In the abortion dispute in the United States, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives approves two bills that, among other things, are intended to reintroduce the right to abortion nationwide. But Republicans will almost certainly thwart the proposals in the Senate.
The US House of Representatives has voted in favor of a federal right to abortion in the US - but the bill is likely to fail in the Senate. MPs voted 219 to 210 in favor of the project. At the end of June, the country's highest court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. This allows the state legislatures or Congress to decide by law whether and how abortion is permitted or forbidden. There is currently no nationwide law – the Democrats want to change that.
A second text is intended to protect women who have to travel to another state for abortions. The House of Representatives also approved the bill by a vote of 223 to 205. In all probability, both approaches will fail in the Senate, where the Democrats cannot muster the required majority. Recently, a ten-year-old woman who became pregnant after being raped was forced to travel from Ohio to Indiana for an abortion, which not only stunned US President Joe Biden.
By the end of June, a 1973 Supreme Court ruling secured that right to an abortion—abortions were legal nationwide at least until the fetus was viable. That decision was overturned by the conservative majority of the court in a historic decision. The result is a patchwork of regulations. Abortion is now largely banned in many states.
The Democrats had already tried unsuccessfully in May to enshrine the right to abortion in a federal law. At that time, a draft of the judgment had become public, which already showed that the judges wanted to overturn the right to abortion. The Democrats hope to be able to mobilize the issue before the congressional elections in the fall. Polls assume a gain in votes for the Republicans. Some of them are campaigning for legislation to ban abortion nationwide.
