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Today marks 50 years since Roe v Wade, America’s landmark Supreme Court decision that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right. 

Roe v Wade was overturned last June, giving the power to decide on abortion rights to 50 states to determine individually.

It triggered a wave of change. Abortion bans were brought in, court cases mounted, clinics closed. Here is what has happened in the seven months since US abortion rights were overturned.

First off, what is Roe v Wade?

Roe v Wade refers to the 1973 Supreme Court case that said the government could not prohibit abortions because the constitutional right to liberty includes the right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy.

Roe refers to Texan woman Norma McCorvey – known by the pseudonym Jane Roe – who challenged the state’s abortion laws after she couldn’t get a termination in 1969 because her life was not in danger. Wade is district attorney Henry Wade, who defended the anti-abortion laws.

The court decision meant every woman in the US had the right to an abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Another ruling – Planned Parenthood v Casey in 1982 – built on that by saying states could not have laws that create a “substantial obstacle” to a woman seeking an abortion up to 24 weeks.

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States ban abortion

In 12 states, there are now near-total bans on abortion. In five of these states, the ban is being challenged in court but remains in effect.

The 12 states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

Two further states – North Dakota and Wisconsin – do not have bans in place but abortions are unavailable because clinics have closed.

Georgia has banned abortions past six weeks of pregnancy, severely limiting access to terminations because so many women do not find out they are pregnant – and have time to organise the procedure – before the six-week mark.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, which specialises in reproductive health, these 15 states are home to almost 22 million women aged 15 to 49. That means almost a third of America’s women of reproductive age are living in states where abortion is either unavailable or severely restricted.

More states could follow

A further nine states have introduced restrictions to abortion that would have been unconstitutional under Roe v Wade, have bans currently blocked by the court or are likely to introduce bans in the near future.

Arizona and Florida do not allow abortions past 15 weeks, while Utah has an 18-week ban.

In three states – Indiana, Wyoming and Ohio – near-total or early-gestation bans have been blocked by state courts for now, but lawmakers have indicated they intend to fight them.

In Iowa, Montana and Nebraska, anti-abortion policymakers have indicated that they want to ban abortion soon, but abortion care remains available for now.

What’s happened to abortion clinics?

At least 66 abortion clinics have stopped offering abortion care in the 15 states where abortion is banned or severely restricted.

The loss of these clinics is felt nationwide, according to the Guttmacher Institute, as clinics in states where abortion remains legal are inundated with people travelling interstate.

As the institute explains: “These dramatic increases in caseloads mean clinic capacity and staff are stretched to their limits, resulting in longer wait times for appointments even for residents of states where abortion remains legal.”

A study from the Society of Family Planning estimated legal abortions nationwide fell by more than 10,000 in the two months following the overturning of Roe v Wade, although some women may have sought abortion pills privately.

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Abortion revolution in the US

Exacerbating inequality

Many of the states that have banned or restricted abortion have high proportions of black, Latina and indigenous women.

Research by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed how overturning Roe v Wade disproportionately impacts women of colour, as they are more likely to get abortions, have more limited access to health care, and face barriers to travelling out of state for an abortion.

The Guttmacher Institute notes in addition that “people living with low incomes… transmen and nonbinary people, immigrants, adolescents and people living with disabilities are all particularly likely to encounter compounding obstacles to abortion care and be harmed as a result”.

Some states have introduced protections

While the US has seen significant rolling back of abortion rights, there are pockets of good news for pro-choice activists.

Voters in Kansas protected abortion rights in the state’s constitution by rejecting an amendment that would have allowed lawmakers to restrict access to abortions.

New York will provide free abortion pills at four public clinics, making its health department the first in the nation to offer free medication abortion.

In the midterms, voters in five states chose to protect reproductive rights. Vermont, Michigan and California added protections to their state constitutions while voters in Kentucky rejected an amendment that would have removed any protection for abortion rights from the constitution.

In Montana, a bill that could have criminalised doctors for providing abortions was defeated.

Read more:
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Clinics in US state offer free vasectomies after surge in demand

Allie Utley, left, and Jae Moyer, center, of Overland Park, react during a primary watch party Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, at the Overland Park (Kan.) Convention Center. Kansas voters on Tuesday protected the right to get an abortion in their state, rejecting a measure that would have allowed their Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten abortion restrictions or ban it outright. (Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City Star via AP)
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Voters in Kansas react with joy after abortion rights vote

Medical abortions

Medical abortions account for the majority of abortions in the US – in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available, abortion pills were used in 53% of cases.

Early evidence suggests they have become even more popular since Roe v Wade was overturned – one study suggested the number of people seeking medical abortions has increased threefold.

At the beginning of January, the Food and Drug Administration changed its rules to allow retail pharmacies in the US to dispense abortion pills for the first time.

However, abortion pills are now seen as the next frontier in the fight by anti-abortion activists and they are pushing hard to curtail access.

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Charlie Kirk suspect Tyler Robinson ‘was in romantic relationship with transgender roommate’ – Utah governor

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Charlie Kirk suspect Tyler Robinson 'was in romantic relationship with transgender roommate' - Utah governor

The suspect accused of shooting dead right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk was in a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate, Utah’s governor has said.

Tyler Robinson, 22, from Washington in Utah, is due to appear in court on Tuesday after Kirk, 31, was killed during one of his rallies at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

Robinson is being held without bail on suspicion of aggravated murder, a felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, and obstruction of justice.

According to Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer James Cox, he was in a relationship with his roommate – who was in the process of transitioning.

“The roommate was a romantic partner,” he told NBC News’s Meet The Press on Sunday. “We can confirm that that roommate is a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female.”

He added that the roommate has been “incredibly cooperative” and had “no idea that this [the shooting] was happening”, but that Robinson has not been cooperating with police.

Tyler Robinson. Pic: Utah Governor's Office
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Tyler Robinson. Pic: Utah Governor’s Office

Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University before he was shot. Pic: AP
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Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University before he was shot. Pic: AP

Kirk, who co-founded the conservative student movement Turning Point USA, regularly expressed anti-LGBTQ views.

The motive of the shooting is unclear, and officials have not said whether Robinson’s relationship – or his roommate’s gender – is relevant to their investigation.

Authorities are still trying to get access to cloud storage linked to Robinson, according to NBC.

Mr Cox has previously said the suspect came from a “conservative family, but his ideology was very different than his family”, adding in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he had been “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology”.

According to the governor, his relatives have said Robinson was critical of Kirk, saying he was “full of hate and spreading hate” and “talked about why he didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had”.

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Security camera shows Charlie Kirk suspect

The 22-year-old is due to be charged when he makes his first court appearance on Tuesday, according to the Utah County attorney’s office.

He was in his third year of an electrical apprenticeship programme at Dixie Technical College in St George, Utah, NBC reported.

A spokesperson for Utah Valley University, where Kirk was speaking when he was shot in the neck, said Robinson studied there for one semester in 2021.

Kristin Schwiermann, a neighbour of his family’s, described him as “smart” and “quiet”, and added that he “never caused any problems”.

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Woman recalls encounter with Charlie Kirk suspect

Memorial to be held at Super Bowl venue

It was revealed on Sunday that a memorial to Kirk will be held at the stadium where the 2023 US Super Bowl was held.

State Farm Stadium, just outside of Phoenix, Arizona, is home to the American football team the Arizona Cardinals and can hold 60,000 people.

President Donald Trump has said he plans to attend and will posthumously award Kirk with the highest US civilian honour – the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Kirk, who hosted his own self-titled podcast, had millions of followers on social media.

He was a regular visitor at the White House and has been credited with the increase in young men voting for Mr Trump at the 2024 presidential election.

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‘Bella Ciao’ to ‘OwO’ – what the engravings on bullets in Charlie Kirk case may refer to

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'Bella Ciao' to 'OwO' - what the engravings on bullets in Charlie Kirk case may refer to

Experts have described engravings left on ammunition at the scene of the Charlie Kirk shooting as “extremely online” – so what do the words and symbols actually mean?

Authorities said on Friday that the suspect accused of fatally shooting the Conservative activist left behind bullet casings featuring references to fascism, video games and internet memes.

Kirk at Utah Valley University where he was shot. Pic: Reuters/The Salt Lake Tribune
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Kirk at Utah Valley University where he was shot. Pic: Reuters/The Salt Lake Tribune

To those who aren’t chronically online, the messages may appear to be total gibberish. But for others, specifically gamers, many of the meanings will have immediately been clear.

Here’s what each of the casings reference – and why experts have cautioned against using them to make assumptions about the suspect’s political leanings.

1. ‘notices, bulges, OWO, what’s this?’

This writing appears to reference a meme about the furry subculture, which centres on an interest in anthropomorphic animal characters.

Within the furry community, OwO is an emoticon of a cute face (with the Os as the eyes and the w as a cute mouth or nose) and used as a way of flirting – but outside the community, it is often used in a mocking way, or as part of trolling.

It’s incredibly common for phrases used by people who are “extremely online” – which essentially means highly engaged in online culture – to have double or multiple meanings.

For this reason, experts have cautioned against trying to interpret messages such as these engravings to determine an attacker’s political leanings or motive.

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What we know about the shooting arrest

Jamie Cohen, an assistant professor of media studies who studies memes at Queens College in New York, said: “Oftentimes this extremely online disguise is meant to be doublespeak.”

Speaking to Sky News’ US partner NBC News, he continued: “It’s meant specifically for someone like me to dive into what they would call meme culture and declare them something so that they get more press.

“So it could just be another bait and switch for researchers who are falling into the same trap that they are designing for more viral exposure.”

2. ‘Hey, fascist! Catch ↑ → ↓↓↓’

When asked by Sky News’ US correspondent James Matthews what the messages on the casings meant, Utah governor Spencer Cox said the writing referring to a fascist “speaks for itself”.

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Engraving on bullet casing ‘speaks for itself’

The second half of the inscription – the directional arrows – were immediately identified by some gamers.

Helldivers 2 players have pointed out that the arrow sequence is the code used to summon a 500kg bomb in the 2024 game – which itself has been interpreted as a satire of fascism.

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3. ‘Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao’

Bella Ciao is a classic Italian song that became a popular anti-fascism anthem during Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship.

It has won renewed popularity in recent years thanks, in part, to featuring multiple times in Netflix’s Spanish television series Money Heist.

A popular remix of Bella Ciao has hit more than 260 million streams on Spotify worldwide and it’s become a favourite on TikTok, as well as within the gaming community.

Read more:
All we know about the suspected assassin
The string of bloody political violence in the MAGA era

4. ‘If you read this, you are gay lmao’

This juvenile insult, using the well-known abbreviation for ‘laughing my ass off’, is a common ‘gotcha’ phrase and simply appears to mock investigators.

The messages, another expert has said, make one thing clear – the suspect was likely seeking fame.

Lindsay Hahn, a University at Buffalo associate professor who researches ideological extremism and the ways in which perpetrators of violence justify their actions, said the messages do not necessarily indicate a specific ideology.

“But what they do indicate, is that the shooter wanted to get a message across and therefore be talked about online,” she told NBC.

“It sort of seems like these messages, at the very minimum, were selected because he knew they were going to be talked about.”

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Charlie Kirk memorial to be held in Arizona stadium

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Charlie Kirk memorial to be held in Arizona stadium

A memorial for right-wing US influencer Charlie Kirk will be held next Sunday, in a stadium that previously hosted the 2023 Super Bowl.

The 31-year-old, who was a close ally of Donald Trump, was fatally shot in the neck on Wednesday while speaking to university students at an event in Utah.

His appearance at Utah Valley University was part of a planned tour of US college campuses.

A memorial for Charlie Kirk at Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. Pic: Reuters
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A memorial for Charlie Kirk at Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. Pic: Reuters

Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, shortly before he was shot. Pic: AP
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Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, shortly before he was shot. Pic: AP

Turning Point USA, the prominent youth conservative organisation of which Mr Kirk was the president and co-founder, is holding the event at State Farm Stadium outside Phoenix.

The venue is the home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and can hold more than 60,000 people.

Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Washington, Utah, is being held without bail after being arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily harm and obstruction of justice charges, according to court documents.

The motivation behind the fatal shooting is still unclear, but Utah governor Spencer Cox commented that Robinson described Mr Kirk as “full of hate and spreading hate”.

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Robinson is due to make an initial court appearance on Tuesday, when he is also expected to be charged, the Utah County attorney’s office said.

Tyler Robinson. Pic: Utah Governor's Office
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Tyler Robinson. Pic: Utah Governor’s Office

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Suspect’s movements before and after shooting

President Trump, who will be back in the US after his UK state visit next week, has previously said he plans to attend Mr Kirk’s funeral.

Mr Trump has said he will be posthumously awarding Mr Kirk with the nation’s highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Mr Kirk’s body was flown back from Salt Lake City to his home state of Arizona on Air Force Two on Thursday, with the US vice president and close friend JD Vance on board.

JD Vance helps carry the coffin of Charlie Kirk from Air Force Two in Arizona
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JD Vance helps carry the coffin of Charlie Kirk from Air Force Two in Arizona

His widow, Erika Kirk, has vowed to continue his campus tour and his radio and podcast shows.

Speaking publicly for the first time in a livestreamed video on Friday, she said: “To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die.”

“It won’t. I refuse to let that happen.”

She said she told her three-year-old daughter: “Daddy went on a work trip with Jesus.”

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Charlie Kirk shooting: What bullet inscriptions mean

Read more: What the engravings on bullets in Charlie Kirk case may refer to

Mr Kirk, who was a father of two, had millions of followers across social media.

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A makeshift memorial to Mr Kirk has been set up at Utah Valley University, with flowers, American flags and handwritten messages left at the main entrance.

The university says there will be increased security when classes resume on Wednesday.

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