'A global catastrophe' Women will suffer if court upends Roe

Activists warn that anti-choice groups will thrive if 1973 ruling is overturned especially in developing world

- Lizzy Davies

The probable demise of abortion as a federal right in the US will be a "catastrophe" for women in low and middle-income countries, with an emboldened anti-choice movement likely to raise the pressure on hard-won gains, doctors and activists have warned.

The leak this month of the US supreme court's draft majority opinion, which argued that the 1973 ruling effectively legalising abortion had been "egregiously wrong from the start", stunned and enraged many.

Globally, pro-choice figures - many in countries with restrictive abortion laws and high levels of social stigma around reproductive rights - warned that Justice Samuel Alito's words would "send a really clear message" of inspiration to anti-choice groups.

"I'm sure the pro-life or anti-choice movement in [Uganda] must be hoping and praying that the Roe v Wade legislation be overturned ... I'm sure they will use it significantly to counter the work and the gains we thought we had registered," said Kenneth Buyinza, a Kampala-based doctor.