The U.S. Supreme Court overturned women’s constitutional right to abortion

In a dramatic decision today (Friday), the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the “Row v. Wade” flagship ruling that pregnant women interested in an induced abortion process have federal protections enshrined in the constitution. And its effects are not yet fully clear, for example, in the context of the right to abort in the event of abnormal fetal development.

The ruling of the conservative judges is expected to deepen the division in American society and becomes a legal precedent for decades, set in the flagship ruling from 1973 and later in the ruling of the “Family Planning Centers against Casey” in 1992. The judges ruled that the constitution does not grant the right to abort and that both rulings should be repealed. The court ruled that “the authority to regulate the issue of abortion should be determined by the people and elected officials.”

This week, the court will end its session, and since last week it has published dozens of rulings in a row, including on explosive issues such as the separation of religion and state, carrying weapons in public spaces, immigration, and regulations to combat the climate crisis. His rulings on religious schools in Maine and the law restricting the carrying of weapons in public in New York State hinted at the nature of the ruling in the matter of the right to abort.

The ground for the hearing is a Mississippi state law prohibiting abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. This law was disqualified in court because it contradicts the precedent set by the Supreme Court at the time. Each state can now ban abortions at its discretion.

The Jackson Clinic in Mississippi is the defendant in a case that was transferred to the court of Dobs against the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which deals with a law in Mississippi that prohibits abortions starting this 15th week. Although the case focuses on a clinic in Jackson, it is part of an organized effort by the conservative movement in the United States. The legislation deliberately contradicts the “Roe vs. Wade” ruling.

The judges decided by a five-to-four majority to overturn the “Row v. Wade” ruling, with Court President John Roberts writing a separate opinion in which he said he would leave the law in the state of Mississippi intact, but would not take the second step of repealing two Flag rulings in the same breath. The judges ruled that Roe v. Wade was wrongly accepted because the constitution did not explicitly address the right to abort.

Judge Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion, wrote: “Rowe was outrageously wrong from the start. Her reasoning was extraordinarily weak, and the decision has devastating consequences. Instead of reaching a national compromise on abortion, Roe and Casey heated up the discourse and deepened the controversy. “

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has announced that legislation can be enacted immediately that would allow abortions to be banned in the state, except in medical emergencies – Missouri is the first state to do so. In a number of states there are “trigger laws”, meaning legislation that has been approved and that will make abortions illegal from the moment the court allows it.

The court’s decision came as US President Joe Biden made his way to Germany for the G7 Forum Summit. The decision is expected to shake up the political system ahead of the midterm elections in November. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, referred to the ruling and said that it was a “scandalous and cruel” decision. The Democratic legislature has promised that the rights of women and “all U.S. citizens” will be at the center of the midterm elections in November. Pelosi also warned of a “Republican conspiracy” to impose an abortion ban across the United States.

Last month, the ruling on the issue was leaked to the Politico website, revealing that a conservative majority had been formed to abolish the right of women to decide how to proceed in the event of an unwanted pregnancy. A host of polls conducted in the past month have made it clear that an overwhelming majority of Americans want to preserve the right to abortion and want to increase gun control.

The publication of the 98-page document is unprecedented in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court, as such a draft of the judges’ opinion has never been leaked at this time before the court’s official decision was published. A similar leak of a ruling was made in 1852 ten days before the judges’ decision was made.

The 1973 ruling against Row v. Wade established the constitutional right to overthrow. The ruling overturned laws banning abortion in some U.S. states, declaring that states could not ban the process before the time a fetus could survive outside the womb. At that time it was the 28th week. Today it is the 23rd or 23rd week. -24, due to advances in science and medicine.

Roe vs. Wade created a framework that regulated the regulation of abortions based on third trimesters (trimesters). In 1992, in the ruling of the Family Planning Centers v. Casey, the court repealed this framework in favor of examining the vitality of the fetus, but upheld the central ruling of the 1973 ruling. “- According to which women have a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, as long as it can not be determined that the fetus can survive outside the womb.

President Biden said the Supreme Court decision is a sad day for the court and a sad day for the United States. In a statement to the nation, Biden noted that the Supreme Court deprived women of a basic right, endangered their health and lives, and brought American society back 150 years.

The US president has pledged to do everything in his power to protect women’s rights in countries that rely on the ruling to ban abortions. However, he added that no presidential decree could guarantee this right and called on the public to elect legislators who support the right to abortion. “The midterm elections this fall will be about women’s rights and individual rights,” the US president stressed.

Conservative Judge Clarence Thomas wrote alongside the ruling against “Row v. Wade” that the court should “reconsider” its decisions on the right to contraception, consensual consent, and recognition of same-sex marriage “and correct the errors made by the court in these cases.”

Major politicians in the United States have already responded to the Supreme Court decision, in line with their position on the issue. “An attack on the basic freedom of millions of Americans,” former President Obama called it. Former Vice President Mike Pence supported: “The verdict was sent to the ash heap of history.”

It all started in 1969

The story begins with a girl named Norma Leah Nelson McCorvey, dubbed “Jane Roe,” who sought an abortion after becoming pregnant in 1969. In Texas, where she lived, this was lawfully forbidden. So Jane Roe decided to sue Texas, and after three years, the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jane Roe was from a poor and religious home. When she got pregnant, she was not married. The situation was horrible for her family. She had already given up two children for adoption and was desperate to have an abortion this time.
The ruling became one of the most critical points in the movement for the liberation of women in the United States and was named “Row v. Wade.” Wade was Henry Wade, the Texas attorney in the lawsuit against her.

By a majority of seven judges to two, the Supreme Court ruled that abortions could not be prohibited, thus enshrining the woman’s right to her body in law. The verdict split America in two. Democrats and others celebrated, Republicans and Conservatives were upset – and promised: We will change the decision.

Appointing a Supreme Court justice is one of the most significant ways American presidents influence the country. U.S. Supreme Court justices are elected by the president and serve until their deaths or retirement. To do that, they must appoint other judges to the Supreme Court, which requires 50 years of patience in this case.

The judge remains in office long after the president leaves the White House, and that’s how the president’s ideology remains. The Republicans internalized the format laws and started working on building a conservative majority, it took them 50 years, but in the end, they succeeded. After President Trump appointed three justices in the current court, there is a conservative majority – six just over three- making the abolition of “Row against Wade” realistic.

Now that this has happened, America will find itself again divided. About 70% of Americans think abortions should be allowed in certain situations. That is, pro-choice. The rest oppose, which means that in the United States, there is a clear majority of supporters of a woman’s right to her body. How appropriate would this ruling be to public opinion in America today?

Surprise ending

In the 90s, Norma McCorvey said she became a devout Christian and declared that she opposed abortion. She even campaigned against the verdict she achieved herself.

But wait, it’s not over. On her deathbed, just before she passed away in February 2017, Norma McCorvey admitted she got half a million dollars from abortion opponents to declare she is now religious and opposed abortions.