- The leaked report says Roe v. Wade’s decision is wrong
- He says the constitution does not specifically mention abortion rights
- Clinton says the reported ruling is an attack on women
- Republicans are calling for a court to protect the unborn
WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) – The US Supreme Court appears ready to vote to overturn Rowe’s ruling against Wade, which legalizes abortion across the country, according to an expired initial draft opinion of the majority published by Politico on Monday.
The unprecedented leak of information from the Supreme Court by a conservative majority has caused shockwaves in the United States, not least because the court is proud to keep its internal hearings secret and leaks are extremely unusual.
Reuters was unable to confirm the authenticity of the draft. The Supreme Court and the White House declined to comment.
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“Rowe is extremely wrong from the start,” Conservative Judge Samuel Alito wrote in a February 10 draft opinion, according to Politico, which published a copy online.
Based on Alito’s opinion, the court will find that Roe v. Wade’s decision to allow prenatal abortions to be viable outside the womb – between 24 and 28 weeks gestation – was wrongly decided because the US Constitution does not mentions specifically abortion rights.
“Abortion is a deep moral issue. The constitution does not prohibit citizens of every state from regulating or banning abortion,” Alito said, according to the leaked document.
See the world’s abortion laws
The news came just over six months before the midterm elections, which will determine whether Democrats will retain a majority in the US Congress for the next two years of President Joe Biden’s term.
Abortion has been one of the most divisive issues in US politics for nearly half a century.
“This decision is a direct violation of the dignity, rights and lives of women, not to mention decades of established law,” said former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Read more
“It will kill and subjugate women, even when the vast majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal. What a complete disgrace. ”
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said: “… Rowe was extremely wrong from the beginning and I pray that the Court will follow the Constitution and allow the states to protect unborn life again.”
Four of the other Republican-appointed judges – Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Cavanaugh and Amy Connie Barrett – voted with Alito at a conference of judges, the report added.
After an initial vote among the judges after an oral debate, one was given the opinion of the majority and a draft was written. It is then distributed to judges.
Sometimes, between the initial vote and the release of the decision, the order of the votes may change. The decision is final only when it is published by the court.
In a Twitter post, Neil Katjal, a lawyer who regularly argues in court, said that if the report is accurate, it will be “the first major leak from the Supreme Court”.
The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, heard oral arguments in December about the Mississippi’s attempt to renew its ban on abortion starting in the 15th week of pregnancy, a law blocked by lower courts. Read more
It emerged based on a verbal argument in December that the majority was in favor of supporting the Mississippi abortion ban and that there could be five votes to repeal Roe. Read more
Roe v. Wade recognizes that the right to privacy under the US Constitution protects a woman’s ability to terminate a pregnancy.
Christian conservatives and many Republicans have long sought to repeal it.
In a 1992 ruling called Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, the Supreme Court reaffirmed abortion rights and banned laws imposing “unnecessary burdens” on access to abortion.
Mississippi asked the judges to overturn both decisions, and Alito’s draft opinion largely accepted the Republican state’s arguments.
If Rowe is repealed, abortion is likely to remain legal in liberal countries. More than a dozen states currently have laws protecting abortion rights. Many Republican-led states have passed various restrictions on abortion, contrary to Roe’s precedent in recent years.
Republicans may seek to introduce a national ban on abortion, while Democrats may also seek to protect abortion rights at the national level.
Democrats said the draft opinion undermines the significance of this year’s election, in which they seek to retain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“We need to vote like we have never voted before,” Democrat Jamie Ruskin told MSNBC. “People need to stand up and defend democratic institutions and human rights, because the Supreme Court is certainly not doing anything for us.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said, without evidence, that the leak was probably from a liberal in court.
“Judges must not succumb to this attempt to corrupt the process. Stay strong,” he said in a Twitter post.
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Report by Kanishka Singh and Eric Beach in Washington; Additional reports by Andrea Shalal and Lawrence Hurley; Edited by Tim Ahman, Kim Kogill and Michael Perry
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.
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