Anti-abortion leaders across America were overjoyed a year ago when Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to personally attend his highest profile annual event, the March for Life held every January.
The mood is more sober now – a mix of disappointment with Trump’s defeat and hope that his legacy of court appointments will lead to future victories in the courts, limiting abortion rights.
The organizers of this year’s March for Life in Washington, scheduled for next Friday, asked their distant supporters to stay home, due to political tensions in the city and the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, they plan to broadcast the activities of some invited participants live, in stark contrast to the tens of thousands of people who attend.
Meanwhile, Trump, whose government has taken several steps to restrict access to abortion, has been replaced as president by Joe Biden, a staunch supporter of abortion rights. Biden’s fellow Democrats now control the two chambers of Congress, thanks to victories in two Senate run-off elections in Georgia, where anti-abortion groups campaigned vigorously for the Republican candidates they lost.
On Friday, the 48th anniversary of the Roe v. Supreme Court Wade establishing a national right to abortion, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said they would seek to enshrine that right in federal law to protect it from legal challenges.
“For the past four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been under relentless and extreme attack.” said his statement. “We are deeply committed to ensuring that everyone has access to care – including reproductive health care.”
March for Life President Jeanne Mancini said she and her allies fear that the Biden government will seek “radical pro-abortion extremism”. At the same time, anti-abortion activists are encouraged by Trump’s appointment of numerous federal judges – including three Supreme Court justices – who are seen as open to revoking or weakening Roe v. Wade.
In states run by Republicans, dozens of tough anti-abortion bills have been enacted in recent years, and more are emerging this year from Republican lawmakers eager to see if any of these measures can reach the Supreme Court as a challenge for Roe v. Wade.
“I am very optimistic.” said Carol Tobias, chairman of the National Right to Life Committee. “We will see many pro-life bills … and we will see judges who are open to them.”
In Arkansas, a new bill would criminalize abortion, except to save the life of a pregnant woman. The measure states: “It is time for the United States Supreme Court to repair and correct the serious injustice and crime against humanity that is being perpetuated by its decisions in the Roe v. Wade ”and other cases.
The Texas legislature will also consider several prohibitions on abortion. In Montana, anti-abortion bills must move forward now that Republican Greg Gianforte has replaced Democrat Steve Bullock as governor. Bullock supported the right to abortion for eight years in office.
South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually about six weeks after conception. Similar bills have been passed in several other states, but courts have blocked their implementation.
Elizabeth Nash, who tracks state government issues for the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, says that anti-abortion legislation may have priority even in states where lawmakers face multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and serious budget problems. .
Referring to anti-abortion lawmakers, Nash said: “They see the Supreme Court as something that is on their side and it is their job to continue to approve restrictions and prohibitions.”
Among abortion rights activists, there is relief and optimism when the Biden administration takes over. Biden is expected to soon issue executive orders reversing the anti-abortion actions taken by Trump.
One such order would terminate the so-called “global gag rule”, which prohibits the use of foreign assistance from the United States for abortion-related services. Another order would rescind what advocates of the right to abortion have called the “domestic gag rule”, preventing Title X family planning funds from going to any health provider who performs abortions or sends them to them. The ban led Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in the United States, to abandon the program instead of agreeing.
Defenders of abortion rights also expect Congress, under Democratic control, to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortions, unless a woman’s life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.
Biden, a longtime supporter of the amendment, reversed himself in 2019 and now defends its repeal. But the prospects for repeal are uncertain, as Democrats would need some Republican votes in the Senate to overcome a potential obstruction.
However, the narrow majority of Democrats in the Senate are expected to be sufficient to confirm Biden’s appointment of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra – a strong advocate of abortion rights – to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
Large anti-abortion groups have invested large sums and mobilized hundreds of volunteers to support the Republican Party’s defeated Senate candidates in Georgia, hoping to maintain Republican control so that Becerra could be rejected.
Becerra and Biden are Roman Catholics, and the new government’s support for abortion rights poses a dilemma for the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Its president, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, congratulated Biden on his inauguration on Wednesday, but warned that his policies on abortion and contraception “advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity.”
Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood, said the concerns that plagued her throughout 2020 have given way to joy over Democratic victories in the Georgia Senate.
“In fact, I was able to breathe hope and possibilities,” she said. “But we recognize the fact that the struggle continues – the courts and many of our state legislatures will be very difficult for us.”
While there is not yet enough data to show whether abortions increased or decreased during the pandemic, there is some evidence that more women induced their own abortions, using abortion pills that they were able to buy or receive by mail from a foreign source. It is becoming easier and easier for women to circumvent US law that requires the pill to be dispensed by a healthcare professional.
Abigail Aiken, a public relations professor at the University of Texas, said online abortion pill provider Aid Access received a wave of requests early in the pandemic, when some states cited the outbreak as a reason to limit access to abortion in clinics.
Orders nearly doubled in Texas, which had the most severe restrictions on pandemic-related clinics, said Aiken, whose research was published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Elisa Wells, co-director of another online organization called Plan C, estimates that tens of thousands of American women annually now seek abortion pills for self-managed abortions – based on the number of clicks on the Plan C website that lists foreign pharmacies that offer to send the pills .