The United States Supreme Court intends to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that guaranteed the right to an abortion nationwide, according to a leaked draft opinion obtained and published by Politico on Monday.
The draft opinion represents a potential decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a suit regarding Mississippi’s “Gestational Age Act,” which prohibits all abortions, save for a few exceptions, after 15 weeks gestational age. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only legal abortion provider in Mississippi, challenged the law.
The question before the court is simple: Is Mississippi’s law banning nearly all abortions after 15 weeks’ gestational age unconstitutional?
“Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the draft opinion, referring also to Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 decision also regarding abortion. “We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”
The opinion published is labeled “1st Draft” on its first page, and is noted as a version circulated on Feb. 10. Draft opinions are not final decisions, and it is not yet confirmed which justices have voted in favor of essentially overturning Roe. However, Politico’s reporting states that four other justices, from the court’s most conservative wing, are aligned with Alito’s opinion: Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are writing dissents, Politico reports, though it is unclear which way Chief Justice John Roberts may vote.
According to SCOTUSblog, a site that reports on and analyzes the high court, the Politico document is “almost certainly an authentic draft opinion.”
This is believed to be the first time in modern history that a draft opinion has been published before a case has been decided.
Should Roe be overturned, abortion would immediately be effectively outlawed in 13 states with so-called “trigger laws”: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
Five other states — Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, West Virginia and Wisconsin — currently have abortion bans on the books, though they have remained unenforcable as long as the precedent set by Roe has been the law of the land.
Protesters on both sides of the issue gathered outside of the Supreme Court after the report came out Monday night, signaling a larger fight over abortion rights is still to come in an already deeply divided country.
According to a poll from Pew Research Center, nearly 60% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in either all or most cases.
A final ruling in the case is set to be issued in June or July.
This is a developing story. Check back throughout the day for further updates.
