- Vaccine busses have progressed: abortions are now offered in vans
- As of 2022, abortion has been banned in 22 states
- A record number of Americans are now in favor of legal abortion
Vaccine busses have progressed: abortions are now offered in vans
An electoral stunt planned ahead of the US presidential elections was the introduction of abortion vans, which offered free abortions or vasectomies for a few days to those who wished to do so, under the guise of "Planned Parenthood". Christian leaders strongly criticized this idea.
The idea was put into practice in Chicago at the start of the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC), when the decision was taken to set up a mobile clinic on wheels where medical abortion or vasectomy could be performed free of charge from 19 to 20 August. Due to the overwhelming response, all available spaces in the clinic were filled immediately.
Christian leaders and other pro-life activists have described this way of gaining voters as inhumane. According to them, it is proposed to terminate a life that has been conceived simply in a truck that you happen to see on the street. It is as easy to get an abortion this way as it is to buy tacos or fast food[1].
The Christian prayer group Intercessors for America has called the mobile clinic "an unprecedented atrocity" and called on the faithful to pray against what they see as a moral decline in the Democratic Party.
However, the DNC itself is pledging to give more than USD 8 million to abortion rights in the upcoming election cycle and to support pro-choice candidates to its constituents and active supporters.
Meanwhile, Democrats for Life in America is totally opposed to such actions and has called on the Democrats to stop such activities.
Similar buses traveled around cities and towns in other EU countries, "catching" all those who had not yet been vaccinated against coronavirus. Because there was so little interest in the vaccines, the vaccination buses would arrive on their own in the places where most people congregate (such as schools).
These examples thus clearly show the value of human health when "fixing" it or making very well-thought-out decisions is offered in the "here and now" through an emotional prism (the fear that if one has thought it through, one will no longer agree)[2].
As of 2022, abortion has been banned in 22 states
Since the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision in 2022, 22 states have banned abortion or imposed some restrictions.
A total ban on abortion is in force in 14 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
Florida, Georgia, Iowa and South Carolina allow abortions up to six weeks.
Up to 12 weeks: Nebraska and North Carolina.
15 to 18 weeks: Arizona and Utah.
In addition, 19 states have banned abortion after the 18th week of pregnancy.
Nine states (excluding Washington) have no abortion restrictions at all: Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont.
Even though the DNC's mobile clinic was already full, it was stressed that those interested can have an abortion just... by mail. That is to say, the clinic could simply send the pills for medical abortion by post, and it did not matter if the state of residence of the person concerned banned abortion because everyone was entitled to receive such pills by post.
A record number of Americans are now in favor of legal abortion
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released in April, as many as 66% of Americans now support legal abortion in some or all cases, the highest level of support ever recorded in the poll's decades-long history.
34% of respondents said abortion should be legal in all cases, and 32% said it should be legal in most cases.
These results are likely to have prompted US Republican candidate Donald Trump to lower the bar on this issue, as he declared that the United States is free to pass laws that protect human life[3].
However, it is notable that, for the first time in 40 years, the Republican document does not mention a federal abortion ban but instead stresses that the party will oppose late-stage abortion while at the same time supporting mothers and promoting policies to make contraceptives and IVF (fertility treatments) more accessible.
This softening of the Republican position on abortion is already stirring passions in the public sphere as moving away from its main objective of protecting children from the moment of conception.
