It could be described as one of the biggest leaks in American history.
American media company Politico on 2 May reported that the United States Supreme Court has privately voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that has guaranteed the right to abortion for nearly 50 years, according to a leaked draft opinion.
According to Politico, the draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito Jr states that a majority of the court voted to overturn Roe v Wade.
The document labelled ‘Opinion of the Court’ reads, “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” and that “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
It is important to note that deliberations on controversial cases have been fluid in the past. Justices can and sometimes do change their votes, reports Politico. The court’s holding will not be final until it is published, likely in the next two months.
The immediate impact of striking down this historic legislation would be to end almost 50 years of protection of abortion rights and allow each state to decide on the matter of abortion.
Let’s take a closer look at what the Roe v Wade ruling meant and what the striking down of this legislation will mean for America.
Roe v Wade case
The right to an abortion in America comes from the historic Roe v. Wade ruling.
In 1970, Norma McCorvey, a Texas mother of two children, became pregnant with a third. She wanted an abortion but the state's laws denied access to the procedure unless the mother’s life was in danger, so McCorvey launched a legal challenge. She was given the pseudonym ‘Jane Roe’ to protect her identity but later went public. Henry Wade, the opposing Texas attorney-general, also gave his name to the case.
And thus the case was born.
The case kept dragging on and in 1972 it reached the United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the country.
On 22 January 1973, the court in a 7-2 majority decided that the constitutional right to privacy applied to abortion.
They said that while America’s Constitution made no mention of abortion, the right to privacy was implied and that should extend to a person’s reproductive decisions.
Justice Harry Blackmun, writing for the majority, said the court recognised the “sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the vigorous opposing views, even among physicians, and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the subject inspires.”
But he argued that the “right of privacy... is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”
“A state criminal abortion statute of the current Texas type, that excepts from criminality only a lifesaving procedure on behalf of the mother, without regard to pregnancy stage and without recognition of the other interests involved, is violative of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the ruling read.
However, the ruling wasn’t absolute and did leave some wiggle room for states.
“We ... conclude that the right of personal privacy includes the abortion decision, but that this right is not unqualified and must be considered against important state interests in regulation,” Justice Harry A Blackmun wrote.
This qualification to his ruling meant that abortion access in the US varied from state to state.
Impact of Roe v Wade ruling
The US Supreme Court’s ruling legalised abortion in the United States, which was not legal at all in many states and was limited by law in others.
The Roe v Wade decision invalidated all state laws limiting women’s access to abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy.
While the ruling was celebrated by pro-choice believers, it also spurred the debate on choice vs life. Conservatives opined that life began at the point of conception and that abortion was tantamount to murder.
US in a post Roe v Wade world
Now, that news has broken that the US Supreme Court is in favour of striking down the Roe v Wade, the landmark decision, there are concerns of the future of women in the United States.
“If the report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past fifty years — not just on women but on all Americans,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement.
“The Republican-appointed Justices’ reported votes to overturn Roe v Wade would go down as an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history.”
If the US Supreme Court does go ahead and, in fact, strike down the ruling, it would mean that individual states would decide whether and when abortions would be legal.
A New York Times report said that 24 states would ban abortion if they are allowed. Those states are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
It has also been reported that without the Roe v Wade ruling, abortions would reduce in the country — some state that it would fall by over 14 per cent.
Many experts and feminists are also of the opinion that striking down Roe v Wade would put women at risk, especially from low-income groups. Their reasoning is that women will turn to coat hangers, chemicals, unskilled abortion providers and other dangerous methods.
Also with doing away with the ruling, US would join a very small group of countries that has tightened abortion laws in recent years, as opposed to loosening them, as per the New York Times.
The American newspaper reports that just three countries have done so since 1994: Poland, El Salvador and Nicaragua. In that period, 59 countries have expanded access.
With inputs from agencies
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