WHO worried by global impact of US abortion ruling

GENEVA: The World Health Organisation warned on Wednesday that the US Supreme Court’s ruling ending the nationwide right to abortion risked having a detrimental impact far beyond the US. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the decision by the top US court to scrap half a century of constitutional protections for abortion rights as "a setback".

Conservative-led US states have moved swiftly, at least eight of them imposing immediate bans on abortion -- many with exceptions only if a woman’s life is in danger. A similar number is expected to follow suit within weeks.

Speaking to reporters from the UN health agency’s headquarters in Geneva, Tedros voiced alarm that a country as influential as the United States would move "many years backwards" on the issue.