Supporters of legal abortion gather outside the US Supreme Court on the first day of their new term in Washington, DC., on Monday, October 4, 2021. Protesters gathered outside the high court again Monday night after a leaked opinion indicated the justices would vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
May 2 (UPI) -- Protesters gathered outside of the Supreme Court on Monday night following a report of a leaked draft opinion signaling the high court intends to overturn abortion protections ensured in Roe vs. Wade.
Demonstrators gathered outside the court chanting "abortion is healthcare" and carrying signs in opposition of the leaked opinion.
In the opinion, drafted in February and reported by Politico on Monday night, Justice Samuel Alito was joined by at least four other justices in the decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade's holding of a federal constitutional right to abortion and Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, which largely maintained that right.
"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," Alito writes in the document. "It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."
Politico said that it obtained a copy of the draft opinion from a person familiar with the court's proceedings in Dobbs vs. Jackson, a challenge to Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban. It was not immediately clear whether changes had been made to the draft since it circulated in February, as Politico noted it was not final while adding that opinions can often undergo multiple drafts and vote changes before a decision is revealed.
The opinion in the case is not expected to be published until late June.
Dafna Linzer, Politico's executive editor, wrote in an editor's note that "after an extensive review process, we are confident of the authenticity of the draft" as Politico noted that "no draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case was still pending."
"This unprecedented view into the justices' deliberations is plainly news of great public interest," she wrote.
SCOTUSblog, an independent blog written by lawyers, law professors and students about the high court, condemned the leak.
"It's impossible to overstate the earthquake this will cause inside the Court, in terms of the destruction of trust among the Justices and staff," the site's Twitter account wrote. "This leak is the gravest, most unforgivable sin."
Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson called the leaked decision "horrifying and unprecedented," adding that it "confirms our worst fears" that the Supreme Court would end the constitutional right to abortion in a statement Monday.
McGill Johnson added that Planned Parenthood had been preparing for a potential move by the high court to overturn Roe vs. Wade and is "built for the fight" but asserted that abortion remains legal in the meantime.
"Planned Parenthood health centers remain open, abortion is currently still legal and we will continue to fight like hell to protect the right to access safe, legal abortion," she said.
Lila Rose, founder and president of anti-abortion group Live Action, called for even further action to ensure that "every human being's right to life is legally protected from the moment of fertilization" in a statement emailed to UPI.
"Roe has been wrongly decided since the day it was issued. It's illogical and gravely unjust," said Rose. "A decision overruling Roe would be an important step in the right direction of acknowledging and protecting our fundamental right to life, but if this decision is issued, true justice has not yet been achieved."
The leak also prompted calls to action from members of Congress on Monday night.
"Congress must pass legislation that codifies Roe vs. Wade as the law of the land in this country NOW," Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wrote on Twitter. "And if there aren't 60 votes in the Senate to do it, and there are not, we must end the filibuster to pass it with 50 votes."
Roe vs. Wade will be overturned, purported leaked Supreme Court draft suggests
LA Times
David G. Savage - 1h ago
The Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe vs. Wade and allow states to outlaw abortion, according to purported draft opinion that was leaked to Politico.
It is highly unusual for the high court to overturn a landmark decision and equally extraordinary, or perhaps more so, for a draft opinion to leak out in advance of its final release
The Los Angeles Times could not authenticate the purported draft. Sometimes draft rulings can be revised in the final months as justices weigh in during the writing process.
According to Politico, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote a draft in February that says the abortion ruling was “egregiously wrong” and should be overturned completely.
Such an outcome would not be a surprise. Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas have made clear for years they thought Roe should be overturned. In recent years, they have been joined by three Trump appointees who agree with them: Justices Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
During the oral argument in December, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. focused on the Mississippi law and its 15-week limit on abortion, which is at the heart of the current discussion.
Roberts argued that the court should decide that issue and stop there. The tenor of his argument suggested the five conservatives on his right were leaning toward overturning Roe entirely.
Typically justices take a tentative vote on an issue in their private conference, and the majority then begins work on a draft opinion.
But the outcome is not set until all the justices have signed off, and it is not uncommon for the wording or votes in some cases to change in May or June.
In 2012, for example, it appeared there were five justices ready to strike down the Affordable Care Act, but the chief justice switched his vote and decided on a narrow way to uphold it.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Roe v. Wade: Supreme Court reportedly votes to repeal abortion law
A leaked draft opinion published by Politico suggests that a majority of Supreme Court justices have voted to overturn the ruling that legalized women's right to abortion in the US nearly fifty years ago.
Abortion has become a heated topic for controversy, with strong opinions
on both sides of the spectrum
The US Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade judgment behind closed doors, according to a draft majority opinion published by Politico news outlet.
Written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, the initial draft is his opinion and what he believes reflects the opinion of at least four other members of the top court.
It does not reflect comments or reactions from other members of the nine-member court.
In the reported draft opinion, Alito said he believes that "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start."
"It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives," the opinion reportedly adds.
What is the Roe v. Wade ruling?
Roe v. Wade is the landmark US Supreme Court judgment of 1973 that legalized women's right to abortion across the country.
It was once again upheld in a 1992 ruling, but has lately been challenged by several Republican-led state legislatures.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
rm/rt (AP, Reuters, AFP)
Roe v. Wade: 1973 case that enshrined US
abortion rights
Mon, 2 May 2022
A US Supreme Court draft opinion leaked to the press on Monday suggests a majority of justices are ready to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade, shredding nearly 50 years of constitutional protections on abortion rights.
Here is how the original 1973 court case played out.
- Right to privacy -
On January 22, 1973, the court decided that the constitutional right to privacy applied to abortion.
Roe was "Jane Roe," a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey, a single mother pregnant for the third time, who wanted an abortion.
She sued the Dallas attorney general, Henry Wade, over a Texas law that made it a crime to terminate a pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest, or when the mother's life was in danger.
Filing a complaint alongside her was Texas doctor James Hallford, who argued the law's medical provision was vague, and that he was unable to reliably determine which of his patients fell into the allowed category.
The "Does," another couple, childless, also filed a companion complaint, saying that medical risks made it unsafe but not life-threatening for the wife to carry a pregnancy to term, and arguing they should be able to obtain a safe, legal abortion should she become pregnant.
The trifecta of complaints -- from a woman who wanted an abortion, a doctor who wanted to perform them and a non-pregnant woman who wanted the right if the need arose -- ultimately reached the nation's top court.
The court heard arguments twice, and then waited until after Republican president Richard Nixon's re-election, in November 1972.
- 'Sensitive and emotional' controversy -
Only the following January did it offer its historic seven-to-two decision -- overturning the Texas laws and setting a legal precedent that has had ramifications in all 50 states.
Justice Harry Blackmun, writing for the majority, said the court recognized 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.
But the top court agreed with lower court rulings that the right to privacy with regard to pregnancy "is not absolute, and is subject to some limitations."
"At some point, the state interests as to protection of health, medical standards and prenatal life become dominant," Blackmun wrote.
The top court thus ruled partially against the doctor and the Does, but in favor of Jane Roe, who has since become a pro-life activist.
On the same day, the justices ruled in the separate "Doe v. Bolton" case, which authorized each state to add restrictions to abortion rights for later-term pregnancies.
The constitutional right to abortion was later confirmed in a number of decisions, including "Webster v. Reproductive Health Services" in 1989, "Planned Parenthood v. Casey" in 1992 and Stenberg v. Carhart" in 2000.
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