Supreme Court Poised to Overturn Roe v. Wade; Other Rights at Risk
Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.An initial draft opinion written by right-wing Justice Samuel Alito is being circulated among the justices and was obtained by Politico, which reported on the matter Monday night.
The ruling is not final and could change before it is issued, likely within the next two months, but if the court does indeed overturn Roe, it has grave implications not only for abortion rights but for other rights rooted in privacy, such as the rights to contraception, private sexual activity, and marriage equality.Alito and fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas have said they'd like to overturn the marriage equality ruling, and Alito's opinion critiques that ruling and the Lawrence v.
Texas ruling that invalidated sodomy laws.The opinion comes in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which involves a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The court heard the case in December.“The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision — Planned Parenthood v.
