The decision taken by the US Supreme Court to repeal the historic Roe vs Wade law which made abortion legal in America has reverberated around the world.

For evangelical Christians, it represents a new dawn which will allow more babies to be born and see God’s will done on the earth.

For most however, it constitutes an outright attack on human rights and female empowerment, in a move which sees the state exercising control over how women use their bodies. The repeal, unthinkable a decade ago, represents the end point of a war of identity politics that has been waging for some time.

Republicans, dragged to the right by Donald Trump and his supporters, succeeded in appointing increasingly conservative judges to the highest court in the land, each with a lifetime appointment. Even the president is powerless to reverse thanks to America’s unique separation of powers between the executive and judiciary.

This culture war is also being fought here in Yorkshire. A Leeds pressure group is now calling for buffer zones around abortion clinics to end the harassment of women attending. This comes after anti-abortion groups held protests outside a clinic in Harehills with further protests planned.

While of course it is entirely correct that every citizen of the country be allowed to worship their faith in accordance with what lies in their hearts, imposing these views on those who disagree runs contrary to the spirit of all organised religions.

Every woman who ever undergoes an abortion does so after an agonizing decision making process. In these darkest of hours, they should be able to be free from tyranny and abuse at the hands of those who claim to be on God’s side.

And as for the increasing influence of identity politics, one wonders what societal progression will next come under attack.

Roe v Wade impact felt in Yorkshire as identity politics push us to extremes - The Yorkshire Post says