The US Supreme Court could strike down the country’s abortion rights, according to a leaked draft high court ruling that, if left unaltered, would transform the landscape of reproductive health for women in the United States after nearly half a century of conflict. be endorsed by the Constitution, although President Joe Biden assured that his Government is preparing a “response” to guarantee its defense.
This is a document that was distributed at the beginning of February and that does not necessarily represent the final opinion of the highest courtreported the Politico news site, the medium that had access to the opinion, whose authenticity was confirmed by the President of the Court, John Roberts, in a statement.
“Although the document described in the reports is authentic, it does not represent a decision of the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case,” said the judge, who specified that the case is “pending” and such drafts are part of the “routine and essential confidential deliberative work” of the court.
Roberts considered that this “betrayal of the confidences of the Court” will not succeed in undermining his integrity and his work. and announced that he requested an investigation to determine the origin of the leak, according to CNN. “This was a unique and egregious violation of that trust which is an affront to the Court and to the community of public servants who work here,” she said.
The draft text cites the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision enshrining the right to abortion as “appallingly wrong from the start.”
“We hold that Roe and Casey should be set aside,” Judge Samuel Alito writes in the document, labeled “opinion of the court.”
“It’s time to heed the Constitution and return the abortion issue to the elected representatives of the people,” Add. In Roe v. Wade, the country’s Supreme Court held that access to abortion is a woman’s constitutional right.
In a 1992 judgment, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Court guaranteed the woman’s right to abort until the fetus is viable outside the womb, which usually occurs between 22 and 24 weeks of gestation.
“The inescapable conclusion is that the right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the history and traditions of the nation,” Alito wrote, according to the AFP news agency.
After learning of the leak of the document, Biden indicated this Tuesday in a statement that his government will be “ready when any ruling is issued” and recalled that “firmly argued before the Court the defense” of the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (IVE).
“A woman’s right to choose is fundamental and Roe v. Wade has been in place for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned,” she said.
Although he promised to work to pass legislation in Congress that would codify the abortion ruling, Biden said it will be up to “elected officials” to protect women’s right to choose and, therefore, “it will fall to the voters to choose the officials in favor of the right to decide” in the next legislative elections in November.
Later, in statements to the press, the president went a step further and warned that if the Supreme Court decides to annul its ruling on the IVE, it would open the door to change rulings on a “whole range” of issues that affect life. deprived of the people.
“A whole range of rights are in doubt”Biden said, warning of a “fundamental change” to currently accepted positions on gay marriage, having children or abortions, and parenting.
Reproductive rights have come under increasing threat in the United States in recent months, with states mobilized to tighten restrictions. Right-wing politicians have launched an attack on abortion, while Democrats, led by Biden, are fighting to protect access to the procedure.
In December, hearing oral arguments on a law in the southern state of Mississippi that could ban most abortions after the 15th weekthe conservative majority on the Supreme Court seemed inclined not only to uphold the state rule, but to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision.
It is expected that this nine-member body, dominated by conservatives following former President Donald Trump’s nomination of three justices, issue a decision in the Mississippi case by June.
Politico stressed that the document he obtained is a draft and that opinions could change until then. Text filtering is extraordinary while a case is still being decided. Politico said it was the first time in modern history that a draft opinion had been publicly revealed.
The Guttmacher Institute, a research group that advocates for abortion rights, has said that it is “certain or likely” that 26 states will ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned. States that do so could still legally allow abortion even if the court overturns Roe v. Wade.
Planned Parenthood, the largest US provider of reproductive health services, called the draft opinion “outrageous” but cautioned that it is “not definitive.”
“Planned Parenthood health centers remain open and abortion is still legal today, and we will continue to fight like never before to protect the right to legal and safe abortion.”they manifested.
But if the highest court does strike down the case law that founded abortion rights in the United States since the 1970s, “it will be up to our nation’s elected officials at every level of government to protect a woman’s right to choose. And it will fall to voters to elect pro-choice officials this November,” the president said in reference to the upcoming legislative elections.
“At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt a law” that guarantees the right to abortion if the Supreme Court overturns it, he said.
“Roe vs. Wade”
On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court established in its landmark “Roe v. Wade” decision that the constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy applied to abortion.
In a lawsuit filed three years earlier in a Texas court, Jane Roe, pseudonym for Norma McCorvey, a single mother pregnant for the third time, attacked the constitutionality of Texas law that made abortion a crime.
The highest jurisdiction in the country took up the issue months later due to an appeal by Jane Roe against the Dallas prosecutor, Henry Wade, but also by another from a doctor and that of a couple without children who wanted to be able to practice or undergo a voluntary interruption of pregnancy legally.
After having listened to the parties on two occasions, the Supreme Court waited for the presidential elections of November 1972 and the re-election of Republican Richard Nixon to issue its decision, taken by seven votes to two.
