Social Issues

Indiana, the first US state to restrict abortion after ‘Roe vs Wade’

Washington DC, Aug 6 (EFE).- Indiana became the first of the 50 states in the US to pass a law restricting access to abortion after the Supreme Court overturned a 1973 ruling, known as “Roe versus Wade” that protected this right at the federal level.

The bill was approved Friday by both houses of state parliament and was signed shortly after by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, giving it legal validity.

The law is expected to enter into force on Sep.15, leading Indiana to join nine other US states with laws that almost completely prohibit abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, dedicated to research on reproductive rights.

The initiative was rejected en bloc by the Democrats in the two houses of the state legislature but was approved with Republican support as they hold a majority in Indiana, a state in the Midwest, where 72 percent of the population is Christian, according to data from the Pew Center.

The Republicans in the state had been working on this bill for weeks, but opinion was divided – a majority wanted to ban abortion completely, while several others wanted exceptions in cases of rape and incest.

Finally, exceptions were made for rape, incest and in case of the fetus having abnormalities that make its survival impossible or put life of the mother in danger.

Until now, abortion was legal in Indiana until 22 weeks of pregnancy.

At the end of June, Supreme Court reversed “Roe versus Wade” ruling, ending federal protection for abortion and allowing states to set their own laws in this matter.

This has caused some states to begin implementing the so-called “zombie laws” that had been in force before the Supreme Court guaranteed the right to abortion in 1973, while other states have activated laws designed to enter into force just when the right to abortion was repealed.

So far, India is the first state to pass a new bill to restrict abortion. EFE

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