A decision by the US Supreme Court to de facto bury the right to abortion will have a disproportionate impact on minorities, UN experts warned on Tuesday, AFP reported.

Protest in the US after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortionPhoto: Amy Katz / Zuma Press / Profimedia Images

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) said it was “deeply concerned” by the Supreme Court’s June 24 decision to overturn a decision that guaranteed American women the right to an abortion for nearly half a century and allowed several states to ban abortion.

The 18-member committee is responsible for periodically monitoring the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which the United States ratified in 1994, by member states.

After assessing the situation in the US during public hearings on August 11 and 12 in Geneva, the commission published its findings on Tuesday. It highlights the “highly disparate impact” of repealing abortion rights “on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of racial and ethnic minorities.”

“This decision is very unfortunate,” South African expert Faith Dikeledi Pencey Tlakula told a press conference.

She called on the US government to eliminate this “disparate impact (…) on racial minorities, indigenous women, and low-income people.”

Washington should also “take steps to reduce the risk of prosecution” for women seeking abortions and those who help them do so, she added.

It was the first estimate of the US record since 2014.

In the report, they listed issues of concern such as racial profiling, excessive police violence, and unequal access to education, housing, and a healthy environment.

During the hearings at the beginning of August in Geneva, experts touched on the issue of reparations for the first time.

Human rights activists believe that the legacy of slavery and the subsequent periods of exploitation, segregation and violence continue to manifest in health, education and housing policies.

In its report, CERD said it was “concerned that the enduring legacy of colonialism and slavery continues to fuel racism and racial discrimination.”

Experts called on Washington to create a “commission to study and develop proposals for reparations for African Americans.”

The US authorities have expressed their readiness to study this issue, without announcing the terms, experts told journalists.