Abortion in the US

Introduction:

According to Planned Parenthood V Casey, “these matters such as abortion, involving the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.” Yet, Alabama's near-total ban -- the most restrictive abortion law in the country -- would punish women who would get abortion and doctors who perform the procedure with up to 99 years in prison. It does not include exceptions for cases of rape and incest.
This article is a printed edition from the economist, a weekly newspaper, leaning toward social liberalism. Named “Alabama’s lawyers want to challenge Roe V Wade”, the article questions the rise of conservative ideas and the abortion ban.
The journalist therefore names several cases, let conservative politicians talk and evokes D. TRUMP in order to show the impact of Alabama’s ban.

How does the article reveal the impact of the Alabama’s ban in the political exchequer?

1. Conservative strategies

The journalist deals with a controversial subject: abortion in Alabama. He especially focuses on the pro-life and the conservative party. With an ironic step back, he only names one leader of the latest, Mr JOHNSTON, president of the Alabama Pro-life coalition. He also quotes the liberal side once in the fifth paragraph in order to show the reaction that such decision creates on the other side.
But in every way, his position concerning the case is quite noticeable as his sentences are sometimes distant and humoristic: “the bill, which the softly spoken Mr JOHNSTON wrote does not mess around”. But he also uses adjective that clearly expresses his state of mind: “the harshest abortion legislation passed in America in half a century”, showing the seriousness of the case.
He then quotes extreme example used by the pro-life to justify their opposition: “German death camps, Chinese purges, Saline’s gulags, Cambodian killing fields and the Rwandan genocide”. It makes the conservative side appear as over the top and using inappropriate comparison.

Moreover, he questions the strategies of the anti-abortionists by revealing their campaign to challenge Roe: making clinics close. To make a greater impact, he also quotes numbers: “400 abortions were introduced across America”, “8 states have only one abortion clinic left”

1. Consequences on the political game

However, as we just saw, in order to give precision to his work, the journalist uses scientific facts by quoting the number of weeks of pregnancy until which abortion is still legal: “third semester”, “24 weeks” ... He also names different cases: Roe V Wade”, “Planned parenthood V Casey” and doesn’t explicitly name but mentions Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt.

But more than anything, the journalist wants to show the impact of the abortion laws and he quotes many states in order to make the reader realize the importance of the subject nationwide: Kentucky, Iowa, Mississippi, Georgia…

Finally, he talks a lot about Trump, quoting him directly and making him appear as the one pulling the triggers. Mentions of Trump appear in the first, fifth and sixth paragraph. The journalist first quotes him: “babies being ripped from their mother’s womb” and makes him appear as aggressive towards the pro-choice: “a fresh assault”, “aggressive strategy”, “pro-life warrior”. He then talks about Trump’s political decisions such as naming two supreme Court justices and resumes his position concerning abortion as a political move in order to be reelected in 2020. However, the journalist questions this possibility and foresees “an electoral disaster”.  He takes the example of Georgia switching to a less conservative position but nevertheless he doesn’t clearly specify the outcome of the poll results.

Vampires: something wants to come out

It’s a wonderful life

Commentaire:

What does the Alabama’s ban reveal about politics in America, especially concerning women’s rights?

1. Conservative ideas awaken

8 months only after Kavanaugh nomination as supreme court Justice, conservative politicians are once more challenging the institutions. After questioning gay marriage, women’s right, they are now going after abortion. All 25 Alabama senate votes in favor of the ban, which criminalizes almost all abortions with no exceptions for rape or incest, came from white men.

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