Washington:
The US state of Arkansas Tuesday passed a law banning abortion even in instances of rape or incest, in a move supporters hope will push the Supreme Court towards overturning its landmark 1973 ruling safeguarding abortion rights nationwide.
The only exception to the Arkansas law is “to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency,” announced Asa Hutchinson, the governor of the southern state identified for its Christian conservatism.
Hutchinson stated he signed the law due to his “sincere and long-held pro-life convictions,” adding that “it is the intent of the legislation to set the stage for the Supreme Court overturning current case law.”
The Arkansas law will not come into force ahead of the summer season, and the highly effective ACLU civil rights organization has currently announced that it will challenge it in court.
Abortion divides the American population, with robust opposition specifically amongst evangelical Christians.
In current years, numerous states in the south and the center of the nation have improved restrictive laws on abortion, forcing a lot of clinics to close their doors.
Then-president Donald Trump’s appointment of Amy Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court judge in October locked in a 6-to-3 conservative majority on the court, and raised the possibility of overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling on abortion rights.
If overturned, person states would be capable to set abortion regulations.
Trump became a staunch opponent of abortion as he sought to rally evangelical Christians behind his unsuccessful re-election campaign.
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