Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders angrily condemned a leaked US Supreme Court bill that would overturn Roe vs. Wade, and in doing so, end women’s guaranteed access to abortion.
As reported, the court, now with a 6-3 conservative majority, had passed and discussed a draft judgment in relation to a Mississippi case, and a 5-4 ruling to vacate Roereproductive rights advocates condemned the decision, saying the matter had yet to be decided.
“Let’s be clear: this is an opinion project. It’s outrageous, it’s unprecedented, but it’s not definitive,” tweeted Planned Parenthood, one of the nation’s largest providers of women’s health care, including abortions.
He added: “Abortion is your right, and it’s STILL LEGAL.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat representing New York City, wrote: “As we warned, SCOTUS is not just coming for abortion, but for the right to privacy that Roe is based on, which includes the gay marriage + civil rights.”
He added: “Manchin is blocking the codification of Roe by Congress. House has apparently forgotten about Clarence Thomas. These 2 points must change.”
Sanders, another progressive, tweeted: “Congress must pass legislation that codifies Roe vs. Wade as the law of the land in this country NOW. And if there are not 60 votes in the Senate to do it, and there are not, we have to end the obstructionism to approve it with 50 votes.”
Polls show that most Americans have supported a woman’s right to abortion for at least a decade. The data also shows that the number of abortions across the country has been declining for several years.
At the same time, opponents of abortion have been making steady and strategic progress at the state level, passing increasingly restrictive bills in places like Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi, often with the bills’ proponents hoping that the case is taken to court. Supreme Court.
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In fact, it was one of those cases in Mississippi, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organizationover legislation that would have banned abortion after 15 weeks, which the justices had been considering.
The draft opinion, obtained by Politico, and representing an incredibly rare leak from the nation’s highest court, appeared to have been written by Justice Samuel Alito and was dated February 10.
He noted that he, along with Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett voted to overturn Roe and Casey after hearing oral arguments in the Mississippi case.
“We hold that Roe and Casey should be overruled,” he wrote. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the elected representatives of the people.”
Experts have said that if Roe were struck down by the Supreme Court, it could eliminate access to abortion in more than half of the US and force many pregnant women to carry their pregnancies to term unless they can travel to a handful of states with abortion protections.
The reaction was swift and ranged from anger to dismay.
Hillary Clinton tweeted: “I’m not surprised. But still scandalous. This decision is a direct attack on the dignity, rights and lives of women, not to mention decades of established law. It will kill and subjugate women even when the vast majority of Americans think abortion should be legal. What an absolute shame.
Comedian Kathy Griffin posted an image of Mrs. Clinton, one of the attendees at the Met Gala in New York City, which was taking place when the news broke.
“Roe vs. Wade has been cancelled. Yes, I know. Stay in my lane. Well I would love to post about the Met Gala but this is the only attendee I care about,” she wrote. “President Hillary Clinton would never have allowed Roe to be unseated.”
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who ran for president in 2020, said: “It is a fundamental right for a woman to make her own health decisions. We must protect the right to choose and codify Roe v Wade into law.”
Ilhan Omar, a progressive congresswoman from Minnesota, tweeted: “Ousting Roe would put the lives of women across the country at risk. It would go against decades of precedent and the overwhelming majority of public opinion. And they won’t stop here.”