A draft opinion of the Supreme Court has leaked, showing it has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. President Biden weighs in, and what happens to abortion rights if the federal law is repealed?
Leak shows Supreme Court has voted to repeal abortion rights
An initial draft of the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito shows the Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark 1973 decision, which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights, according to documents obtained by Politico.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito wrote, referring to the Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal at the federal level, as well as a subsequent 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – that largely maintained the right.
The 1973 Roe v. Wade court decision affirmed the right to receive an abortion under the 14th Amendment. According to CNN, the court affirmed the constitutional protection for abortions until approximately 23 weeks, when a fetus typically can survive outside the womb.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito wrote in the document labeled ‘opinion of the court.’
“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Alito added.
What happens if federal abortion protection repealed?
If the Supreme Court repeals its decision on Roe v. Wade, abortion rights would defer back to the individual states.
According to an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, 23 states have laws that aim to limit abortion access.
Among these, 13 states have so-called “trigger bans” already in place, which means that abortion would automatically be banned if Roe v. Wade is no longer in effect. These states include North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
President Biden says abortion rights “fundamental”
After the leak became public on Monday night, President Joe Biden weighed in on the matter on Tuesday morning, Fox reported.
“We do not know whether this draft is genuine, or whether it reflects the final decision of the Court,” President Biden said. “With that critical caveat, I want to be clear on three points about the cases before the Supreme Court.”
“First, my administration argued strongly before the Court in defense of Roe v. Wade,” Biden continued. “We said that Roe is based on ‘a long line of precedent recognizing ‘the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty’… against government interference with intensely personal decisions.'”
“I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned,” Biden added. “I directed my Gender Policy Council and White House Counsel’s Office to prepare options for an Administration response to the continued attack on abortion and reproductive rights, under a variety of possible outcomes in the cases pending before the Supreme Court.”
“We will be ready when any ruling is issued,” Biden declared.
