WASHINGTON,
DC — The
White House on Saturday assailed Indiana
lawmakers for passing sweeping curbs on abortion access, calling it a
“devastating” step for the Midwestern state.
اضافة اعلان
Indiana on Friday became the first state to pass
such a law since the Supreme Court in June struck down the constitutional right
to an abortion, originally affirmed in the landmark Roe v Wade case.
“The Indiana legislature took a devastating step as
a result of the Supreme Court’s extreme decision to overturn Roe v Wade and
eliminate women’s constitutionally-protected right to abortion,” said a
statement from White House press secretary
Karine Jean-Pierre.
“It’s another radical step by Republican legislators
to take away women’s reproductive rights and freedom, and put personal health
care decisions in the hands of politicians rather than women and their
doctors.”
Both houses of the Republican-dominated Indiana
legislature passed the abortion measure on Friday after weeks of bitter debate,
and Governor Eric Holcomb, a Republican, quickly signed it.
When the measure
takes effect September 15, it will allow abortions only in cases of rape,
incest, lethal fetal abnormality, or when a pregnant woman faces the risk of
death or severe health problems.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president of the
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which advocates for abortion rights, called the
law “cruel” and “devastating”.
Jean-Pierre, in her statement, said Congress should
“act immediately to pass a law restoring the protections of Roe — the only way
to secure a woman’s right to choose nationally.”
Until then, she said, “President Biden is committed
to taking action to protect women’s reproductive rights and freedom.”
While some conservative states earlier this year had
preemptively passed “trigger” laws to immediately prohibit abortion once the
Supreme Court acted, Indiana lacked such a law.
Abortion there had been legal up to 22 weeks. It was
to state capital Indianapolis that a 10-year-old girl, victim of rape, had
traveled for an abortion when unable to obtain one in neighboring Ohio.
That story drew intense media attention, further fueling
passions around the issue.
Abortion has long been deeply divisive in the
US,
and the Supreme Court’s decision ensured its centrality in the political debate
ahead of midterm elections.
Democrats, who say the Supreme Court is seriously out of
touch with the national mood, have seized on the result of a vote Tuesday in
heavily conservative Kansas, which chose overwhelmingly to preserve that
state’s constitutional protection of abortion rights.
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