Anti-abortion leaders across America were thrilled a year ago, when Donald Trump became the first incumbent American president to personally attend their highest-profile annual event, the March for Life, held every January.
The mood is now more sober – a mixture of disappointment over Trump’s defeat and the hope that his legacy of judicial appointments will lead to future court victories that limit abortion rights.
Organizers of this year’s Washington March for Life, scheduled for next Friday, have called on their distant supporters to stay home because of political tensions in the city and the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, they intend to stream the activities of a few invited participants, a stark contrast to the tens of thousands of people who usually participate.
Meanwhile, Trump, whose administration has taken numerous steps to reduce access to abortion, has been replaced as president by Joe Biden, a staunch supporter of abortion rights. Biden’s Democratic colleagues now control both houses of Congress, thanks to victories in two Senate elections in Georgia, where anti-abortion groups campaigned hard for Republican candidates to lose.
On Friday, 48 years after the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling establishing a national right to abortion, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said they would seek to enshrine that right in federal law to protect it from court challenges.
“In the last four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been constantly and extremely attacked.” their statement said. We are deeply committed to ensuring that everyone has access to care – including reproductive health care. ”
March for Life President Jeanne Mancini said she and her allies were worried that the Biden administration would pursue “radical pro-abortion extremism.” At the same time, anti-abortion activists are backed by Trump’s appointment of dozens of federal judges – including three Supreme Court justices – who are said to be open to repealing or weakening Roe v. Wade.
Dozens of harsh anti-abortion bills have been passed in Republican-ruled states in recent years, and more appearing this year from GOP lawmakers eager to see if any of those measures could reach the Supreme Court as a challenge to Roe v. .Wade.
“I am very optimistic.” said Carol Tobias, chairman of the National Committee for the Right to Life. “We’ll see a lot of new pro-life bills … and we’ll see judges who are open to them.”
In Arkansas, a new bill would criminalize abortions, except that it would save the life of a pregnant woman. The measure states: “It is time for the United States Supreme Court to remedy and correct the grave injustice and crime against humanity that is perpetuated by its decisions in Roe v. Wade” and other cases.
The Texas legislature will also consider several abortion bans. In Montana, anti-abortion bills are expected to move forward now after Republican Greg Gianforte replaced Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock. Bullock supported abortion rights for eight years.
South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban abortions once the fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually about six weeks after conception. Similar bills have been passed in several other states, but courts have blocked their implementation.
Elizabeth Nash, who monitors state government issues for the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, says anti-abortion legislation could take precedence even in states where lawmakers face multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and budget problems severe.
Referring to anti-abortion lawmakers, Nash said: “They see the Supreme Court as being in their corner and it is their job to continue to enforce restrictions and bans.”
Among abortion rights activists, there is relief and optimism as the Biden administration takes power. Biden is expected to issue executive orders soon to reverse Trump’s anti-abortion actions.
Such an order would repeal the so-called “global gag rule” which prohibits the use of US external assistance for abortion-related services. Another order would repeal what advocates of abortion rights have called the “internal gag rule”, banning Title X family planning funds from going to any health care providers who perform or recommend abortions. The ban has prompted Planned Parenthood, the US’s leading abortion provider, to drop the program rather than comply.
Proponents of abortion rights also hope that Congress, under democratic control, will repeal the Hyde amendment, which bans federal funding for abortions, unless a woman’s life is in danger or rape or incest.
Biden, a longtime supporter of the amendment, reversed in 2019 and now favors its repeal. But the prospects for repeal are uncertain, given that Democrats would need some Republican votes in the Senate to overcome a potential filibuster.
However, a narrow majority in the Democratic Senate is expected to be enough to confirm Biden’s appointment of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra – a strong supporter of abortion rights – to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Large anti-abortion groups have invested heavily and mobilized hundreds of volunteers to support Georgia’s GOP Senate candidates, hoping to retain Republican control so Becerra can be rejected.
Becerra and Biden are Roman Catholics, and the support of the new administration for abortion rights is a dilemma for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Its president, Archbishop of Los Angeles, José Gomez, congratulated Biden on Wednesday, but warned that his abortion and contraception policies “promote moral evils and threaten life and human dignity.”
Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood, said the worries that have plagued her throughout 2020 have sparked joy at Georgia’s Senate Senate victories.
“Actually, I was able to breathe in hope and possibility,” she said. “But we recognize that the fight is ongoing – the courts and many of our state legislatures will be very difficult for us.”
Although there is not yet enough data to show whether abortions have risen or decreased during the pandemic, there is some evidence that more women have induced their own abortions, using abortion pills that they have been able to buy or receive in the mail. to a foreign source. It has become increasingly easy for women to circumvent US law requiring the pill to be administered by a healthcare professional.
Abigail Aiken, a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas, said online abortion pill provider Aid Access received an increase in demand at the start of the pandemic, when some states cited the outbreak as a reason to limit abortion access to clinics.
Demand nearly doubled in Texas, which had the most severe pandemic restrictions on clinics, said Aiken, whose research was published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Elisa Wells, co-director of another online organization called Plan C, estimates that tens of thousands of American women search for abortion pills for self-administered abortions each year – based on the number of clicks on the Plan C website, which lists overseas pharmacies that offers ship the pills.