British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it “clearly has a massive impact on people’s thinking around the world,” and called the court’s decision “a big step backwards.”
Other world leaders have also slammed the decision, with protests scheduled to take place across cities in Europe over the weekend.
The move counters a global trend towards freer access to abortion, and places the US in a very small club of countries that have moved to restrict access in recent years.
Here’s how the US compares with the rest of the world on the issue of abortion following the ruling.
Some US allies have greater access to abortion
It was generally in the company of other Western nations, since few developed countries ban or heavily restrict access to abortions. Of the 36 countries the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs defines as developed economies, all but two — Poland and Malta — allow abortions on request or on broad health and socio-economic grounds, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), which campaigns for improved access to abortion and monitors laws worldwide.
But an end to federal protection of abortion will see parts of the US join those ranks. Abortion rights will now be determined by US states, unless Congress takes action.
More than half of US states were certain or likely to ban abortion once Roe was overturned, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Bans have already taken effect in multiple US states since the Supreme Court ruling was issued.
Such laws go against a global tide that has seen many nations, including those on the United States’ doorstep, liberalize abortion laws in recent years.
Source : cnn
