The recent leak of a confidential US Supreme Court document has confirmed the conservative-majority court's intention to overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision that has guaranteed access to abortion throughout the United States for nearly 50 years. Such a decision would have an unprecedented impact on 75 million women of childbearing age. But at the instigation of the Republican Party, some parts of the US, such as the states of Texas and Oklahoma, are already turning into a medical desert for women who seek a termination. Our correspondents Valérie Defert and Pierrick Leurent report on the "post-Roe America".
Every morning, in front of the Tulsa Women's Clinic in Oklahoma, the same scene repeats itself: patients arrive to park in front of one of the few clinics that currently still perform abortions in this largely conservative state. Their cars are immediately wedged between anti-abortion demonstrators trying to dissuade them from terminating their pregnancy and volunteers from the clinic, like Susan Braselton. Wearing a rainbow vest, she comes out to welcome the women, protect and reassure them.
Such a scene is not unusual in an America where the right to abortion, guaranteed since 1973 by the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling, is being seriously eroded in around half of the states. The governor of Oklahoma has already taken inspiration from a law passed last year in neighbouring Texas that bans abortion as soon as a heartbeat is detected – usually at around six weeks. He is now expected to sign another bill, passed by Oklahoma's legislators on May 19, that prohibits all abortions with few exceptions.
Six weeks into their pregnancy, many women are still unaware that they are pregnant and the recent restrictions create difficult situations. For wealthier women, or those who find a last-minute solution, it is still possible to travel to another state. But for the less privileged, who cannot travel, their only choice is between carrying the foetus to term or resorting to illegal and risky abortion methods.
The influence of evangelicals
This state of affairs, well before the final decision of the Supreme Court on the matter, is the result of a decades-long political and religious battle. Led mainly by evangelicals, the fight for a total ban on abortion has gained ground, supported by the Republican Party, which often depends on evangelical votes for victory in local and national elections.
In parallel, Roe v. Wade has never stopped grassroots activists like Pastor Mark Lee Dickson from achieving their goal, at least at the local level. This ardent defender of the "pro-life" cause travels around Texas and other states to have ordinances adopted, city by city, that completely ban abortion. His trick? As with the law in force in Texas, it is citizens – not the authorities – who are responsible for enforcing it. This legal loophole makes it possible to bypass the justice system.
For nearly half a century, Democrats and pro-choice activists believed that abortion rights were a given that could not be reversed. Many did not realise that a reversal of fortune was taking place over time, one conservative state after another. On the Democratic side, the recent mobilisation in the wake of the threat to abortion rights appears somewhat late. But it could serve as a catalyst for the frustrations of progressive voters, in view of November's midterm elections. President Joe Biden has called on his fellow citizens to back candidates who support the right to abortion during the autumn vote.
