Supreme Court document leaked | Abortion rights seriously in jeopardy

Thunderbolt in the United States: the Roe v. Wade protecting abortion rights could be overturned by the Supreme Court by June, the outlet reported. Politico Monday evening.

Lila Dussault
The Press

In an extremely rare document leak from the US Supreme Court, Politico received, then distributed, the draft majority decision that would set aside Roe v. Wade. The 98-page document was written by conservative judge Samuel Alito and is dated February 10. Roe v. Wade has been protecting women’s right to abortion in the United States since 1973.

However, for Judge Samuel Alito, the judgment is “totally unfounded from the start” and “must be canceled”, according to what is written in the document. Going further, he asserts that the right to abortion “is not protected by any provision of the Constitution”.

However, Roe v. Wade relies on the 14^and amendment, the one concerning freedom, and in this case, the freedom of women, explains Valérie Beaudoin, associate researcher at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair.

“It begs the question: are there other laws like this – which are based on the same amendment – ​​and which can also be overturned? she asks herself.

An expected decision

The news does not surprise experts who are following the issue closely. “The majority of analysts expected that, by June, Roe v. Wade is very affected or even invalidated,” explains Andréanne Bissonnette, researcher in residence at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair.

The decision of the Supreme Court must also still be the subject of negotiations until its publication, before June 30.

If this conclusion is accepted by the highest court in the United States, they will return to the situation in force before 1973 when each state was free to prohibit or authorize abortions.

Given the significant geographical and political divides on the subject, half of the states, especially in the conservative south and center, should quickly banish the procedure on their soil.

“Let’s be clear: this is a preliminary draft. It is outrageous, unprecedented, but not final: abortion remains your right and is still legal,” tweeted the organization Planned Parenthood, which runs many clinics that perform abortions.

A conservative Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has been profoundly overhauled by former President Donald Trump who, in five years, brought in three judges, solidifying his conservative majority (six judges out of nine).

Since September, this new Court has sent several favorable signals to opponents of abortion.

She initially refused to prevent the entry into force of a Texas law which limits the right to an abortion to the first six weeks of pregnancy, against two trimesters in the current legal framework.

During December’s review of a Mississippi law, which also called into question the legal deadline for abortion, a majority of its magistrates made it clear that they were ready to nibble or even strike down Roe v. Wade.

The document presented by Politico relate to this file. Its publication constitutes an extremely rare leak for the Supreme Court, where the secrecy of the deliberations has almost never been violated.

For Valérie Beaudoin, such a decision could galvanize the Democrats during the midterm elections next fall, where the electorate is sometimes less present.

Defenders of the right to abortion had met spontaneously Monday evening in front of the Supreme Court in Washington. In the process, several elected Democrats felt that Politico’s revelation confirmed the urgency of enshrining the right to abortion in law.

On the Republican side, on the contrary, we hailed an announced victory. “This is the best and most important news of our lives,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green.

With Agence France-Presse