Health
‘New peak in culture wars’: global media react to Roe v Wade leak | Roe v Wade
The prospect of the US supreme court overturning Roe v Wade has dominated front pages across the world, with the global media reporting in detail on one of the most polarising issues in American politics.
The Washington Post leads on concerns that overthrowing the legislation represents a threat to abortion rights for women everywhere. The newspaper quotes leaders from across the world in support of the 1973 ruling, including comments from the French senator Julien Bargeton that it would be “a terrible regression for American women” and that “progressives around the world must mobilise”.
Le Monde reports that the 98-page draft decision is “very striking in its unreserved and nuanced condemnation, never before formulated in these terms, of the entire legal architecture that has contributed to making abortion a constitutional right”.
Many papers carry reports on a growing divide in US society. Bild announces: “The USA is heading for a new peak in the culture wars!” The judgment, it says, “could divide America”.
USA Today carries a similar warning, leading on Biden’s assessment that if Roe v Wade is overturned, then a “whole range of rights could now be at risk”. El País leads on Biden’s comments that “a woman’s right to choose is fundamental … and the basic fairness and stability of our legal system demand that it not be overturned”.
El Mundo reports on the “rage of pro-abortion protesters [as it] explodes in front of the US supreme court”.
The New York Times, however, points out that despite the vow by Biden and other Democrats to respond to Roe’s proposed demise, they are in reality powerless to stop the legislation being overturned, as the battle for abortion rights shifts from Washington to the individual states.
Die Welt also focuses on the Democrats, this time in an opinion piece claiming they are also to blame for this “disaster”. “Their mistakes are now taking revenge,” the piece states. “The Democrats, with their political focus on identitarian issues and their sometimes openly displayed dislike of the rural population, are hardly present in many states.”
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Carrying photos of angry demonstrations outside the supreme court, as protesters brandished coat hangers that invoke images of back-alley abortions, the Wall Street Journal looks at the corporate reaction. Many, it says, have stayed silent, but a few have come out strongly in support of the protesters, including Lyft – the ride-hailing company that has a history of enacting policies in response to anti-abortion legalisation – Bill Gates and Sheryl Sandberg.
Corriere della Sera also approaches the story from a business angle, focusing on Amazon announcing that it will pay travel expenses for employees who need medical help, including abortions. This, the paper reports, extends the list of companies fighting against abolition in Texas, including Citi, Uber and Salesforce.