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US Supreme Court energising the abortion ProLife lobby

July 9, 2019

US religious conservatives hope a second President Trump term will deliver their ultimate goal of the end of legal abortion. (Source: Other)

A newly formed Supreme Court with a conservative majority is energising the abortion ProLife lobby in the US. 

On TVNZ1's Q+A, Rebecca Wright delved into the religious war being waged over abortion and looked at how it influenced the political process at the National Right to Life Conference in South Carolina.

South Carolina's Governor Henry McMaster told the crowd, "we're going to keep fighting in one of the most important fights that there could be in the history of the whole world - is the history of the right to life".

President of the National Right to Life Committee, Carol Tobias, said her opposition to abortion comes from a Christian point of view, as pro-lifers focus on political processes.

"President Donald Trump is the right man, in the right place, in the right time," Ms Tobias said. 

He delivered a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

"It's critical," Ms Tobias said. "We want to overturn Roe v. Wade so that again, prior to 1973, all the states had their own laws."

Roe v. Wade was the Supreme Court decision the the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution protected a woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion.

Conservative States have wasted no time passing a raft of legislation attempting to curtail access to abortion in places like Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Georgia, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Utah, Iowa.

All have been blocked by judges, however Ms Tobias said that was one of the goals to be able to fight Roe v. Wade. 

States have also used the legislative process to shut down clinics offering abortions.

Ms Tobias was asked by Wright, "why should the beliefs of the religious group be elevated above all others and enshrined in law and forced on the greater population?

"I don't believe it's being elevated into law because of those religious beliefs. we are saying human beings deserve protection.
To me it's not because of a religious belief."

Q+A is on TVNZ1 on Mondays at 9.30pm, and the episode is then available on TVNZ OnDemand and as a podcast in all the usual places.

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