Source: Alex Wong / Getty
A leaked opinion draft by the Supreme Court has apparently shown that they have made the decision to officially overturn Roe V. Wade, effectively leading to the severe restriction and banning of abortion in the United States.
In a stunning development, a leaked draft majority opinion written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito published on Monday night (May 2nd) shows that the conservative-dominated Supreme Court will overturn the decision in the historic 49-year-old Roe V. Wade case, upending years of federal protection for women’s reproductive rights in the nation. The opinion, if it stands by the end of the SCOTUS term in June would also overturn the decision in Planned Parenthood V. Casey. In the draft which was apparently published in February, Alito claims that “a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.” He also writes that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start” and also disparages the decision in Planned Parenthood V. Casey which supported Roe V. Wade as precedent in 1992. Justice Alito also bizarrely cited a dissenting opinion in another case from Justice Clarence Thomas from 2019 in the opinion, writing that abortion rights advocates were “motivated by a desire to suppress the size of the African American population,” before seeming to back away from that sentiment further in the draft.
The 98-page opinion is usually written by the senior justice on the winning side of a majority vote if the chief justice is among the dissenters, which has led to speculation that Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the dissenting minority although initial reporting has stated that “how Chief Justice John Roberts will ultimately vote, and whether he will join an already written opinion or draft his own, is unclear.” If this opinion becomes official, many observers note that bans and restrictions on abortions would immediately go into effect in 22 of the 50 states in the country and harm millions. It would be seen as a major win for the evangelical right-wing in the nation, who have been working to see this outcome for decades.
President Joe Biden issued a statement on Tuesday morning on the situation saying, “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.”
News of the SCOTUS draft opinion leak, which itself is unprecedented, has led to outrage on and offline, with politicians such as Congresswoman Ayanna Presley calling for an immediate federal solution to protect abortion and women’s reproductive rights.
Tagged: Abortion, Current Events, entertainment blog, music blog, Newsletter, scotus