Janice Hopkins Tanne New YorkOn 2 August the conservative central US state of Kansas voted by 59% to 41% in a referendum on whether to keep abortion legal in the state. It was the first popular vote on the right to abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision legalising abortion in the US, on 24 June.1 The court left abortion decisions to each of the 50 states, so abortion rights now rest on a state’s constitution and on old state laws that had never been repealed when Roe v Wade was the law of the land. About half of US states are either banning or strictly limiting abortion. Kansas usually votes Republican and in …

Source: New York Times August 05, 2022 15:49 UTC