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- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
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- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
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- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
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- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
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'Always had hope': US anti-abortion activist eyes historic win
Madelyn Ocasio can hardly believe the good news. At 66, the anti-abortion activist from the outskirts of Miami hopes her dream of seeing the US Supreme Court roll back half a century of abortion rights is finally about to come true.
Like her, opponents of abortion across the country are eyeing a historic win after a leaked draft ruling indicated the court is likely poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, the ruling that enshrined abortion rights nationwide in 1973.
"We felt in our hearts that Roe would be overturned this year," said Ocasio, who works with the national anti-abortion group Sidewalk Advocates for Life.
"I have always had hope, but I have more hope now," she told AFP from the garden of her house in Coral Gables on the edge of Miami, in front of banners that read "Abortion hurts women" and "Abortion kills children."
"And I do hope that all the protests do not deter the justices," she added, anticipating a huge backlash against the Supreme Court.
"Life begins at conception, and it is not a woman's right" to terminate a pregnancy, Ocasio said.
Now, like other Florida activists, she wants officials in the southern US state, led by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, to ban elective abortions very soon.
"In our state, they passed the law to ban abortion after 15 weeks (of pregnancy), but I feel it's not enough," she said. "We should have stronger laws in Florida to ban abortion completely."
If the Supreme Court does overturns Roe v. Wade, abortion laws instantly would be left up to individual US state legislatures, with as many as half expected to enact bans or new restrictions.
For many women, the potential loss of abortion rights across swaths of the United States raises the prospect of being forced to travel hundreds of miles for the procedure or giving birth in traumatic circumstances.
In that context, what happens in Florida will be closely followed in the rest of the country. Not only is it considered a melting pot of cultures, it is also a swing state, a highly contested electoral battlefield between Republicans and Democrats.
- 'Time for action' -
The leak of the draft opinion from within the Supreme Court ignited a firestorm in the country, with abortion rights activists and Democratic politicians, including President Joe Biden, rushing to denounce it.
But in Florida the battles lines were being drawn as well: as Biden urged supporters to rally to the polls to defend women's right to a safe abortion, the state's Republican senator Rick Scott hit out at Democrats and called for toughening abortion laws.
"Every life is precious & should be protected. Today's Democrat Party refuses to accept that," he said.
Echoing that message, the anti-abortion organization Florida Voice for the Unborn urged DeSantis to act quickly, upon news of the likely Supreme Court decision.
In a letter sent Tuesday to the governor, the association urged him to work on "legislation that will prohibit all abortions within Florida, except in very rare circumstances when a mother's life is in danger."
"The time for action is NOW! Governor DeSantis must act to save Florida's unborn children," said the letter seen by AFP.
Ferreira--PC