Duchess takes fight for rights to Washington

Women endangered by abortion ruling, says Meghan Markle as she joins push for equality

THE Duchess of Sussex has pledged to take her fight for equal rights to Washington DC, as she condemns the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe v Wade precedent on abortion.

She joined feminist campaigner Gloria Steinham yesterday to publicly criticise the decision as endangering women, warning of a “blueprint for reversing rights”. The mother-of-two described her reaction to the ruling as “guttural”, with the “feminist” Prince Harry equally despairing.

She said it was now essential for a constitutional protection enshrining equal rights to be “pushed through”.

The Duchess’ intervention came as US pharmacies revealed they have started rationing the morning-after pill as America reels from last week’s move by justices to overrule the 1973 decision.

Individual states can now decide their own laws, and around half are expected to ban or severely restrict abortion. President Joe Biden is under mounting pressure from Democrats to take executive action to protect access to abortion as protests sweep the country – but his powers are limited.

The Duchess, in conversation with Ms Steinem for Vogue magazine, said: “Well, Gloria, maybe it seems as though you and I will be taking a trip to DC together soon.”

The pair are campaigning for the Equal Rights Amendment, which would explicitly enshrine the rights laid out for men in the constitution to women.

“It is completely nonsensical that that’s even something we’re still fighting for,” the Duchess said.

Asked whether she felt the court decision was a “canary-in-the-coalmine moment”, she said “absolutely”, warning it “feels like the tip of the iceberg” for the future of “same-sex marriage, contraception access, and many fundamental rights to privacy”.

“We have to channel that fear into action,” she said.

The Duchess warned a ban on abortion was already compromising women’s health, claiming: “It tells us that our physical safety doesn’t matter, and as a result that we don’t matter. But we do. Women matter.”

The pharmaceutical chains, CVS and Rite Aid, announced yesterday that they would limit sales of the morning-after pill to three boxes per customer in an effort to avoid a shortage.

Amazon.com also placed a temporary purchase limit of three units per week. CVS said it had “ample supply” of the Plan B and aftera products, but was acting as demand increased. Walgreens, a major US chain, said it had no plans “at this time” to restrict sales.

There was a rise in demand for overthe-counter morning-after pills, with one producer saying demand surged by 600 per cent in 24 hours.

In a separate opinion to the rest of the court, Justice Thomas suggested the decades-old legal precedent establishing the right to use contraception should be reconsidered.

Hillary Clinton, who went to law college with Justice Thomas, said: “I think our country’s really on the precipice.”