Even as the US Supreme Court’s order reversing the 1973 Roe vs. Wade verdict, disallowing women to have abortion procedures, dealt a severe blow to the ‘my body, my choice’ movement, the anti-abortionists see it as a divine hand in the court’s ruling.
Contrary to the liberal women’s assertion that they have the right over their bodies, many staunch Catholic women and Church clergymen believe that a woman’s “body belongs to Christ”.
On Friday, a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court threw out almost 50 years of settled law, allowing individual states to make their own rules —including banning abortion in all circumstances.
Conservatives argue that “doctors and medical staff who perform abortions are equal to those involved in crime against women and children”.
“The United States Supreme Court has done a welcome job by repealing the 1973 verdict allowing abortion. Our prayers are answered,” Diana Villanueva, a pro-life activist who runs a retreat in her native El Paso, Texas, to convince women not to take abortions, told AFP.
Villanueva’s fight against the pro-choice movement is more personal. When she was 16-year-old, her rapist took her to an abortion clinic and told her to terminate her pregnancy.
It left a deep scar, and her decision still haunts the 53-year-old woman.
Watch | Abortion rights in US without Roe vs Wade: What’s next for Women in America?
Texas has been among those states leading the charge to restrict access to abortions.
El Paso no longer has any clinics offering abortions, but it stands on the front lines of an expanding fight.
Cavaliere, a father of five, believes that the Supreme Court’s codification of abortion in 1973 undermined women.
Also read | From automatic bans to complex patchwork: Abortion access threatened in half of US states
“Roe vs. Wade put an expectation on women to feel like they have to alter, suppress and destroy the normal healthy functions of their natural body in order to meet definitions of success that are really based on male norms,” he told AFP.
“We’re very hopeful that by overturning [the law], we can actually solve the true issues, really solve women’s equality, women’s rights.”
Also read | Roe v. Wade overturned: SCOTUS ruling spurs online data fears
32-year-old Jazzmin Hernandez, a teacher who has no children, believes that no reason can justify a woman’s decision to end a child’s life.
“It doesn’t matter how the baby was conceived. Nothing justifies ending a child’s life,” she said.
“I think Texas is setting an example, and hopefully other states will follow suit and abortion will be completely banned.”
(With inputs from agencies)
WATCH WION LIVE HERE
