America’s Roe v Wade abortion law could be overturned
Leaked US Supreme Court documents revealing that the Roe v Wade abortion law is set to be overturned have sparked outcry across the US - prompting protests and widespread debate online - and made headlines around the world.
The documents, first published by Politico and shared in their entirety, contain a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that rejects two significant decisions for abortion rights: 1973’s Roe v Wade and the subsequent Planned Parenthood v Casey.
Roe v Wade allowed women the right to access abortions during the first two trimesters, with restrictions in the second trimester. In 1992, Planned Parenthood v Casey replaced the trimester framework with restrictions depending on whether the foetus could survive outside the womb.
Thousands out in #FoleySquare.#AbortionIsHealthcare #BansOffOurBodies #RoeVWade #abortionrights pic.twitter.com/4JS3vQ3nhp
— Melissa Bender (@mbendernyc) May 3, 2022
In the leaked documents, Justice Alito wrote that Roe v Wade “was egregiously wrong from the start”.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he wrote in a document labelled as the ‘Opinion of the Court’.
“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
Where previous arguments to overturn the decision have stemmed from the rights of the foetus, Justice Alito reasoned that it has no ties to the US Constitution, which makes no reference to abortion rights specifically.
“Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Consitution does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” he wrote, noting that the right to an abortion isn’t “implicitly protected by any constitutional provision”.
As a result, some experts are concerned that this reasoning could also see the right to contraception be targeted next, according to Forbes.
Jamie Raskin, a constitutional scholar and Congressman, explained to the Rachel Maddow Show that Roe is based on an earlier case, Griswold v Connecticut, which struck down a law banning birth control and that overturning Roe and Casey could result in Griswold falling too.
“We know there is a right-wing war on contraception now, but if Casey is to fall, if Roe v Wade is to fall, then Griswold v Connecticut, presumably, is to fall as well, because the word ‘contraception’ or ‘birth control’ doesn’t appear in the Constitution,” Mr Raskin said.
Aside from affecting family life, restricting access to birth control also has repercussions on women’s careers and salaries. Harvard economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz have pointed out that access to contraception and abortions prompted the increase in women who were ‘high-powered professionals’ since the 1970s.
Another study found that women with access to legal contraception earned 11 percent more by year by the time they turn 40, with the study authors suggesting that women can choose to delay having children and invest more in their education and occupation.
Current and former leaders have since weighed in on the documents, with President Joe Biden arguing “basic fairness” demands the Supreme Court not overturn the decision, per TIME.
Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker for the House of Representatives, described the potential decision as an “abomination”, as reported by The Guardian.
“If the report is accurate, the supreme court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past 50 years - not just on women but on all Americans,” she said.
“The Republican-appointed judges’ reported votes to overturn Roe v Wade would go down as an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history.”
Though the Supreme Court has confirmed that the leaked documents are authentic, a court statement has emphasised that the draft isn’t the judge’s final word and could change according to the ABC.
Chief Justice John Roberts has also said he has ordered an investigation into the situation, which he called an “egregious breach of trust”.
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