Growing transatlantic divide on abortion rights

Once at the forefront of liberalising abortion rights, the United States has rolled-back women's reproductive rights. On 24 June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned its landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v Wade, establishing a constitutional abortion right under certain circumstances. For almost half a century, Roe v Wade made it unconstitutional to enact and enforce abortion 'bans' at state level.

The 2022 ruling defers the highly polarised US abortion rights debate to the state level, where a patchwork of abortion laws has since emerged. Republican lawmakers seeking to codify a federal abortion ban, inter alia, claim alignment with Europe. The Supreme Court ruling has galvanised voters, and abortion rights are unexpectedly on the ballot for the 2022 mid-term elections.