Anti-abortion activists and abortion-rights supporters took to the streets of Washington, DC after news broke that the US Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade in 1973 that legalized abortion.
An initial leaked draft majority opinion suggests the court voted to overturn Roe v. wade, reported politician Monday.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft opinion. The Supreme Court and the White House declined to comment.
Within hours of the news, anti-abortion activists chanting “hey, hey, ho, ho, Roe v. Wade has got to go” and abortion rights advocates chanting “abortion is health care” were clashing. Outside court.
Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in American politics and has been for nearly half a century.
A 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 59 percent of American adults believed it should be legal in all or most cases, while 39 percent thought it should be illegal in most. or in all cases.
“Roe was terribly wrong from the start,” conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the draft opinion, which is dated February 10, according to Politico, which published a copy.
Based on Alito’s opinion, the court would find that the Roe v. Wade that allowed abortions to be performed before the fetus was viable outside the womb (between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy) was decided incorrectly because the US Constitution makes no specific mention of abortion rights.
“Abortion presents a profound moral issue. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” Alito said, according to the leaked document.
Supreme Court justices can, and sometimes do, change their votes after the initial vote. A judgment is only final when it is published by the court.
‘A complete disgrace,’ says Hillary Clinton
Protester Annie McDonnell, 19, a George Washington University student, said: “The first line of the draft is that this is a moral issue. If it’s a moral issue, it shouldn’t deprive us of our choice.”
“Judges get out of my vagina,” said a protest poster.
The unprecedented leak sent shock waves across the United States.
“This decision is a direct attack on the dignity, rights and lives of women, not to mention decades of established laws. It will kill and subjugate women even when the vast majority of Americans think abortion should be legal. What utter shame.” “said former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The ruling would be the court’s broadest since former President Donald Trump managed to appoint three justices to the court, consolidating a 6-3 conservative majority.
“The reported votes of the Republican-appointed justices to overturn Roe v. Wade would be considered an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history,” said US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. both Democrats.
The news broke just over six months before the midterm elections that will determine whether Democrats maintain their slim majorities in the US Congress for the next two years of President Joe Biden’s term.
“Congress must pass legislation that codifies Roe v. Wade as the law of the land in this country RIGHT NOW,” said Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The decision would leave abortion in the hands of the states
The decision Roe v. Wade recognized that the right to personal privacy under the US Constitution protects a woman’s ability to terminate her own pregnancy.
Christian conservatives and many Republican officials have long tried to unseat him.
If Roe is overturned, abortion is likely to remain legal in liberal states. More than a dozen states have laws that protect the right to abortion. Numerous Republican-led states have passed various abortion restrictions in defiance of the Roe precedent in recent years.
The draft decision appeared to be based on an oral argument in December over Mississippi’s attempt to revive its ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a law blocked by lower courts.
Politico’s report said the court’s majority was leaning to uphold Mississippi’s abortion ban and there could be five votes to overturn Roe. An official ruling is expected before the end of June.
Four of the other Republican-appointed justices, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, voted with Alito at the justices’ conference, he added.
After an initial vote among the justices following oral argument, one is assigned the majority opinion and a draft is written. It is then distributed among the judges.
Sometimes, between the initial vote and the bug posting, the voting lineup can change.
Reference-www.cbc.ca