Abortion ban sign of times in US: China Daily editorial

At a national event of the Democratic Party on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden pledged that if the Democrats do well enough in the midterm elections to get it through Congress, the first bill that he signs into law will be to codify the Roe vs Wade decision allowing women the fundamental right to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy or not.

Abortion has emerged as the key issue in the midterm elections after the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and overruled the 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling that had given women the right to choose.

As the Supreme Court said in its ruling, until the latter part of the 20th century, there was no support in US law for a constitutional right to seek or have an abortion. No state constitutional provision had recognized such a right.

It was not until 1973, after four years of struggle, that the Roe vs Wade case finally gained US women the right to have an abortion. Subsequent legal developments until the Supreme Court's decision in June had reinforced that.

Since that decision, the constitutional guarantee of women's abortion rights has been officially abolished, and it is left to the individual states to decide.

In just four months, abortion bans have gone into effect in 16 states, where 26.5 million women of reproductive age are subject to these bans.

The abortion right that stood for 50 years has shaped the lives of women, influencing their choices about relationships and work, and supporting their social and economic equality. The removal of that right marks a reversal in the struggle for women's rights and the reversal of social progress in the US.

Karl Marx famously said that "Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex."

While French philosopher Charles Fourier observed that "The extension of women's rights is the basic principle of all social progress."

Both quotes date back to the 19th century. It is now the 22nd year of the 21st century. But the Supreme Court's decision is a sign of the times in the US, which is now firmly under the sway of the past and where human rights are regressing rather than progressing.