Roe v. Wade: US Supreme Court may overturn abortion rights
Millions of women across the US could soon lose their legal right to abortion, according to a leaked Supreme Court opinion by judge Alito. The document, published by Politico, suggests the country’s top court is poised to overturn the 1973 decision that legalised abortion nationwide.
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The unusual leak of the draft of a Supreme Court ruling that would annul legal abortion at the national level unleashed an unexpected political storm in the United States.
The document, revealed by the Political Portal, a digital media based in Washington, was written last February and displays, in its 98 pages, an argumentative rejection of the historic sentence “Roe vs. Wade” which, in 1973, guaranteed women’s right to legal termination of pregnancy throughout the country, holding that that ruling was “terribly wrong from the outset” and should be overturned.
In the brief, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, Samuel Alito, argues that “the Constitution does not refer to abortion” and that “it is time to pay attention to the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the representatives of the people”.
Astonished at the leak and ordering an urgent investigation, the head of the highest court, John Roberts, confirmed the authenticity of the draft, although he clarified that it does not represent a decision taken nor the final position of the judges of the body.
The United States Court is composed of 9 magistrates, the president and eight associate judges, who are appointed by the incumbent head of state and ratified by the majority of the Senate. The office is for life and they can only be removed by Congress in a process of “impeachment” similar to the one necessary to remove the first president.
According to judicial sources, the draft ruling in favor of the annulment of legal abortion would have the support of 5 of the judges of the Republican Majority Court and the rejection of the remaining 3. The president, Roberts, conservative and Catholic, has not yet spoken.
The final judgement is expected in late June or early July. If the document results in the revocation of the judgment Roe vs Wade, the Court will delegate to each State the power to allow or prohibit the voluntary interruption of the pregnancy, taking the scenario back to the one in force before the historic judgment of 1973. Abortion will then be legal only in those states that allow it, fracturing the country. Several Republican states have already passed laws limiting or prohibiting abortion rights, a situation that will primarily affect women from vulnerable sectors and Latino and African-American minorities.
The leak of the ruling and its possible consequences generated mixed reactions across the political and social spectrum. President Joe Biden warned that he is preparing a tough response to this judicial outpost, and called for voting in the midterm elections next November by those candidates who advocate the voluntary termination of pregnancy, ensuring that it will protect women’s right to decide by all means, a position similar to that expressed by various human rights bodies. In Congress, meanwhile, Republicans celebrated the Court’s change of stance while Democrats screamed blue murder.
Another battle is then opened that will most likely last until the legislative elections, and will dig a new rift in a society that already faces several polarizations and unresolved political tension