WASHINGTON | US lawmakers on both sides of the deep divide that divides the country on Sunday began what promises to be a tense and enduring battle over abortion, both at the state level and in Congress as half the country s about to ban abortion.

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For the third day in a row, abortion rights supporters rallied to protest the Supreme Court's decision to strike down what many considered a vested right. A candlelight vigil was scheduled for Sunday evening in front of the high court, near the Capitol.

In a country fragmented between States which have already or will soon deny the right to abortion, which had been guaranteed since 1973, and those which will maintain it, even strengthen it, the differences of opinion have sometimes turned into a scuffle during protests over the weekend, prompting dozens of arrests.

Contraception, abortion pill

Within hours Friday, at least eight states immediately made all abortions illegal and seven more planned to do the same in the coming weeks.

Missouri was the first to pull the trigger, with a total ban, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Republican Governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson ruled on NBC that his state, where a similar measure was passed, and others should now tackle supports for mothers and newborns, expanding health services. 'adoption.

The conservative welcomed the return of abortion decisions to states, but he opposed any efforts by the Republican Party to ban abortion at the federal level or attempt to reduce access to contraception.

"In Arkansas, the right to birth control is important," he said. "He is recognized. We won't touch it."

Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem called the dropout “Roe v. Wade” of “wonderful news for the defense of life”, but she added to expect a lot of “debate and discussion” in her state and elsewhere about the legislation to come.

She said she was in favor of laws banning “telemedicine abortions”, an allusion to abortion pills prescribed in teleconsultation, a practice approved by the American drug agency, the FDA.

"Appalling"

For their part, supporters of the right to abortion quickly mobilized. The family planning organization Planned Parenthood launched legal proceedings in Utah on Saturday to try to block the automatic implementation of a law that would ban almost all abortions and criminalize medical professionals who perform it.

In Wisconsin, where an 1849 law prohibiting abortion except for women whose lives would be at stake is likely to come into force, Democratic Governor Tony Evers has promised to pardon any doctor who is prosecuted.

In the state of Michigan, whose Congress is controlled by Republicans, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has promised to "fight with all her might" to protect women's rights. She, too, went to court to prevent the implementation of a law banning abortion.

On CNN, Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, Stacey Abrams, noted that her state would ban all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy in the coming days. “It is appalling and it is a mistake, and if I am governor, I will do everything possible to reverse it.”

In the states with the strictest laws, women will have the choice between keeping the baby, undergoing a clandestine abortion, obtaining abortion pills or going to a state where abortion will remain legal.

For elected progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, nightmare situations will multiply. “Forcing women to continue their pregnancies against their will will kill them, it will kill them,” she exclaimed on NBC.

She suggested that the Biden administration open family planning clinics on federal land in states that ban abortion.

According to a poll published Sunday by CBS, a majority of Americans disapprove of the Supreme Court's decision: 59% of those polled and 67% of women oppose it. In addition, 52% of respondents thought it was a setback for the United States, while 31% thought it was progress.