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Equality

US Joins Tiny Club of Nations in Curbing Access to Abortion

As the US moves to restrict abortion, most of the rest of the world is loosening up laws, the Center for Reproductive Rights finds. 

An abortion rights sticker on a sign outside of the Whole Woman's Health of Fort Worth clinic in Fort Worth, Texas, US, on Sunday, July 3, 2022. 

An abortion rights sticker on a sign outside of the Whole Woman's Health of Fort Worth clinic in Fort Worth, Texas, US, on Sunday, July 3, 2022. 

Photographer: Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg

The US is now a global outlier when it comes to reproductive health care, joining just three other countries in rolling back legal access to abortion within the past three decades. 

After the Supreme Court recently overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing the right to abortion, the country joined a small club of nations that have clamped down on abortion access in the last 25 years, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. These include Poland, El Salvador and Nicaragua. In that same time period, nearly 60 countries have liberalized their abortion laws.