The Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion in the United States, a bombshell...
The Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion in the United States, a bombshell report revealed on Monday.
The news sent shock waves throughout Washington D.C. with Democrats vowing to codify the legal right to an abortion into law and Republicans demanding an investigation into the leak, claiming it was done to try and influence the high court ahead of its formal ruling.
Perhaps anticipating backlash, the Supreme Court building initially was barricaded Monday night before being watched by security.
Protesters eventually headed toward the gates in large numbers, with some standing up and chanting, while others sat outside the building and lit candles in silence. A small number of counter-protesters also gathered.
The draft opinion - originally obtained by Politico - was written by Justice Samuel Alito, one of the six justices appointed by Republican presidents on the nine-member court, repudiating both Roe and the 1992 Planned Parenthood vs. Casey decision.
'Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,' Alito writes in the draft opinion, which was crafted in February and circulated among the court members. 'We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,' he continues in the document, titled 'Opinion of the Court.'
'It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives.'
Politico reports that, aside from Alito, four other judges voted in favour of overturning the law: Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, all of whom were nominated by Republican presidents.
If the Roe vs Wade ruling is overturned, it would give individual states the power to decide on whether to ban abortion. The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group, has said that 26 states are 'certain or likely' to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Politico noted that this is the first such case in modern history of a Supreme Court draft decision being leaked to the public while the case was still pending.
The draft document is not final until the court formally announces its decision in a case, meaning the ruling could still be changed. Sometimes drafts are circulated by one justice in the hopes of swaying fellow judges. The court is expected to issue its final ruling before its term is up in late June or early July.
That led to speculation the Alito draft was leaked ahead in the hopes public outrage could temper the court's decision.
The court, notably, did not deny the legitimacy of the draft opinion. A spokesperson for the Supreme Court said: 'The Court has no comment.'
Republican appointed-Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett all voted to strike down Roe with Samuel Alito, Politico noted
The beginning of the original leaked draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito
Protesters gather, chant and hold signs outside the Supreme Court in Washington Monday night
Lights burn inside U.S. Supreme Court offices late at night after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito
There were smaller gatherings of anti-abortion protesters at the event as well
Politico executive editor Dafna Linzer sent a note to staff after the story posted, expressing confidence in the story and their verification of the draft opinion.
'After an extensive review process, we are confident of the authenticity of the draft. ... We take our responsibilities to our readers with the greatest seriousness,' she noted.
Politico posted the entire draft opinion online.
If the Alito decision is adopted, it would return the issue of abortions to the states and over half of the 50 states are likely to ban abortion.
Numerous Republican-led states have passed various abortion restrictions in defiance of the Roe precedent in recent years.
Republicans could try to enact a nationwide abortion ban, while Democrats could also seek to protect abortion rights at the national level.
Twenty-six states are certain or likely to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned, according to the pro-abortion rights think tank the Guttmacher Institute.
Of those, 22 states already have total or near-total bans on the books that are currently blocked by Roe, aside from Texas.
The state's law banning it after six weeks has already been allowed to go into effect by the Supreme Court due to its unusual civil enforcement structure. Four more states are considered likely to quickly pass bans if Roe is overturned.
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia, meanwhile, have protected access to abortion in state law.
This year, anticipating a decision overturning or gutting Roe, eight conservative states have already moved to restrict abortion rights.
Oklahoma, for example, passed several bills in recent weeks, including one that goes into effect this summer making it a felony to perform an abortion.
South Dakota Republican governor Kristi Noem meanwhile said her state would look to ban abortion.
She said: 'If this report is true and Roe v. Wade is overturned, I will immediately call for a special session to save lives and guarantee that every unborn child has a right to life in South Dakota.'
Meanwhile, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas, responded to the news by encouraging the Court to return the issue to the states.
'I hope that #SCOTUS returns the question of abortion where it belongs: the States,' Paxton said on Twitter. 'This is why I led a 24-state coalition in support of MS's law banning them after 15 weeks. I'll [continue] to ensure that TX protects the unborn & pray for the end of abortion across our nation.'
The unprecedented leak sent shock waves through the United States, not least because the court prides itself on keeping its internal deliberations secret and leaks are extremely uncommon.
The news stunned abortion providers.
On Monday night, Andrea Gallegos, executive administrator at Tulsa Women's Clinic in Oklahoma, had just finished calling some 25 patients scheduled for abortions on Tuesday to tell them that their appointments would need to be canceled because of a soon to be enacted Oklahoma law modeled on a highly restrictive Texas abortion ban.
'I can't say that I'm surprised,' she said.
'Now all these other conservative states like Oklahoma are passing the exact same legislation that Texas did, I have to say I became less optimistic and way more scared for what the future of Roe looks like.'
The anti-abortion group the Susan B. Anthony List welcomed the news.
'If Roe is indeed overturned, our job will be to build consensus for the strongest protections possible for unborn children and women in every legislature,' said its president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, in a statement.
Just hours after the stunning leak of draft opinion emerged, hundreds of pro-choice and anti-abortion activists gathered in front of the US Supreme Court on Monday night.
Squaring off on either side of the white marble building a stone's throw from the Capitol, the pro-choice and anti-abortion groups railed at each other.
'Roe v. Wade is going to go,' anti-abortion protesters taunted, while the pro-choice crowd yelled: 'My body, my choice.'
The two groups chanted and waved placards in the plaza in front of the steps to the Supreme Court, with barriers and a few uniformed police officers barring access to the colonnaded building.
Abby Korb, a 23-year-old graduate student and congressional aide, said she was 'in literal shock' when the news broke and quickly headed to the Supreme Court with a friend.
'I'm a woman and my rights are being taken away every single day,' she said.
Like many others at the spontaneous demonstration, Korb, originally from Wisconsin, is now calling for legislation at the federal level to protect access to abortion.
'We need access to safe abortion because making it illegal isn't going to stop it, it's just going to make it more dangerous,' she said.
The growing crowd took turns to hurl expletives at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who reportedly wrote the opinion, and called on Democratic Party leaders to 'do something'.
Madeline Hren, a 25-year-old from North Carolina, said she was very angry. 'I called everyone I knew to be very angry,' she said, holding a small sign with a drawing of a bloody coat hanger that said 'We will not go back.'
'I'm really upset about it... I didn't cry. I'm mostly just mad,' said Hren, who works for the UN Foundation. She now fears that an abortion ban will extend to her native North Carolina.
For opponents of the right to abortion, however, it was time to celebrate.
'You don't care if people die,' they sang at the pro-choice crowd.
'I hope they overturn it,' said Claire Rowan, a 55-year-old mother of seven children, some of whom accompanied her to the demonstration.
Rowan said she hopes people will now be 'asking God for forgiveness so that the nation can heal.'
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