U.S. state abortion bans put millions of women, girls at risk: UNHRC experts

GENEVA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Millions of women and girls across the United States have suffered an alarming deterioration in access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, following the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts said on Friday.

They said abortion has been banned in 14 states across the country since the start of the year, and the consequences of the Supreme Court decision has reverberated throughout the entire legal and policy system.

"The regressive position taken by the US Supreme Court ... by essentially dismantling 50 years of precedent protecting the right to abortion in the country, puts millions of women and girls at serious risk," they said.

The bans have made abortion services largely inaccessible and denied women and girls their fundamental human rights to comprehensive healthcare including sexual and reproductive health, the experts maintained.

They warned that the Supreme Court decision also had a chilling effect on doctors and healthcare workers who may face legal consequences for their care decisions.

The threat of criminalisation in many states in the country has discouraged women and girls from engaging with the health system and seeking prenatal care, the experts said.

The experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.