The abortion earthquake follows Biden to Europe

But after the Supreme Court ruled Friday that access to abortion is, after half a century, no longer a constitutional right, many of America’s closest friends publicly deplored the decision — enough to cast a shadow on President Biden’s trip to the Group of Seven summit in Germany.

Other countries have domestic politics, too. And some of the reaction probably stemmed from the fact that, while some allies had more restrictions on abortion than America pre-Dobbs, on balance the world has been moving toward liberalizing access, not imposing new limits. There is no comparable political shift on guns in, say, Britain, France, or Germany.

• That’s why so many leaders worried about the message the world would get from the ruling. Over the past three decades, partly inspired by the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision, at least 59 countries have made it easier to get an abortion, according to Foreign Policy.

Conservatives who cheered the decision as a moral triumph probably see it as a message, too. Just not the one foreign leaders appear to have heard.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the first Catholic to hold that position, called it “a big step backwards” and declared “clearly it has massive impacts on people’s thinking around the world. It’s a very important decision.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted the ruling was “horrific.”

He also declared “the judgment coming out of the United States is an attack on women’s freedom and quite frankly it’s an attack on everyone’s freedoms and rights.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said “Abortion is a fundamental right for all women. It must be protected.” In the ruling’s aftermath, France appears headed toward formally making access to abortion a constitutional right, according to Agence France-Presse.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo deplored “the signal it sends to the world” and vowed Brussels “will continue to work with other countries to advance #SRHR everywhere,” using the acronym for sexual reproductive health and rights.

Another factor in the reaction was probably that, however much allies might prefer to be working with “America-Is-Back” Biden than with his mercurial “America First” predecessor, the ruling was a potent reminder of the lasting political influence of former president Donald Trump. After all, he nominated three of the justices in the majority on Friday’s ruling.

And with Republicans expected to take control of Congress after November’s midterm elections, and Trump himself, or a politician molded in his image, running for president in 2024 and possibly winning, allies might have some cause(s) for concern. 

• My colleagues Ashley Parker and Matt Viser captured the mood in Europe as Biden opened his trip: “On a range of issues, from gun control to abortion rights to the Jan. 6 insurrection, American popular opinion is at odds with a political system that appears to be giving significant weight to a vocal minority, and that has not escaped the notice of the country’s democratic allies.”

Meanwhile, Germany’s parliament just “voted to strike down a Nazi-era law saying that doctors who advertise abortions, or provide information on them, could face up to two years in prison or a fine.”

“Still, abortion remains technically illegal in Germany. But penalties are not enforced if the pregnancy poses a risk to health, was a result of a sexual crime, or if the procedure is carried out during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy after mandatory counseling.”

“It is an unaccustomed role for the United States, which takes pride in holding itself out as a pinnacle of democracy and human rights and rarely hesitates to condemn other countries for their failings in those areas. Trump had little interest in playing that role on the global stage, and Biden has been at great pains to restore it.”

Not that Biden’s record on this is flawless.

G-7 leaders seek price cap on Russian oil to ‘starve’ Putin’s war effort

“President Biden and his Group of Seven counterparts plan to unveil additional economic measures Monday to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war in Ukraine — including an effort to set a global price cap for Russian oil shipments,” Ashley Parker and Matt Viser report.

Supreme Court sides with ex-high school football let go after praying with players at midfield

“The Supreme Court on Monday ruled for a former high school football coach who lost his job after leading postgame prayers at midfield, in the court’s latest decision favoring the public exercise of faith over concerns about government endorsement of religion,” Robert Barnes reports.

“Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote for fellow conservatives in the 6 to 3 decision, saying Joseph Kennedy’s prayers are protected by the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech and free religious exercise and the school district’s actions were not warranted under a concern of violating the separation of church and state.”

Majorities of Americans oppose abortion decision, say it was political

“Majorities of Americans oppose the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade and think it was politically motivated, according to a NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll released Monday,” John Wagner and Mariana Alfaro report for Post Politics Now.

“The poll finds that Americans opposed the decision by 56 percent to 40 percent. Views diverge sharply by party, with almost 9 in 10 Democrats opposing the decision and three-quarters of Republicans supporting it.”

Zelensky tells G7 leaders he wants war over by end of the year

“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told G7 leaders during a virtual meeting Monday that he wants the war in Ukraine to end by the end of 2022, according to a source familiar with his remarks, as leaders worked to starve Russia of its oil revenues and mitigate the economic fallout of the conflict,” CNN‘s Kevin Liptak reports.

“A top adviser to President Joe Biden said Zelensky was focused on regaining momentum in Ukraine over the coming months – and not years – when he spoke to leaders.”

Lunchtime reads from The Post

With violent rhetoric and election denial, podcaster becomes GOP force

“[Joe] Oltmann, a businessman who gained a national profile on the far right after he claimed he had personal knowledge that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, is hardly a fringe figure. He now leads an influential and growing political movement in Colorado that is shaking up the state Republican Party,” Rosalind S. Helderman reports.

“Oltmann’s political organization — FEC United, standing for ‘Faith, Education and Commerce’ — is less than two years old, but it has been advocating for candidates up and down the Colorado ballot, from key statewide positions to obscure county jobs.”

With clock ticking, battle over tech regulation intensifies

“Friends and foes alike of the landmark legislation, two bills that seek to rein in the business practices of the country’s largest tech companies, have their eyes on Schumer, who will decide whether the legislation will make it to the Senate floor for a vote,” Cat Zakrzewski, Will Oremus, Gerrit De Vynck and Cristiano Lima report.

“In recent days, it’s not just proponents of the bills who have sought to sway Schumer. The leaders of Google and Amazon have personally called the Senate majority leader…It’s a wonky yet momentous political battle that has united an unlikely alliance of would-be trustbusters from left and right against some of the wealthiest corporations in world history. With time running out for this Congress to pass them, those corporations are putting up the political fight of their lives.”

Roe’s gone. Now antiabortion lawmakers want more.

“Democrat-led states are scrambling to enshrine protections for abortion, and President Biden has pledged to do everything in his power ‘to protect a woman’s right in states where they will face the consequences.’ But Biden has also ruled out the more extreme remedies, such as expanding the Supreme Court, and key Democrats remain opposed to eliminating the Senate filibuster to protect abortion rights,” Caroline Kitchener reports.

“Given those limited options in a post-Roe America, antiabortion lawmakers are pushing to pass more restrictive abortion bans in their states.”

The Supreme Court has chipped away at the Voting Rights Act for 9 years. This case could be the next blow.

“The redistricting cycle preceding this year’s elections was the first in 50 years to take place without ‘preclearance’ requirements under the law — a pillar of the Voting Rights Act as originally written, in which states with histories of discriminatory voting practices had to have new election laws or practices reviewed by a federal court or the Department of Justice. Chief Justice John Roberts ruled for a divided Supreme Court nine years ago, in Shelby County v. Holder, to strike down the part of the VRA that determined which states and counties were subject to preclearance,” Politico‘s Zach Montellaro reports.

“Now, a still-more conservative Court will hear arguments in the fall about Alabama’s redistricting, in a case targeting the other central piece of the Voting Rights Act: Section 2, which prohibits voting practices and procedures that discriminate on the basis of race. The result of the case could make it more difficult for minority communities to claim new election laws are discriminatory — and raise the bar for what has to happen to get relief from the courts.”

Not-so-emergency aid: Billions in funding to avert mass hunger still waiting to be spent

“Senators of both parties are growing frustrated over the Biden administration’s delay in delivering global food aid funding from the Ukraine aid bill Congress passed this spring — and are privately venting their frustrations to administration officials,” Politico’s Meredith Lee reports.

Biden, other critics fear Thomas’s ‘extreme’ position on contraception

“In an address to the nation, President Biden denounced Thomas’s explicit focus on the right of couples to make their own choices on contraception — ‘a married couple in the privacy of their bedroom, for God’s sake,’” Meryl Kornfield, Timothy Bella and Amy B Wang report.

How The Post’s readers feel about Roe being overturned, visualized

“In the hours that followed the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned the fundamental right to an abortion established by Roe v. Wade nearly 50 years ago, Washington Post readers responded in droves to a callout asking how they felt — and why,” Leslie Shapiro and N. Kirkpatrick write.

“More than 23,000 people responded. The chorus of voices celebrated and decried the outcome, making it clear that abortion remains a deeply polarizing issue. The responses The Washington Post received are based on readership and not a statistical reflection of the nation’s mood overall.”

Democrats seize on abortion ruling in midterms as Republicans tread carefully

“Led by President Biden, who declared Friday that ‘Roe is on the ballot’ and ‘personal freedoms are on the ballot,’ Democrats on the front lines of the fight to keep the party’s slim congressional majorities have cast their campaigns as key parts of a larger battle to restore abortion rights and prevent the rollback of other liberties. Democratic candidates for governor, attorney general and offices at the state level, where abortion laws will now be fully determined, pledged to put the issue at the forefront of their campaigns,” Annie Linskey and Colby Itkowitz report.

The Supreme Court reclaims its legitimacy

“Dobbs imposes no policy. It simply states that abortion is not among those individual rights protected by the federal Constitution. The result is that this contentious issue has been returned to the state legislatures, which had primary responsibility for setting abortion policy until the court imposed its own views on the country in 1973,” David B. Rivkin Jr. and  Jennifer L. Mascott write for the Wall Street Journal.

“It was at that time, and not today, that the justices overstepped their boundaries and ensured that the court would become the focus of political contention for half a century. Dobbs belatedly corrects that error by recognizing that the federal judiciary’s constitutional role is merely to decide cases and controversies, based upon the established tenets of law grounded in the Constitution, federal statutes and common law. Policy decisions properly belong to the elected branches of federal and state government.”

The president does not have any public events scheduled this afternoon. 

Vivek Murthy wants to fix our mental health crisis. But how much can he do?

“America has a mental health crisis, and Vivek Murthy wants to talk about it,” Roxanne Roberts writes.

“When he was first named surgeon general in 2014, he traveled the country for a listening tour to learn how he could help. The ‘Nation’s Doctor’ heard about addiction, obesity, cancer and heart disease — and, to his surprise, loneliness.”

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.