Everyone takes drugs, all the time,” he writes. “They are part of civic culture.” Archie
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Hope is not a naive luxury in the face of the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v Wade, writes Rebecca Traister, in this piece of chalk for The Cut: it is a “tactical necessity.” “While it is up to us to digest the scope and breadth of evil,” he writes, “it is equally our responsibility not to despair.” Archie
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Rail strikes have disrupted the lives of many people, but Kenan Malik argues that most people understand why unions have decided to strike, adding that despite the significant decline in recent decades, unions still have a role to play. important in making the UK a fairer place to live and work. Nimo
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In his column on parents, Séamas O’Reilly writes about the conversations he has had with his very curious four-year-old son. Nimo
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Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s lead cultural writer, had never been to Glastonbury – she likes the Proms, Glyndebourne, and the sewers that work. His first submission is a joy: Glasto, he concludes, is “either a very advanced form of civilization, or vice versa.” Archie
Sport
Cricket | England are on the verge of winning the series 3-0 against New Zealand after Ollie Pope and Joe Root led their team 183-2 in search of 296 after Jack Leach scored five goals. Meanwhile, it is understood that the one-day captain of England, Eoin Morgan, is thinking of retiring.
Tennis | Emma Raducanu will make her central court debut when Wimbledon starts on Monday, playing against grass court veteran Alison Van Uytvanck. Andy Murray will also play on the center court.
Football | Gabriel Jesus is about to join Arsenal from Manchester City after agreeing on personal terms in a five-year period …