WASHINGTON – That sound you hear is millions of women screaming at the top of lungs – with a little bit of Ruth Bader Ginsburg rolling over in her grave.
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court struck down the decision of Roe v. Wade by a 6-3 majority. The Justices in favor were all conservatives: Chief Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, with the latter three all appointed by former President Donald Trump. Those opposed were liberals Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and the retiring Stephen Breyer.
The case that led to this outcome was Dobbs, State Health Officer of The Mississippi Department of Health, *Et Al. v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Et Al. – or Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization for short. The focal point of the matter was about the constitutionality of a 2018 Mississippi state law that banned most abortion operations after the first 15 weeks of a pregnancy. (*Et Al. is short for “et alia” meaning “and others.”)
Lower courts prevented enforcement of the law with preliminary injunctions. Those injunctions were based on the ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a case from 1992 which basically affirmed Roe v. Wade and stopped states from banning abortion before fetal viability, usually within the first 24 weeks. This is on the basis that a woman’s choice for abortion within that period is protected by rights to privacy under the Fourteenth Amendment in the Constitution.
In writing the majority decision, Justice Alito said, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives. ‘The permissibility of abortion, and the limitations, upon it, are to be resolved like most important questions in our democracy: by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting.’”
Needless to say, the national response was swift and intense. Among the conservatives praising the decision were former Vice President Mike Pence, who said, “Today, life won” and his running mate, former President Donald Trump.
“This is following the Constitution, and giving rights where they should have been given long ago,” Trump told Fox News.
The “giving rights where they should have been given long ago” refers to state being allowed to dictate whether or not they wish to have abortion legal in their states. Ironically enough, the Court said that states did not have the right to determine the status of concealed weapons in their states just the previous day.
Of course, liberals did not take too kindly to the ruling. Among those were former President Barack Obama.
“Today, the Supreme Court not only reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, it relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues – attacking the essential freedoms of millions of Americans,” Obama posted on Twitter.
“The Republicans are plotting a nationwide abortion ban,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in response to the decision. “They cannot be allowed to have a majority in the Congress to do that. But that’s their goal.
“Because of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Party and their supermajority on the Supreme Court, American women today have less freedom than their mothers… Today, the Republican-controlled Supreme Court has achieved the GOP’s dark and extreme goal of ripping away women’s right to make their own reproductive health decisions.”
Last but not least, current President Joe Biden gave remarks on the Court’s decision.
“They took it away… Now with Roe gone, the health and life of women in this nation are now at risk… It was three Justices named by one President, Donald Trump, who eliminated a fundamental right of women of this nation. It’s a realization of an extreme ideology… The court decision will have real and immediate consequences… It’s a sad day for the country, but that doesn’t mean the fight is over. The only way to protect women is Congress to restore the rights of women as federal law. Voters need to make their voices heard.” Right now, 26 states have legislation on the books to end abortion. Half of them have “trigger laws” which go into effect immediately upon a Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade.
