LEA 3 Culture

HLEEAO5
« Major issues in today’s United States of
IINIntro
America »
CM 4: Sep. 30 Abortion
2022-23
Anne Debray
anne.debray@univ-cotedazur.fr
Abortion in the World

Whole over the world a very ideological and controversial issue:

some countries ban it (Ireland)
some countries allow it with retrictions (fetal defects, health of the mother,
rape, incest…)
Some countries limit the term (France: 16 weeks pre-menstrual since 2022)
A personal, private and ideological issue
Abortion in the United States: a public statement

In the United States, the most divisive issue

In the U.S.: public and an open position
Example: politicians:
Donald Trump against the right to get an abortion
Joe Biden in favor of the right to get an abortion
Abortion

• Abortion was legal in the United States before June 2022:

• Until viability (22-24 weeks)
• « Pro-life » (anti-abortion)
• « pro-choice » (in favor of the right to get an abortion)
History

1821: Connecticut first state to adopt a law limiting abortion

• 1857: American Medical Association to make it illegal
• 1873: Congress: Comstock law (drugs: illegal)
• 1880: illegal in most states unless necessary to save the mother’s life
• Fear/fall of birth rates
• Medical competition
• 1960’s: Women’s Lib(eration movement): pro-choice
Abortion: the legal framework

• A U.S. Supreme Court (9 justices) decision

• Roe v. Wade case (1973) : Jane (raped) against Texas
• decriminalized abortion prior to viability (24 weeks)
• 7 to 2 decision:
Abortion: The Supreme Court decision

• « The right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth

Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state
action, as we feel it is, or, as the district court determined, in the Ninth
Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to
encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her
pregnancy. »
• Since Roe and June 2022: +1,000 state laws to limit abortion
SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States)
role and actions
• A Court of Appeal (de cassation)
• Accepts 100-150 cases/7,000 cases asked to review each session (Oct. to June)
• Its decisions are final and apply to all 50 states (federalism)
• Federal review (the Constitution)
• Judicial review:
• involving foreign diplomats/the 50 states/cases submitted by the lower state courts
• Override: confirm
• Overturn: cancel (abroger)
• Substantial impact on U.S. society
The Supreme Court of the United States
(SCOTUS)

• Composition:
• 1 Chief Justice (2005: John Roberts)
• 8 Associate Justices
• Ideology: Conservative/Liberal - Moderate
The Supreme Court of the United States
(SCOTUS)

• Nominated by POTUS: the President of the U.S.

• Confirmed by the Senate (hearings): Checks and Balances
• since 1975, the average time from nomination to confirmation is 67 days
• For life (retire or die)
• Highly skilled judges
A Court of Appeal

• A court of Appeal: cannot issue jurisdiction

• The Constitution: « The Supreme Law of the Land »
• State Constitutions, State and Congress statutes (written laws)
• Principles and references: Common Law (past decisions), what is right and
fair, precedents
SCOTUS Composition: August 2022

• The Conservative (6)

• Clarence Thomas (1991) appointed by GW Bush (Republican)
• John Roberts (2005) GW Bush (Rep)
• Samuel Alito (2006) GW Bush (Rep)
• Neil Gorsugh (2017) Trump (Rep)
• Brett Kavanaugh (2018) Trump (Rep)
• Amy Barrett (Oct. 2020) Trump (Rep)
SCOTUS Composition

• Liberal (3):
• Ketanji Brown Jackson (30 June 2022) Biden (Democrat)
• Elena Kagan (2010) Obama (Dem)
• Sonia Sotomayor (2009) Obama (Dem)

• So a highly conservative « packed » Court: 6/3

Evolution of SCOTUS

• A case can only be overturned (changed/cancelled) by another SCOTUS

case
• Example:
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): « separate is equal »: segregation
• Brown v. Topeka (1954): « inherently unequal » because it generated « a
feeling of inferiority » so it did not guarantee « equal protection of the
laws » (14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution)
• Difficult to enforce locally: 1957 Little Rock AR (federalism and Checks and
Balances) Ike (Eisenhower) v. governor Faubus
Some pro-choice organizations

• The Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion

• The Abortion Counseling Service of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union
• Planned Parenthood (1916)
• NOW (National Organization for Women 1966)
• NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League 1968)
• Catholics for Choice (1973)
• Emily’s List (political)
Abortion: Roe v. Wade Context

• The 1960’s: Civil Rights movement, women’s liberation movement:

• Postpone wedding, pre-marital sex, literature, movies, theater, musicals,
advertising, fashion…
• Reaction to a conservative system
• Reproductive rights (the (contraceptive) pill, 1960)
• 1964: First singles bar in NY
• 1970: First gay pride march in NY
• 1957: Supreme Court on obscenity allows sex in art, literature, and film as « free
speech »
Pro-choice

• 600 affiliate centers, volunteering, perform abortion

• Federal funding through Medicaid or Title X (affordable birth control and
reproductive healthcare)
• Lobby U.S. justice Supreme Court nomminees
• Monitor congressional and US Supreme Court actions, local actions
Pro-life organizations

• In the states: Many local pro-life initiatives (parental notification, term…)

• In the U.S. Congress: pro-life lines in the bills (gag rule)
• March for Life (since 1974 in D.C. and in states)
• National Right to Life Committee (largest, 1967)
• Americans United for Life
• Susan B. Anthony List (political)
• Army of God (terrorist)
• The American Association of Pro-Life Obstreticians and Gynechologists (medical)
• National Life Center 24/24: 800-848-LOVE
2021

• Abortion, late August 2021:

• Texas law: unlawful after six weeks of pregnancy
• The U.S. Supreme Court
• Late September 2001 refused to block it
• 5-4 vote, with three Trump-appointed justices joining two other
conservative justices. Dissenting: conservative Chief Justice John Roberts
and the court's three liberal justices
June 2022

• But: 24 June 2022: SCOTUS: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

• Abortion not a « deeply rooted » right in the U.S. Constitution
• It is the State’s responsibility to legislate
• Even in case of rape or incest
• President Joe Biden: « It is a sad day for the Court and for the country. »
• Donald Trump: « It is God’s will. »
• So cross state border lines/interstate
First state reactions

• In the month following the ruling: 43 clinics across 11 states had stopped
offering abortion care
• By July 2022, over two weeks of Dobbs, 7 states had included the
restriction in their state constitution
• Abortion pill (10 weeks): mail order v. brick and mortar (CVS, Wallgreen)
• Over the summer, 125% increase mail order online
14 States which
ban abortion
with no • Tex., Okl., Ark., Louis., Mississ.,
exception (rape, Missou., Alab., Tenn., Kent., West Va.,
incest, …) Indian., Sth Dak., Wisc., Idah.
(Sep. 16, 2022) • (The South)
The polls

• The polls:
• 25% of Americans approve of SCOTUS
• 60% pro-choice
Local votes

• Kansas, August 2, 2022:

• First state to vote and oppose a resolution in their constitution restricting abortion
• President Biden: « This vote makes clear what we know: the majority of Americans
agree that women should have access to abortion and should have the right to
make their own healthcare decisions. »
• Libertarian
• Indiana, August 5, 2022:
• First state to approve an abortion ban. Includes exceptions (rape, incest, 10
weeks, …)
… and in the future?

• Contraception: Griswold v. Connecticut (1965, married couples)

• Interracial marriage: Loving v. Virginia (1967)?
• Gay marriage: Obergefell v. Hodges (June 2015)?
• (Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) upheld Roe: overturned by Dobb)
• LBGTQ+ rights