By Canadian Press

‘Blatant attack’: Panel of UN experts assails ‘regressive’ Texas abortion law

Sep 14, 2021 | 9:23 AM

WASHINGTON — A panel of United Nations human rights experts is formally denouncing what it calls a “regressive” new abortion law in Texas.

And the UN panel says the U.S. Supreme Court is complicit in a “blatant attack” against pregnant women, particularly those who can’t afford to travel outside the state. 

The law, which took effect Sept. 1 after the high court refused to block it, effectively bans abortion procedures at the six-week stage, except in cases of medical emergency. 

Abortion rights advocates say it’s the latest assault on Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that protects a woman’s right to have an abortion in the first trimester.

In a statement, the panel says the U.S. now stands in violation of international law.

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President Joe Biden’s administration has vowed to fight the law, promising legal action against what it considers a violation of the constitution. 

“We urge the government to prevent retrogression in access to abortion in the United States and instead enact positive measures to ensure access to safe and legal abortion,” the panel said in a statement. 

“Without adherence to the legal precedents that constitutionally protect women’s right to abortion and clear political will to reverse such restrictive and regressive trends, states will continue pursuing this pattern.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2021. 

The Canadian Press