Last week’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 ruling known as Roe v Wade is a worrying sign on many levels, including that Australia and its closest ally could be on political paths and divergent social.
Since the 1960s, the US has often served as an example for democracies, including Australia, of progressive reform. The civil rights movement in the US inspired the campaign that led to the recognition of Australian Indigenous people in the Constitution in 1967. Australian feminists and gay rights supporters in the 1970s sought inspiration and ideas in the US.
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However, this sense of shared values seems to be dodging in several areas as the U.S. sinks deeper into division and insoluble cultural wars.
The Supreme Court, which held by a 5-4 majority that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to abortion, is a sign of this divergence.
The decision allows individual states to ban abortion. There are nine states with a population of 40 million who have enacted legislation banning abortion as soon as the sentence was handed down, and 16 more could follow suit.
The decision means that for the first time since the 1970s, U.S. women who decide to terminate an unwanted pregnancy will face the threat of imprisonment. Doctors providing the service will be prosecuted. Some states may try to punish women traveling interstate to have the procedure.
In Australia, the debate over women’s reproductive rights has been largely resolved. South Australia became the last state to decriminalize abortion last year, after NSW in 2019.
While some women’s rights activists in Australia have expressed concern that the Supreme Court’s decision will inspire Australian Conservatives to try to reopen the issue of abortion, it seems unlikely they can gain much strength.
The balance in Australia has swayed in favor of secular values above religious ones, not only over abortion, but also over LGBTQ rights and assisted voluntary death. Women have a growing political power, not only in abortion, but in issues ranging from childcare to domestic violence.