Abortion, Vebjørn Selbekk | – People in Norway don’t understand how liberal American abortion law really is.

Unless something unexpected happens, Amy Coney Barrett will be named the new Justice of the United States Supreme Court even before the presidential election.

This will be a historic event because the Supreme Court of the United States will have a solid conservative majority for decades to come.

Also read: That is why the fight for the Supreme Court in the United States is so important

– Very distant, even for the majority of abortion liberals in Norway.

Such a change has been a goal for conservatives for a long time. Highest on the wish list is that the right to self-determined abortion, known as the “Roe v. Wade” case of the Supreme Court, should be set aside.

That the right to self-determined abortion can now be attacked may seem like a step back in the fight for women’s rights, but Dagen’s editor Vebjørn Selbekk says he doesn’t think people in both Norway and Europe have given up. Realize how liberal abortion legislation really is.

– US law on abortion is ultra-liberal. Even most abortion liberals in Norway would be uncomfortable with the kind of abortion practice seen there, Selbekk tells Nettavisen.

Abortion much later in pregnancy than in Norway

A pregnancy is 40 weeks. In Norway, we have self-determined abortion until week 12 and the possibility of abortion until week 18 through court proceedings.

In the United States, the situation is quite different:

Two Supreme Court rulings have established that abortion is a fundamental right. The starting point is that abortion can be freely performed until the fetus is so large that it is viable outside the uterus (“fetal viability”).

There is no unambiguous definition of when this is. The earliest a fetus has survived is at 21 weeks and 4 days, and starting at 24 weeks the chances of fetuses surviving preterm birth begin to dramatically increase.

Most states have abortion options up to this indefinite “viability” limit, or operate with a defined limit of between 20 and 24 weeks, but the end of the second trimester occurs. That means in practice until week 28.

– I experience that in Norway there is an agreement between parties that when the fetus is viable outside the womb, abortion is not okay. But in the US, there are a large number of abortions even after it is viable, says Selbekk.

Also read: – Here Donald Trump is completely impossible

Every day up to 20 fetuses are aborted that could survive

There are no exact statistics on how many abortions are performed very late in the US, but CDC figures show that 1.2 percent of abortions in the US are performed in the 21st week or later. That works out to around 7,500 a year, or 20 a day.

It is unclear how many of them have serious defects or a life-threatening mother.

In any event, this has led to a bill in the United States that states that healthcare workers must have a duty to provide life-saving treatment for fetuses that survive abortion.

– It would not be accepted in Norway

– How do you think it would have been received in Norway if someone proposed an abortion law that is in the United States?

– This is a long way off even for the most liberal abortion circles in Norway. When a fetus is viable, it has earned human dignity. I don’t think anything like this would have been accepted, he says.

– This is not known in Europe or Norway, but it is. It is believed to be 12 or 18 weeks in the United States as well. Few people know how inflamed this problem is and how extremely liberal it is. There is probably no other country that has such resistance to abortion, but still such liberal legislation, says Selbekk.

– Important to understand what is happening in the United States

The abortion issue has become a fundamental political issue for many, both supporters and opponents. At one extreme are those who want to ban it completely, and at the other extreme are those who open up the possibility of an abortion without a time limit, if not without strong restrictions.

– The issue of abortion is inflamed, and was used especially against Hillary Clinton in 2016. She was accused of allowing “partial birth abortion”, an abortion method that is presented as a partial delivery, where the fetus is then killed in the birth canal. It played a role as a bush shake (not open shake, daily. Note), but works well in some conservative settings.

– Trump knows exactly what he is doing when he appoints a Catholic judge with a restrictive vision. This single question is so important that one is willing to ignore all the negatives and stories about Trump. Few people understand how profound this is, and this is very smart political art, says Selbekk.

However, the consequences of repealing the legislation are not that abortion disappears from the United States:

– Abortion will not be prohibited, but it will depend on the states. Then the distinction between the states becomes even clearer, a bit like looking at the states that allowed and did not allow same-sex marriage. Conservative southern states, in particular, will get an abortion ban, but will also get a form of abortion tourism to liberal states along both coasts, he says.

– Opponents rejoice a little too soon

Selbekk, on the other hand, is not convinced that the appointment of a new judge now necessarily means that the “Roe v. Wade” case will be dropped.

– Some opponents of abortion are probably looking forward to it a little earlier. Even with a Trump victory and a new conservative Supreme Court justice, it is not a given that the legislation is going to change. There has been a 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court now that could have led to this, without anything happening, Selbekk notes.

In June, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that required abortion clinic doctors to have so-called “admitting privileges” (right to admit patients, journal. Note) at a local hospital in order to run their local clinic. Trump’s appointed judge, Brett Kavanaugh, was among those who believed the law was invalid.

Also read: US Supreme Court Repeals Anti-abortion Law in Louisiana

– The case indicates that a more conservative court is not ready to reject the precedent in cases that divide people, Politico wrote after the decision.