A Louisiana court has temporarily blocked the enactment of an abortion ban in the state. Louisiana is one of 13 states that have adopted so-called trigger laws, trigger laws intended to go into effect immediately following the federal Supreme Court decision that canceled the constitutional protection of women’s right to terminate pregnancy in the United States. Louisiana law does not provide exceptions for rape and incest.
Audience on 8 July
A hearing on the matter was called by the magistrate, Robin Giarrusso, for 8 July. At least until that date, the right to abortion will be preserved in the state, in the three clinics that today offer the procedure. The court’s decision came in response to an appeal from women’s care clinics and associations, which argued that Louisiana’s legislation violates the state constitution and was worded too loosely to enforce without confusion and ambiguity.
In the southern and central states of the country, abortion services were already reduced to a minimum, so as to hit disadvantaged classes and women of color first of all. The federal Supreme Court, or rather its now ultra-conservative majority, said last week that abortion is not a right inscribed in the Constitution, nor in the country’s tradition and history, paving the way for local bans.
Critics of the sentence instead argued that it is part of women’s fundamental rights of choice and freedom. The historic case of Roe v. Wade, now overturned by the Supreme Court, had established that constitutional right in 1973, a right reaffirmed in substance by successive decisions to date.
Battle in 26 states
About half of the country, in all 26 out of 50 states often governed by conservative republicans, appears ready to enforce total bans and severe restrictions on termination of pregnancy. The southern state of Louisiana is an exception in the sense that its governor is a Democrat but staunchly anti-abortionist. In recent decades, the radical conservative and religious movement has put in place a real strategy aimed at overturning the right to abortion, promoting the appointment of right-wing magistrates and sponsoring hundreds of laws and cases to arrive at a decision of the Supreme Court in his favor. This despite the fact that public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of the right to abortion, at most with some limitations, and at most one third is strongly opposed.