Health
The US supreme court is ready to overturn the right to an abortion. What happens next? | News
It was an unprecedented leak: on Monday night, Politico obtained a draft of a supreme court opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito. The document revealed the court’s plans to overturn Roe v Wade, the critical decision that has enshrined abortion rights in the US for nearly 50 years.
The court has since confirmed that the draft was real and called for an inquiry into the leak. And while it was still only a draft – the official decision will not be announced until May – the document sent shockwaves around the US, setting off protests in major cities.
Six months ago the Guardian US’s senior health reporter, Jessica Glenza, told Nosheen Iqbal it was already a perilous moment for reproductive freedoms in America. Now, she says, the rights a generation of women took for granted are on the brink of being revoked. What’s more, the framing of the decision appears to open the door for Republicans to roll back a range of other civil rights – such as access to contraception and the right of same-sex couples to marry.
Photograph: AP
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