Pro-Life activists praying outside a clinic where abortions are performed in the state of Alabama. (Drawing) – Blake Paterson / AP / SIPA
Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. These eight American states took advantage of the
coronavirus pandemic to restrict the rights of women. How? ‘Or’ What ? They used the exceptional measures taken to fight the pandemic – which allow
suspend medical procedures deemed non-essential or urgent – to limit access to
the abortion, according to the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls, made up of independent experts.
“We regret that [ces] States, which have a long history of restrictive practices towards abortionseem to be handling this crisis in an effort to drastically restrict reproductive rights, “said Group Vice-President Elizabeth Broderick.
“Intrinsic Discrimination” Against Women
Independent experts do not speak on behalf of the United Nations but investigate on behalf of the United Nations and report to United Nations bodies. “For many women in the United States, the ban on abortions during the pandemic will postpone abortions beyond the legal limit” or make abortion “completely inaccessible,” added Elizabeth Broderick.
Women will then be forced to go to other states, disregarding their health and health instructions, stress the experts, for whom “procedures related to abortion are an essential health care and must remain accessible during the Covid-19 crisis. “
Restricting access to contraceptive and abortion information and services “constitutes a human rights violation” and “intrinsic discrimination” against women.
The group, made up of five experts, was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2010. Its position was supported by two other independent UN experts: the special rapporteur the right to physical and mental health and the right to violence against women.
US states divided over access to abortion
Authorities from texas, followed by several other conservative states, have decided to ban all abortions to reserve hospital beds and protective equipment for Covid-19 patients and their caregivers. But a federal court of appeal then ruled that Texas could not include medical abortions in the list of “non-emergency procedures” prohibited during the crisis.
Other federal courts have prevented Alabama or Oklahoma, in particular, from suspending the right of women to abort during the health crisis.
The country remains very divided almost 50 years after the Supreme Court legalized abortion. If the states of the east and west coasts guarantee relatively easy access to abortions, the more religious states of the south and center have multiplied restrictive legislation, pushing many clinics to close their doors.
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