US Draws Flak From Close Allies Over Supreme Court’s Ruling On Abortion

The US Supreme Court struck down the landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade decision, saying that individual states can now permit or restrict abortion themselves.

A sign attached to a bycicle reads "I Woke Up Today With Less Rights Than I Went To Sleep With" as abortion rights activists protest after the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade by the US Supreme Court, in Downtown Los Angeles, on June 24, 2022.

Source : AFP

New Delhi: The US Supreme Court’s ruling on ending abortion natiownide has drawn criticism from the nation’s closest allies like Canada, France and the United Kingdom. The court struck down the landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade decision, saying that individual states can now permit or restrict the procedure themselves, weeks after an unprecedented leaked document suggested it favoured doing so.

The Court’s decision came a day after it had ruled in favour of carrying guns in public — an issue that, along with the US embrace of death penalty, has longed shocked other western nations. 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson — a conservative who has closely worked with the former US President Donal Trump — said that the US Supreme Court’s decision will have a “massive impact: worldwide. 

"I think it's a big step backwards. I've always believed in a woman's right to choose and I stick to that view, and that's why the UK has the laws that it does," Johnson said while on his visit to Rwanda.

Across the border Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also criticised the decision as “horrific”. 

“The news coming out of the United States is horrific. My heart goes out to the millions of American women who are now set to lose their legal right to an abortion. I can’t imagine the fear and anger you are feeling right now,” Trudeau tweeted. 

The news coming out of the United States is horrific. My heart goes out to the millions of American women who are now set to lose their legal right to an abortion. I can’t imagine the fear and anger you are feeling right now.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 24, 2022

“No government, politician, or man should tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body,” he added. 

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his “solidarity with women whose liberties are being undermined by the Supreme Court of the United States.” 

Abortion is a fundamental right for all women. It must be protected. I wish to express my solidarity with the women whose liberties are being undermined by the Supreme Court of the United States.

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 24, 2022

While the decision has been met with criticism from world leaders and on social media, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro supported the decision and his own country’s evangelical Christians who took to Twitter hours before the decision to denounce an 11-year-old girl's abortion of a fetus that was the result of rape, reported news agency AFP.