Americans march to protect abortion rights following near-total ban in Texas

ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore takes a look at the issue and both sides of the argument

On Saturday, thousands of Americans are set to descend on Washington with a single mission - to defend abortion rights.

There is a growing sense among women's groups that the right to a safe, legal abortion is under severe threat.

Texas has just passed a highly restrictive new law than bans abortions after just six weeks of pregnancy. Many pregnancies are often undetected at six weeks.

There are no exceptions - not even for rape or incest.

In fact, there are even bounties of up to $10,000 being offered if private citizens sue abortion providers.

That move has outraged women's health activists who believe that Republicans - many old, white and male - are enacting laws that infringe on their decision making and reproductive rights.

It's feared the law in Texas will allow more states to limit abortion rights - one campaigner explains why

There is another fear on the immediate horizon.

The Supreme Court has tilted heavily to the right in recent years. New and highly conservative Justices are in the ascendancy.

That means the landmark Roe v. Wade case of 1973 - a ruling that affirmed that women have a constitutional right to an abortion - might be fatally undermined in the coming months.

Over the past year we witnessed a searing reckoning over America's racial divide.

Now, as abortion takes centre stage as an issue in 2022, another battle is imminent - one that pitches liberal Americans against evangelical Christians.

The debate about abortion has been given added intensity by the increasingly shrill and partisan landscape here.