USA: Escalation of hostilities towards reproductive rights

In the USA, access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion and contraception, continued to deteriorate in 2020 amid a toxic and politically polarised environment. Some US states exploited the pandemic to pass measures obstructing access to abortion, while in other states women’s rights organisations succeeded in protecting these rights. Overall, fewer anti-choice laws were enacted than in 2019, because legislative activity slowed down under the pandemic. But anti-choice bills continued to be introduced, further seeking to pave the way towards a Supreme Court showdown in which the court, now packed with conservatives, could overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognised women’s right to choose.